WILMINGTON — The City of Wilmington has its appeals, from the newly completed Riverwalk to upscale living options. But with new developments in the works, attracting new businesses is important, especially those offering jobs that are able to pay wages high enough to support the cost of living in Wilmington.
During Mayor Bill Saffo’s State of the City Address last week, he mentioned that in 2017, downtown Wilmington welcomed 45 new businesses, adding more than 300 new jobs. While businesses often choose downtown, it takes work to promote the city to appeal to potential businesses.
Wilmington Downtown Inc., was created to help promote economic growth and development in downtown and is a public-private partnership. President of WDI Ed Wolverton helped breakdown what WDI does, what new businesses joined the city last year, and how the city is working to bring more businesses to the city.
With new growth comes the attention from national retailers. Jimmy John’s and Waffle House have already staked their claim in downtown.
One of the roles of WDI is to recruit new businesses and does so by, “ … Using demographic data and market research, WDI staff and volunteers identify opportunities for new entrepreneurs and seeks to attract new investment into downtown. To maintain downtown’s mixed-use character, WDI works with retail, restaurant, hospitality, residential and office prospects,” according to WDI’s mission statement.
In an effort to encourage economic development, WDI helps businesses find suitable locations and facilitate growth by offering information on real estate, as well as any incentives available.
But there is more to attracting businesses than simply offering developable properties.
“We use what we call a comprehensive approach, we realize that we could be out there doing all the recruitment in the world to try and bring businesses in, but if they come down and find a place that is dirty, unsafe, unkempt, or unlively its not going to be a place that is going to be very attractive,” Wolverton said.
Although economic development is the mission of organization, Wolverton acknowledges that there are several other factors that help influence companies and seem attractive to potential companies. Providing market data to entrepreneurs to help them qualify for financing is also an important part of WDI’s role, he said.
It is not just WDI that helps attract business to Wilmington, the city itself has an Economic Development Division that, “is responsible for implementing programs and services that attain job creation and retention and for increasing income within the city by attracting higher-wage job opportunities,” according to the City of Wilmington’s website.
New Hanover County also plays a role in attracting and promoting the downtown area, Wolverton said. The county recently decided to move forward with Project Grace, which will help redevelop underutilized downtown space owned by the county.
A little bit of everything
Downtown regions are unique when compared to suburban counterparts, where other regions have specific areas dedicated to retail, residential, and offices, downtown offers all of these in one confined area.
This is part of the appeal of a downtown, but it also poses unique challenges. For example, grocery stores have often been a topic of discussion when it comes to downtown Wilmington. Because of the space a large box grocery retailer requires, there are not any within the downtown area.
But according to Wolverton, rooftops drive retail and as more people choose to move and live downtown, he expects more businesses to follow.
Independent stores will always call Wilmington home, and that is part of the appeal of the area, Wolverton said, but along with new growth comes the attention from national retailers. National chains such as Jimmy John’s and Waffle House have already staked their claim in downtown.
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