WILMINGTON — The city voted unanimously Tuesday to put forth a million dollars toward the acquisition of 25 acres planned to be a city-owned and -operated park in midtown. Long-term costs are anticipated to be around $10 million, according to the city manager.
The land purchase is a joint partnership, with The Endowment giving conditional grant approval to fund $7.7 million and the county taking a vote in around two weeks to potentially bring another $1 million to the table. The city had to approve an inter local agreement with the county as well at its Tuesday meeting.
READ MORE: 25 acres on Greenville Loop revealed in potential city-county park partnership
City Manager Becky Hawke explained to council the 25 acres is near Bradley Creek Elementary School, with a frontage of its land connecting to a pending multi-use trail to be built along Greenville Loop Trail. The city would control the design, construction and maintenance of the park.
“Even with nominal amenities, you’re probably looking at $10 million in additional investment to have the correct infrastructure in place and to be able to open it up and have bathrooms and parking, and just even some of the base things that you need to have in order to have a fully functioning park,” Hawke told council member Cassidy Santaguida. “And then how grand or not it goes from there would be based on available budgets, community input, council desires, and figuring out where we land from there.”
The park must be operational within five years, else The Endowment grant would need to be returned. Hawke anticipated it is three to five years away from construction, but expected to phase its launch, with the phase one completion needing to be significant to meet The Endowment’s parameters.
“So if it was simply a parking lot and a bathroom and a simple playground, that is not going to be considered significant,” she said, noting details would have to be hammered out still with The Endowment about ratios needed to reach in the first five years.
Other conditions in place from The Endowment include the park must exist for 99 years or the grant money has to be returned. As well, if the city attempts to dispose of the property within 10 years, it would have to repay the county its investment, should commissioners agree to it.
Hawk said she expects a 24-to-36-month build-out, if there are multiple design elements.
“That’s a tight timeline,” council member Santaguida noted, to which Hawke agreed.
The design phase would take place first as the city is halfway into its capital improvement plan, which is devised every five years. So the park’s construction could align with a new round of CIP funding to come in two-and-a-half years.
Council member David Joyner wanted to know the CIP numbers over a five-year cycle, but it wasn’t available immediately. He asked to continue discussions about where the future funding would come from.
The sale price on the land is around $9.75 million and the appraisal of the parcel is just over $10 million, Hawke said, noting city staff located the land back in March 2025. She called it “rare” to find contiguous property that is undeveloped and ideally located to provide an amenity to the community.
The purchase also falls within the city’s Open Space Master Plan to find 120 acres to create more green space, not to mention this part of the city is underserved when it comes to parks. According to Mayor Bill Saffo, around 36% of residents in Wilmington are within a one-mile walking distance to a park, though this number falls under a 55% national statistic. This purchase would bring it up, but Hawke said by how much is unclear currently.
Neighbors surrounding the 25 acres already have begun reaching out to city staff about the potential purchase. According to internal emails, Rob Diab said he wanted to support it as long as the city “goes to great lengths to preserve the trees and create a buffer for the neighborhood.”
Anne Viele also wrote in, explaining she has lived in the area for 22 years:
“Please know the neighboring neighborhoods are quiet and mixed with young families and retirees. We like it quiet and most people who have reached out to me about this proposed project are upset that it will be noisy and attract people who will trespass.”
She also queried whether wetlands would remain protected and asked for sports equipment and fields to be left off the design, in order to preserve the land’s natural beauty and trees. Viele advocated to make it less like Long Leaf Park and more like Airlie Gardens.
“Better yet, if you make the park aspect small and save the trees, that would be best,” she added.
Amy Beatty, the parks and recreation director, responded that community input will be included as part of the design process. More so, she said neighbors of the land will be “intentionally sought out” to give feedback, though a timeline has yet to be fleshed out.
Most council members were excited for another park to come to the community, many echoing sentiments they hear from residents often decrying overdevelopment and the need for more green space.
Currently, the city has around 744 acres of parks in its boundaries, some including amenities like tennis courts, baseball fields, playgrounds, pickleball courts, amphitheaters and more.
Greenfield Lake Park is the largest at 250 acres. Earlier in the meeting, during the public comment period, one person prompted the council to put more efforts toward cleaning it up. Saffo noted Greenfield used to be “the most prestigious park in the entire region.”
Another person during public comment asked council to invest more money into the Northside of downtown Wilmington.
While Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Spears voted in support of the 25-acre purchase, he agreed with the public’s concerns.
“When I see us make this type of contribution within the community as it relates to parks, I want to see us make the same type of contribution, if not greater, as it relates to the impact of the citizens in our community,” Spears said.
He pointed to affordable housing needs and the livelihood of people in the community and nonprofits being denied grants from The Endowment, but didn’t specify which.
“I’m not gonna say that this is a bad thing, but in every opportunity that we have to make an improvement for the citizens of this community, you should do so without hesitation,” he added.
Hawke responded to Spears that she anticipated council seeing more conversations in the future about costs to maintain its facilities and parks. She vowed to hold those priorities to a higher degree and be part of budget discussions more readily.
The county commissioners will vote on its $1 million match on Feb. 16 and the closing date on the property is expected for Feb. 28.
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