Wilmington City Council rejects offer for 4 downtown properties

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A surprise offer to buy several downtown Wilmington was a topic of discussion at Tuesday’s Wilmington City Council meeting.

Dinosaur Holdings LLC offered $16 million for four pieces of property: the Market Street parking deck, Second Street parking deck, and the United Bank Building and its parking lot.

The proposed sale would have kept both parking decks standing.

Council member Luke Waddell said the offer was rejected due to not being close to the total value of the properties.

He also said that keeping the Market Street parking deck is important to the success of downtown Wilmington.

“And also the Market Street deck serves as a major economic impact for our local downtown businesses,” Waddell said. “It’s used, it makes money, its a producing asset and probably most importantly, it serves our local downtown businesses that work so hard to keep us having a thriving downtown Wilmington.”

While the offer was rejected, council members voted to make the Second Street parking deck surplus property available for sale, due to its proximity to the United Bank building, which is also surplus property and because the parking deck doesn’t bring as much value to the city as the Market Street deck.