Wilmington, N.C.- If you build it, they will come. At least that’s the promise that one downtown business owner is making to the Wilmington City Council.
Earlier this month Jason Ruegg, the president and founder of Off the Hook Yacht Sales, contributed $10,000 toward a feasibility study to explore extending Wilmington’s iconic Riverwalk to the northern end of downtown past the Isabel Holmes Bridge. In all the study will cost $50,000 with the city picking up the rest of the tab.
The notion behind the extension is that with the recent development of Live Oak Bank Riverwalk Pavilion, and several apartment complexes on the north end of downtown, the area is now ripe for more foot traffic.
Ruegg is one of many business owners who could potentially benefit from an extension. He owns approximately 15 acres along the Northeast Cape Fear River just beyond the bridge that he plans on developing with new office space, a dry dock and room for breweries and restaurants. Ruegg recently told the Wilmington StarNews that a longer Riverwalk is vital to his plans. “If the riverwalk doesn’t get extended, it would be kind of a waste of money,” Ruegg said.
The boardwalk currently runs from Church and Nun Streets and ends just before the Isabel Holmes Bridge. A sketch shows the proposed extension of the Riverwalk linking with Freedom Walk Park and then moves further north under the Isabel Holmes Bridge.
Work on Wilmington’s riverwalk began in the 1980s and in 2015 was named the top riverfront in the country by USA Today.