In downtown Wilmington, a private dining and social club, along with an event venue owned by the same people, is off the market.

The owners have decided not to sell the City Club of Wilmington and the adjacent St. Thomas Preservation Hall, which they had listed for $7.5 million last year.

“The last interested buyers wound up not going through with it, and my partner and I decided just to keep the club and refocus on it,” said Jonathan Weiss, managing partner of City Club of Wilmington LLC.

Weiss said he would have been fine either way – sold or not sold. “But now that we are moving forward, we’re going to implement a few new ideas that I’ve been working on,” he said.

Declining to share details about those ideas Thursday, Weiss said they’re not yet solidified.

He did share one change already made, describing his reasoning in an email to club members this week. Given the decision not to sell, “I’ve carefully reviewed our position within the Private Dining Club space," Weiss wrote in the email. "Despite significant inflation over the past five years and rising costs of goods and services, we have not increased our Individual Family Membership dues since 2020. ... Currently, our Individual Family Membership dues are just $99/month – one of the lowest rates in the market.

“To ensure the continued preservation and improvement of our historic 183-year-old Club, I have made the decision to adjust the monthly dues for Individual Family Memberships to $125/month, effective April 1, 2025. Corporate Memberships will remain at $299/month, as those rates were increased two years ago.”

The City Club has 375 members, Weiss said Thursday.

Weiss and Topping bought City Club at 23 S. Second St. and 21 S. Second St. for just over $2.8 million in 2007 through their holding company Topweiss LLC. In 2014, they bought St. Thomas Preservation Hall, an event center at 208 Dock St., for $800,000, according to property records. 

Also known as the deRosset House, the three-story City Club building was built in 1844 by Armand John deRosset III, a physician, merchant and entrepreneur. It includes multiple dining rooms, two bars, six guest suites, lounges, meeting rooms and gardens. The building was renovated in 1998 and again in 2007.

Across Dock Street from City Club, St. Thomas Preservation Hall was built in 1846 by Robert Wood and “served a small but growing parish of Catholics in New Hanover County,” the property listing stated. Since closing as a church, the venue has hosted weddings and other events and can accommodate up to 200 guests.