Jump to content

Downtown growth


BobbyRobert

Recommended Posts

I remember back in the 1990s that the town as a whole (or at least its decision makers) were strongly against downtown growth in Wilmington. I had heard that the city 'encouraged' the current/previous PPD headquarters to be out on 17th st instead of downtown -- the rationale I heard was something unentelligable related to minimizing congestion. Now that the new PPD building is nearing completion downtown employment is about to grow considerably, has the city's attitude changed? Have they done anything to encourage downtown growth aside from PPD or is employmet growth still chanelled out towards Ogden?

Sorry for such an ignorant question, juts wanted to her the local perspective on the current growth patterns in my second favorate NC city.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 7
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I never lived in Wilmington but I know there is a lot of "old" money down there and with that comes "old" political ties. So now I would hope to think that with the growth that new blood can come in and direct that growth in the right direction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During the late 90's Harper Peterson was mayor. He was a member of the city council before that. He felt that the city was experiencing to much uncontrolled, unrestricted growth. During the two years before and the two years while he was mayor he led a majority on the city council who wanted more restricted growth. During this time period, for a couple of years Wilmington was the fastest growing city in the nation. PPD was located downtown at this time and was growing by leaps and bounds. When the city council put so many restrictions on the tower they wanted to build, they moved to an area away form downtown. Fast forward to the present. After two years as mayor Mayor Peterson had to go.He butted heads with everyone and got nothing accomplished. He and the others in his group were voted out and the current council took over.The majority now are pro growth. PPD has moved back downtown. Construction on the new convention center will start in late summer.Two new hotels are to go under construction this fall/winter and over 400 condos are either under construction or planned for downtown in the next year. The PPD building and convention center are seen as the catalyst for a boom in growth downtown focusing on the north end. PPD will bring around 2000 new jobs downtown + whatever jobs the convention center and hotels might bring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whatever they do, i just hope they do it north of downtown along the river...from the new PPD building North. I dont want the current DT area losing any of its southern charm just to have a bunch of concrete poured and office towers built.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whatever they do, i just hope they do it north of downtown along the river...from the new PPD building North. I dont want the current DT area losing any of its southern charm just to have a bunch of concrete poured and office towers built.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you have to worry about that to much, most of the old downtown area is inside one of the largest historic districts in the nation.the historic has strict rules on what is built, how it should look, height restrictions (shorter buildings closer to the river getting taller as you go west and north of the historic part of downtown). I think the area around the new PPD building will be the area that will boom in the near future with a lot of projects planned for that area.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.