Renovations underway at Wilmington’s oldest existing high school

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With the start of the school year just around the corner, a Wilmington high school is undergoing a major construction project.

Built in 1922, New Hanover High School is one of the oldest buildings still in use in North Carolina and sadly, the home of the Wildcats is showing its age.

Repairs are underway to fix cracks along the southern wall of the school facing Market Street.

Sixteen classrooms and offices on all three building floors will be closed and the school administration has been temporarily relocated to the Princess Street side of the building.

With all the work going on, Principal Philip Sutton said it shouldn’t have a major impact on students.

“We do have the front of the building that is fenced off, but that’s really the only area that our students aren’t going to have access,” Sutton said. “We’re still have the same drop off and pickup for our buses, for transportation for all students are going to be in the same locations. So we’ll be able to operate as normal and as usual throughout the building.”

Eddie Anderson is the school district’s operations and planning assistant superintendent.

He said the current construction will remove plaster and sheetrock and reinforce the southern wall.

“That’s phase 1, along with installing micro piles along the foundation to stabilize it,” Anderson said. “We’re not gonna try to lift it at all, but we want to make sure that those, it doesn’t settle anymore.”

Phase 1 should be completed by November or earlier.

Despite some inconveniences, Sutton said his staff is looking on the sunny side and doing all they can to ensure a smooth start to the school year.

“We’ve got a kind of a saying that we’re gonna take a sunglasses approach, sunglasses perspective to the school year,” Sutton said. “Which means we’re gonna see the positives, we’re gonna see the good things, we’re gonna have confidence in each other and we’re gonna wear our sunglasses throughout the year and make it a positive experience.”

In phase 2, the classrooms and office space will be renovated and modernized.

It is unknown when that phase might start or how long construction will take.