An HGTV show host plans to open a home store and design center in a historic Wilmington landmark this spring.

Interior designer Meg Caswell, season 6 winner of the HGTV show "Design Star" and host of two seasons of "Meg’s Great Rooms" on the national cable network, aims to begin selling furniture, lighting, artwork, accessories and other home decor by March in the 100-year-old fire station at 602 S. Fifth Ave.

Located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Castle Street in the Castle Street Art & Antiques District, the store will be called 5th & Castle and include a design center. Caswell, who moved to Wilmington from Chicago with her husband in 2013, leased 1,800 square feet on the bottom floor of the building.

“I believe that this neighborhood has a lot to offer,” Caswell said Friday. “I wanted to be part of a community of other shop owners who are also creative and like-minded. I want to strengthen that area of Wilmington because I think it has a lot of potential.”

Working with Jenny Kastner and Kimberly Davis, two other designers, Caswell will also offer a range of design services, from allowing homeowners who want to do their own projects to gain inspiration from the wallpaper and upholstery books available in the design center to in-home consultations about specific pieces to full-service projects.

Broker Terry Espy of Momentum Companies represented the landlord, Castle Street Investments LLC, in the transaction.

“That area is a destination shopping area now,” Espy said, adding that 5th & Castle could help take the district to a new level by drawing national attention with Caswell’s presence.

For eight months, Espy said, her company had been marketing space in the building, the 15-year home of Working Films before the non-profit organization relocated in October.   

“When we were brokering this property, one of the commitments I made is we wouldn’t bring in something that would compete, it would only enhance,” Espy said. “Meg is the perfect complement.”

Caswell said she wants 5th & Castle to host wine and design evenings and DIY classes. Vern Yip, host of HGTV’s Deserving Design and Design Star judge, plans to launch his new accessory line during a visit to 5th & Castle, Caswell said.

Caswell began her career with Ralph Lauren Home after graduating with a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in interior architecture from The Art Institute of Chicago. The host of 18 episodes of "Meg's Great Rooms" also owned a design firm and home décor store in Chicago, where she still has an office. She describes her design style as preppy and vintage Palm Beach, using, for example, lacquered traditional pieces mixed with new, innovative items for an updated take on traditional themes.

Caswell said she travels to the Windy City every three weeks and has clients up and down the East Coast and beyond.

“Having that national presence on television opened the door to work all over the country,” she said.