A decade after the old Wachoivia Building at Front and Princess streets was demolished, the lot remains empty
WILMINGTON – The new year is poised to be a promising one for downtown as a number of projects get underway or make their debut.
Work is expected to begin on the North Waterfront Park, construction is within reach on the River Place mixed-use development on Water Street, and the final touches are being put on the Embassy Suites addition to the Convention Center complex.
But there’s still one big hole -- literally -- left to fill in the downtown landscape. At the corner of Princess and Front streets, the previous home to the Wachovia Building remains a vacant lot some residents believe is unsightly.
“It is an eyesore,” said Issac Lazar, who has owned Issac’s Men's Store directly across the street for 43 years. “That should be the home of something nice. That is the key to downtown revival in my opinion.”
But what is there today is a warped wire fence that swags in sections, exposed rebar sticking out from the neighboring building, dead overgrowth poking into the street, and, at the base, a faded palm tree mural disappearing more with each passing day.
Nearly a decade has passed since the Wachovia building was demolished in 2008, after which plans were submitted for an 11-story condominium complex called The View on Water Street. But the project never moved forward. By 2011, it was sold for $1.5 million to the New York-based 101 North Front Street, LLC, which now privately leases the lot for paid parking. Today, the property measures just shy of three-quarters of an acre and is valued at $1.39 million. Attempts to reach the owners this week were unsuccessful.
Ron Satterfield, Wilmington's assistant planning director, said the city has not received any official plans for the site, but knows talks have continued intermittently over the years about what to do with the property.
Ed Wolverton, director of Wilmington Downtown Inc. (WDI), said he has heard of a few prospects for the property in recent years but nothing ever moved forward.
But he said there are several factors that could hinder any immediate development of the property, including its out-of-town owner, the current leasing of parking on the site that brings in revenue and the impact from the ongoing redevelopment of the old Water Street parking deck site.
“There could be an opportunity for parking for commercial components,” he said.
For the neighbors left to look at the vacant lot, there are mixed feelings about what should be the next step.
“I would like to see a nice hotel there,” Lazar said. “Anything coming up there makes my building worth more.”
But Patrizia Andreani, who owns the Planet shop next door, said she knows something will eventually fill the void and bring more people to her store. But for now, she finds benefits in the absence of progress.
“I enjoy the view,” Andreani said. “I love to be able to see through my windows and see the sunset. I feel like I can breathe with the opening. But I do want to see something there because it is a dead space with dead energy.”
As the city waits, Wolverton said efforts have been made to work with the property owner to install temporary aesthetic improvements to the site but none have come to fruition.
Ideas proposed included making a wall of surfboards around the site, but it didn’t meet city codes; and wrapping it an advertising banner, but some worried it could be hazardous if torn off by weather.
Years ago, thousands of keys were left on the surrounding fence by visitors, but they were cut off.
As Lazar stood in his store this week and looked across the street at the lot, he said he believes the space will only become more desirable.
"With every passing day, that property becomes more valuable," Lazar said.
Reporter Hunter Ingram can be reached at 910-343-2327 or Hunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com.
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