Part of downtown Wilmington’s revitalization story has been hammered home over several decades, one board at a time.

Work on the Riverwalk along the Cape Fear River started more than 40 years ago. Initially a project to help rebrand downtown Wilmington, over the years the wooden pathway spread out from its nucleus at the foot of Market Street.

Now spanning 1.75 miles, it runs between Nun Street and almost to the Isabel Holmes Bridge – the river flowing along one side, a ribbon of commerce along much of the other.

In all, it’s taken more than $40 million to build the Riverwalk’s sections, according to city officials, who also say that more than $250 million in riverfront development has sprung up in recent years with access to the pathway.

Looking ahead, some would like the route to continue and move the line farther out, but that likely will take more time and more funds.

South End

Riverwalk South, as city officials called the portion starting at Nun Street, isn’t the oldest portion of the walkway. But it does tie in a string of shops and restaurants on the end of South Water Street embedded in historic district homes and converted buildings, such as Chandler’s Wharf, warehouse space built in 1884 that now houses stories, galleries and eateries.

The project to install the boardwalk between Nun and Dock streets, as well as pocket park spaces dotting the path, was finished in 2003 and cost $2.6 million, according to the city.

A series of waterfront restaurants from Nun Street to Market Street with outdoor dining off the Riverwalk – or in the case of the floating setup of Anne Bonny’s Bar and Grill – draw visitors during tourism season.

“As soon as the weather gets nicer, it brings people out,” said Rebecca Geyer, general manager of River 128, one of the first restaurants where people could dock their boats on the river and step off to dine in Riverwalk South.

It opened as The George in 2004 on the still-new walkway stretch and earlier this year closed briefly for an overhaul. Reopened in February under its new name of River 128, the longtime restaurant at 128 S. Water St. re-emerged with a remodeled interior, new menu and new head chef, Andrew Meade.

“We do have some regulars, mostly I would say it’s tourism (driven),” Geyer said. “We’d like to get more locals.”

With about 30 tables outside overlooking the boardwalk, the swath of river and Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, the setting often draws walk-ins, Geyer said.

“We get a lot of the foot traffic that comes off the Riverwalk,” she said.

Meetings in the Middle

In 1980, construction started at the base of Market Street on the Riverwalk.

Leaders with the Downtown Area Revitalization Effort (DARE) – a precursor to today’s Wilmington Downtown Inc. group – advocated for the project as part of its overall efforts to redesign the area as a tourist destination.

“As major retailers moved out of downtown, a seedier side moved in. An early focus for DARE was to eliminate the adult-bookstore and topless-bar businesses that had taken hold downtown,” Gene Merritt, who had served as DARE’s executive director, wrote in 2019.

“Also in those early days, DARE established Riverfest and persuaded the Azalea Festival to add a downtown street fair,” he wrote. “Perhaps the biggest accomplishment was the beginning of construction of the Riverwalk, giving people a reason to come downtown and enjoy its greatest asset – the Cape Fear River.”

In the decades that followed, segments of the walkway took shape, and the pathway ran farther north past a mix of spaces including the Alton Lennon Federal Building and Courthouse with its rising steps facing the river, Water Street Park, the recently added mixed-use River Place development, Cape Fear Community College waterfront buildings, hotels and the Wilmington Convention Center, which opened in 2010.

Work wrapping the boardwalk around the convention center took place the next year in a nearly $2 million project.

Tying into the walkway is one of the amenities for the convention center, said Fredia Brady, the facility’s general manager.
       
“It’s a huge asset,” said Brady, who joined the convention center in 2017. “If we didn’t have that, we could be in any city anywhere. It does enhance the overall experience for our attendees.”

Besides having an outdoor strolling space for those attending events and meetings at the center, the path’s connectivity also can be a convenience for visitors staying overnight.

At times, Brady said, attendees forego their courtesy buses or vans in lieu of walking to restaurants and stores in the main commercial district.

“It’s an easy connection to local happenings,” she said.

Local tourist officials took bragging rights in 2021 when the Riverwalk received national nods against its counterparts in other cities. The Wilmington asset came in No. 2 that year in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Riverwalk, falling behind the Detroit International RiverWalk but besting the Chicago Riverwalk.

The Wilmington Riverwalk is a finalist in the reader poll again this year, with voting ending April 7.

“Located along the Cape Fear River, Wilmington’s riverfront is home to a colorful riverwalk lined with more than 200 cafes, bars, and shops,” states the description on the voting page, which as of press time had Wilmington in third place on the leaderboard.
 
 

Endcap or Keep Going?

In 2017, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo stood at the spot where Riverwalk construction began 37 years earlier and declared the project done.
Others since have said, hold on a minute.

In 2023, a feasibility study was done looking at extending the Riverwalk from where it stops now at Sawmill Apartments to under the Isabel Holmes Bridge.

Wilmington City Council members in late 2023 heard the results of the study, which looked at four possible routes to extend the boardwalk farther north.

One proposed route extends it 2,200 feet along the river past Cape Fear Marina and Off the Hook Yachts, which contributed money toward the feasibility study with the city paying for the rest from the city council’s contingency funds.

The estimated cost for that route, which is the longest extension looked at in the study, was $8 million to $10.8 million depending on the decking material.

Other studied routes turn to Cornelius Harnett Drive before the marina, with varying paths farther away from the river. Estimated costs range from $5.2 million to $7.2 million for those options depending on the route and the materials.

The impact of having the Riverwalk pass by your property can be a benefit as private developers have seen on the most recent additions to the northern end.

In 2013, USA InvestCo entered into a public-private partnership with the city to extend the Riverwalk as the company built its northern riverfront development that converted an old shipping and rail channel for the Atlantic Railroad Co. into what is now Port City Marina, The Cove Riverwalk Villas houseboats and two restaurants.

USA InvestCo gave the city an easement on the property to have the Riverwalk connect through, and the company built that segment of the pathway.

The city reimbursed the company for construction costs on that extension, which cost $5 million.

The walkway now ties in north of Port City Marina to travel past the city-owned Riverfront Park and Live Oak Bank Pavilion amphitheater before stopping at Sawmill Apartments, which were built next to the bridge in 2017.

“One of the most important things that we hear from our customers is how it ties the historic downtown to the newer part of downtown and the marina district that we developed,” said Anthony Lucchino, vice president of USA InvestCo.

Lucchino said the walkability aspect of downtown helps set it apart.

With the development of the northern riverfront area, several new apartment buildings were built in the past five years, bringing residents clustered around the city’s 6-acre park.

From fairly recently introduced apartment dwellers on one end to retailers in historical buildings on the other, the thread that connects them is the Riverwalk.

“It really ties together the different parts of downtown,” Lucchino said.