With a legislative deadline approaching in Raleigh, the development firm that owns the former Galleria commercial site on Wrightsville Avenue is working to arrange a land swap between Wilmington and the town of Wrightsville Beach that would see the construction of a new liquor store to replace the one currently on that road.
However, with several details left unresolved, including the size of the land exchange, the New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Wednesday didn’t take up a proposal to agree to the sale of the property to State Street Co. of Charlotte, which owns the neighboring Galleria site, as well as property on Airlie Road that was recently rezoned for mixed use development. Board members said they needed a survey of the new site before moving forward.
Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair said the town is negotiating to keep its share of revenue from the ABC Store, which is one of a handful of commercial properties over the drawbridge that are part of the town’s tax base. So far just in 2017, the store has generated $420,577 in revenue for the town and is projected to top $600,000.
While the State Street Co. was interested in the store’s current site, moving the store from it would impact the town’s revenue. As a compromise, State Street Co. was offering a similar piece of property on Wrightsville Avenue east of the Galleria Site, where the Melrose Place mobile home park was located until recently.
To accommodate the swap, the North Carolina General Assembly would have to annex the new lot into Wrightsville Beach and allow Wilmington to annex the current ABC store site, which must be accomplished before the projected June 30 end of the 2017 legislative session. There would also need to be an agreement between Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach to allow the town to continue to receive the tax revenue from the store until the new one is constructed.
County ABC CEO Marnina Queen said preserving the revenue for Wrightsville Beach was a top priority for the board.
The current ABC Store at 6730 Wrightsville Ave. is 4,138 square feet and was built in 2001. The new store would have 6,500 square feet, as well as a loading dock and larger parking lot. The Wrightsville Avenue store is the third smallest of the nine stores in the county, but generates nearly 13 percent of the county’s total liquor sales revenue.
