It’s safe to say that Rich Leder is one of North Fourth Street’s biggest fans.

“I think North Fourth Street is the coolest area in our city. It’s Wilmington’s Soho,” said the executive director of the Brooklyn Arts Center at 516 N. Fourth St.

Part of downtown Wilmington’s ongoing growth has included a recent uptick in activity along North Fourth Street, site of the Brooklyn Arts District.

Builders are adding townhomes and condos to the area, new retail is on the way and an expanded event center is expected to draw more attention to the district this year. 

Brooklyn Arts Center at St. Andrews, a former church that was built in 1888, is expanding its offerings though the use of The Annex, an adjacent, two-story school building added to the area in 1910.

BAC is restoring the schoolhouse, with the expectation of finishing the project and opening The Annex by September. 

“It’s certainly going to bring more weddings and events and concerts and things like that. It’s going to allow me to do larger events because I can connect the two buildings,” Leder said recently. “So instead of doing a fundraiser for 450 people, I can now do fundraisers for 800 to 900 people.” 

In addition to bigger events, The Annex will also allow BAC to hold smaller events.

“Over time, I hope to double the number of weddings I do. I can now do things that I wasn’t able to do before, smaller events, small concerts, small poetry readings” and art shows, occasions that wouldn’t need all the space the BAC has in the larger church portion of the property.

In an example of new investment in the area, Ray Worrell and his partner, Kevin Rhodes, bought a building and vacant lot made up of 924 through 928 N. Fourth St. on Jan. 22 for an undisclosed amount.  

Cody Cress and Tyler Pegg with The CRESS Group of Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners represented the sellers, John and Mary Battle. Jeff Hovis of Intracoastal Realty represented the buyers. 

Worrell owns four Slice of Life locations throughout Wilmington, and Rhodes is the co-owner of Palate, a bottle shop and growler filling station at 1007 N. Fourth St.

The only immediate plans the partners have for the building, which currently has two tenants, is to renovate the two apartments upstairs, Worrell said.  

“We see a lot of good things happening on Fourth Street in the Brooklyn Arts District, and we see it as a good investment for the future,” he said.

A new tenant is coming to a building in the 1000 block of North Fourth. Jeff Bridgers, founder of a men’s grooming product company called Forge & Foundry, and Logan Tudor of Lowborn Supply, who makes wooden products including shaving brushes, tobacco pipe tampers and razor handles and stands, leased the building at 1005 N. Fourth St. on Jan. 18. The space, owned by Greater Wilmington Business Journal president Robert Preville, is currently home to a hair salon. The salon, Hair Slayer, will be moving to a new location on North Fourth.  

Bridgers has been selling his products, which include handmade shave soap, beard oil, pomade and other grooming items to a couple stores and barbershops in Wilmington, and throughout the country online, while Tudor’s products have been available on Etsy.com. The two knew each other from having attended the same school, North Brunswick High School in Leland.

“I sold some of his stuff on my site and he started selling some of my stuff on his site,” Tudor said.

“We did a couple of holiday markets together and realized we shared the same vision and kind of mustered up the courage to open a retail spot in Wilmington.”

Their store will be called Brick + Mortar Goods and Supply, and in addition to Forge & Foundry and Lowborn Supply products, it will offer other handmade items, along with coffee, Bridgers said. 

“We’re going to bring in other brands that we’re friends with – pipe tobacco, tobacco pipes, cigar singles and then some apparel, some jewelry, lifestyle gear, accessories,” Bridgers said.

They hope to eventually add motorcycle gear and accessories that have a vintage feel to the store’s inventory. Bridgers and Tudor will be upfitting the space. 

“We’ve had some awesome people that have donated materials [for the renovation], and we’re going to help promote their businesses, too, in the store,” Bridgers said.

Bridgers said they hope to open Brick + Mortar Goods and Supply in April.

“It’s just a cool building, and Palate’s right there beside it,” Bridgers said, when asked why he and Tudor chose 1005 N. Fourth St. 

On the other side of the Brick + Mortar space, a new restaurant, The District Kitchen & Cocktails, was opened recently by Luke and Lisa Poulos, with a menu focusing on steaks and seafood.

“It’s an up-and-coming spot. It doesn’t have the focus that prime downtown Wilmington has, but it’s definitely on the come-up,” Bridgers said. “I think it suits our story. We’ll grow with the area.”

Leder said he, too, expects growth.

“It’s only going to get cooler. It is in the process of getting cooler, and it’s going to continue to do that – more condos, more galleries, more shops, more restaurants,” Leder said. “It’s growing, and it’s growing in a really kind of hip way.”