Intracoastal Realty Corporation

Our Area, A Great Place To Live

A Great Place To Live

Wilmington welcomes new friends and customs, while retaining its enduring sense of being a distinctly Southern coastal city.

While the region has experienced a tremendous influx of residents from other states who have brought new services, different customs and previously unfamiliar local accents, the essential fabric of Greater Wilmington has remained intact. In fact, it is said that newcomers, instead of transforming Wilmington, are themselves transformed into Wilmingtonians.

In the past decade, a renaissance has occurred in the Greater Wilmington area, reaffirming the storied history of the regions when Wilmington was the largest city in North Carolina. People of all ages and backgrounds have been – and continue to be – drawn to the mild climate, beautiful shoreline, historic attractions, inviting business atmosphere and the hometown feel of the Cape Fear Coast.

In 1998, accolades about Wilmington from national magazines, newspapers and surveys began in earnest. One of the first named our city one of the 100 Best Small Art Towns in America (John Muir Publications, Nov. 1999), Since that time, Wilmington has garnered praise as one of America’s 100 Best Retirement Towns (Where to Retire magazine, spring 2001), Modern Maturity (May-June, 2000), American Style Magazine (summer 2002). Bottom Line Tomorrow (May 1999) and the 12th best place to set up a medical practice (Modern Physician magazine), and as number 36 on a Forbes magazine list of The 200 Best Places for Business and Careers. (May 28, 2001 issue).

One of Wilmington’s greatest resources is its location nestled between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. An enduring relationship with the water is interwoven through the city’s history. Just as colonists relied on the water for transportation of goods to build the region, so does 21st –century Wilmington rely on it to attract visitors and businesses, and to import and export materials from and to the world through the NC State Ports. Four towering container cranes punctuate Wilmington’s skyline, but the port is small compared to the mammoth complexes in Norfolk and Charleston. Nor is it nearly as congested, port official’s point out. Firms shipping through Wilmington can easily move product in and out of the terminal in the span of hours.

In true Southern sense, this is a place filled with comfortable contradiction: Wilmington emphasizes traditions, yet embraces positive innovations. This is a region where the past is honored through painstaking preservation of North Carolina’s largest collection of historic buildings and homes downtown. But it is also a place where the building of a modern art museum in the suburbs, the Louise Cameron Art Museum, designed by the architect of the additions to the world-famous Guggenheim – elicit enthusiastic community support.

The historic character of the National Historic Register District downtown offers a lively streetscape of restaurants, outdoor cafes, coffee shops, banks, governmental offices, and retail stores all frames against the backdrop of the Cape Fear River. As light falls and the sun sets over the west bank, downtown sparkles as the entertainment Mecca for the region with a seemingly endless list of theatrical productions, concerts, dance bars, and seasonal venues.

The downtown and riverfront is also the home of the 46,000-ton battleship, the U.S.S. North Carolina, where visitors can marvel at the great gray lady of the sea. Docked since 1961 on the banks of the Cape Fear River, it is seen as a reminder of the freedom’s price.

The nearby subtropical barrier islands offer many miles of beautiful beaches surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other, Cape Fear Coast and Brunswick beaches are among the most beautiful on the East Coast. A short drive across town to one of the area beaches reveals the open sky and the special quality of light that was vividly described in the journals of Wilmington’s honored artist, the late Claude Howell. Even the beaches contrast with each other, from quiet residential neighborhoods to lively areas of play to the undeveloped barrier islands.

All of these unique characteristics helped draw the film industry to the city in 1983. Since that time, Wilmington has grown into the third most active film locations, behind only Los Angeles and New Your. The NBC series Surface and the hit WB series Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill have been filmed in Wilmington among others, as well as hundreds of films such as Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, Domestic Disturbance, Sleeping with the Enemy and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

New and nostalgic attractions abound with diversity. The new 84,000 square foot N. C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher boasts “Waters of the Cape Fear.” There are new exhibits at Fort Fisher State Historic Site and Civil War Museum, tours of local historic houses and plantations, the movie studio tours, guided tours of downtown and area gardens such as Airlie Gardens, the North Carolina Azalea Festival, Riverfest, Cape Fear Blues Festival Cucalorus Film Festival and more.

While the Greater Wilmington area is geographically located two to three hours away from North Carolina’s larger central cities, it has high quality service and institutions on par with any in the state. Wilmington enjoys state-of-the-art medical facilities and programs, the significant educational cultural and economic benefits of being home to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and the advantages of being a tourist and retirement destination.

There are more than 92,000 residents in ‘Wilmington proper, and more than 168,000 in New Hanover County in the wake of a nearly 33% population increase during the 1990’s. Age demographics indicate that a quarter of the populations is age 17 and under, a fifth is age 55 and over, and more that half is 18 to 54 years old. It is 71% Caucasian and 26% African-American with a small percentage (total 3%) of Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans.

Wilmington is the economic, governmental, social, cultural services and educational hub of Southeastern North Carolina, but it also exists in complimentary relationship with the surrounding communities located in Brunswick and Pender Counties. Wilmington serves as the metropolitan center of the region, and the smaller island and inland communities of New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties create even more diverse opportunities for business success, quality-of-life choices, and leisure enjoyment.