Memorial Day weekend has historically marked the unofficial start of summer tourism season for Southeastern North Carolina. But like many things, the pandemic has changed business as usual. On Thursday’s BizTalk, the head of the area’s tourism efforts talks about what’s changed for the “on-season” and previews what to expect for this sum ...

The developers of a long-discussed mixed-use project in Southport joined BizTalk this week to give an update on their plans. In 2020, Bald Head Island Limited and East West Partners proposed a nearly 400-acre, $565-million development dubbed Project Indigo. Plans call for single-family homes, apartments, townhomes, duplexes and commercial space. It would add onto the ...

A federal agency this week provisionally awarded the rights to plan two wind farms off Southeastern North Carolina’s coast to two companies that offered $315 million. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s auction happened Wednesday for two lease areas in the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area, totaling nearly 110,100 acres. One lease provisionally sol ...

Hurricane season officially starts June 1, and preparation is key, not only for emergency officials but for businesses and residents as well. The coast in the Wilmington area is often included in a hurricane's cone of uncertainty (probable storm track based on models) and storms have caused major damage in recent decades to communities in the Cape Fear region. Knowi ...

New Hanover County recently released a review of the county’s economic development climate. The analysis by Greenfield Development Co. is the first formal look for the county since the Garner report in 2014. To talk about what the review focused on and what county officials took away from it for future goals, Jennifer Rigby, the county’s chief strategy offic ...

Following up on last week’s WilmingtonBiz Talk with developers of the proposed Battleship Point project across from downtown Wilmington, two groups weighed in about their thoughts on developing the waterfront property. Kemp Burdette, of Cape Fear River Watch, and Travis Gilbert, of Historic Wilmington Foundation, talked about their views on the project a ...

Thursday’s BizTalk focused on the latest issues around cybersecurity. The Biden Administration warned of the potential for cyberattacks from Russia because of the escalation of attacks in Ukraine. Joining BizTalk were two cybersecurity experts – Ulku Clark, professor and director of UNCW’s Center for Cyber Defense Education, and Geoff Stoker, assist ...

On Thursday’s BizTalk, we checked on the latest buzz from Wilmington’s restaurant scene. Joining were Terry Espy, president of MoMentum Companies who has worked with a number of restaurateurs to open locally, and Daniel Hlusak, corporate chef of Floriana, which opened in downtown Wilmington in April 2020, just at the start of the pandemic. They talked abo ...

Sports tourism brings thousands of visitors to the Wilmington area each year for races and tournaments that require hotel stays and more spending. A big example: The 12th annual Novant Health Wilmington Marathon weekend, which takes place Feb. 24-26. The event will bring more than 3,500 runners and features a full marathon, half marathon, marathon relay, downtown 5K and ...

Last month, the city of Wilmington joined New Hanover County in creating a position to look at equity efforts within their government operations and services to the community. Joe Conway started Jan. 18 as the city’s first chief equity and inclusion officer, coming from NHRMC where he had served as the hospital’s director of health equity and human experienc ...