The city of Wilmington is evaluating the future of land near Skyline Center to accommodate potential improvements at Live Oak Bank Pavilion and Riverfront Park.

Last summer, the city solicited bids for the 3.26-acre property at 1001 and 1021 N. Front St., before pausing the process to evaluate the city’s potential needs for the site. Now, planning for the site’s future is underway, City Manager Becky Hawke said during a budget work session on Friday.

The city received nine bids for the property from development firms last year, proposing a range of multi-family, market-rate apartments or mixed-use developments with multi-family housing and ground-floor commercial space. Bids for the property ranged from $3.5 million to $7.25 million, according to information obtained through a public records request.

Hawke said Friday that the bids were all under the property’s appraised value, some by several million dollars, and included a “significant component of market-rate luxury apartments,” which city officials didn’t believe was the property’s highest and best use.

Officials are now pursuing a feasibility study that will look at potential improvements to operations, facilities, access and other aspects of Live Oak Bank Pavilion, according to Amy Willis, the city's communications manager. The city recently selected Wilmington-based engineering consultant Kimley-Horn to lead the feasibility study. The study, which is still in its early stages, will take place in the coming months.

“The goal is to inform the future capital improvement program and development of the Greater Downtown Plan on the feasibility of park improvements and their relationship to the surrounding downtown area,” Willis wrote in an email to the Business Journal. “Once the feasibility study is complete, the City will evaluate all the presented options. Should the City decide to move forward, a request for qualifications (RFQ) will be issued to hire a consultant for any future efforts.”

Mayor Bill Saffo said during the work session on Friday that the future of the property at 1001 and 1021 N. Front St. is tied to broader, ongoing conversations about improvements needed to accommodate Live Oak Bank Pavilion and Riverfront Park.

“If we were to sell that property, there’s no way we could make any kind of adjustment to that park,” Saffo said. “It’s an urban park, it’s in a very tight area, the logistics are challenging.”

Hawke said city officials want to make sure they have enough space to accommodate any proposed improvements to the concert venue before selling the land adjacent to it.

“On the off chance that we can’t, retaining that parcel allows us to expand … and ensure that Live Oak Bank Pavilion has everything it needs instead of accidentally selling the opportunity, and now we’re stuck with less of an opportunity of what that park can be.”

Hawke said Live Nation, the concert venue’s operator, has expressed a willingness to partner with the city to fund potential improvements but wants to understand the total cost.

The city also plans to issue a request for proposals for a master planning effort for the city-owned downtown tracts, a process that will involve council and resident input, Hawke said.

“We want to make sure that (any development) has opportunities for public gathering, public interest,” Hawke said Friday, “and that we are doing things that complement our existing downtown rather than compete or take away or don’t deliver as much as it could to make downtown a place where people want to come and stay for a while.”