New Hanover Regional Medical Center completed its purchase of the former Wilmington Athletic Club property this week for $3 million.

The WAC itself, a fitness center at 2026 S. 16th St., closed Dec. 1, but not before members who wanted to do so were allowed to transfer their memberships to O2 Fitness, which has Wilmington locations at Hanover Center on Independence Boulevard and at Mayfaire Town Center.

The hospital's plan is to demolish the WAC building to make room for parking. Wilmington City Council unanimously granted NHRMC a special use permit Dec. 6 to allow construction of a 264-space parking lot on the property, which is located in an office and institutional (O&I-1) zoning district.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to better serve our patients and provide them services in the most convenient way possible,” hospital spokeswoman Claire Parker said.

And one of those ways, Parker said, includes finding employee parking near but not on the hospital’s main campus at 2131 S. 17th St., where parking is limited. The former WAC property spaces will serve as replacements for those in an employee lot next to the Walgreens on South 16th Street when construction starts on a new hospital parking deck. 

According to a deed recorded in New Hanover County, NHRMC bought the 4.6-acre parcel Tuesday from WAC 2001 LLC, a group of owners that included four doctors and two dentists.

“The owners are very pleased that this sale has closed, and we are pleased to continue to contribute to bettering health care in our community,” said Sandra Kittinger, one of the previous owners, on Wednesday.

At its peak, the number of members at the WAC totaled about 2,000. Kittinger said the managers of WAC 2001 LLC worked to upgrade the center when they purchased the property for $1.9 million, but it was an expensive facility to own (with a tax value of more than $2.2 million) and keep running.

“We were very proud to operate this gym for our membership for these last 15 years. We did our best to serve them,” Kittinger said.

Hansen Matthews, partner in Wilmington-based commercial real estate firm Maus, Warwick, Matthews & Co., represented the WAC in the sale while another partner in the firm, Bill Maus, represented NHRMC.

“When I began marketing the property, the hospital was an obvious potential buyer, and as it happened, I approached them at the right time,” Matthews said Wednesday.

He said he expects next year will bring even more changes in development to the 16th-17th Street corridor near the hospital.