Bill Saffo, Mayor, City of Wilmington

In an interview with Invest:, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo discussed Wilmington’s economy, infrastructure, housing, industries, and workforce. “We work closely with Cape Fear Community College to ensure employees are trained in the applications and processes a company will use, allowing them to get started as soon as a plant is finished,” Saffo said.

What is driving growth and investment in Wilmington?

Wilmington’s economy and the regional economy in southeastern North Carolina are doing quite well. The transition began after I-40 was completed in 1990. Since that major infrastructure improvement, we’ve seen increases in population, business, and tourism. 

Wilmington’s leaders also made it a point over many years to diversify our economy. People sometimes think a coastal economy is driven primarily by tourism, but this community thought outside the box. We understood the need to diversify, work with our universities, community college, and the state of North Carolina, and bring more businesses and business interest to southeastern North Carolina. That has been achieved and continues through a lot of hard work and dedication. 

We’re in the process of opening a significant Amazon facility here. It will probably employ more than 1,000 people and represent an investment of more than $1 billion and 3 million square feet of space. Corning has operated one of the world’s largest fiber-optic plants here for years and is expanding its operations. Our airport is also growing by leaps and bounds, with close to $200 million invested and more direct flights connecting us to markets around the world.

What differentiates Wilmington for businesses and residents?

Our natural resources have always attracted people. When you’re on the coast, people want to be near it. In the past, the coast was viewed primarily as a tourism destination, but that isn’t the case in southeastern North Carolina. We have focused specifically on growing businesses in our community.

You have to be business-friendly and understand what companies will need in terms of infrastructure and the investments communities may have to make or share with a company locating here. We ask what we can do to remove obstacles so companies can build their plants, move their people here, and educate employees in the processes they will use. It all works together. We invest in Wilmington Business Development, an economic development organization that recruits businesses and helps us understand what companies need for future growth or to locate in Wilmington. It is an important resource for the city and New Hanover County, which partners with us.

Which infrastructure projects matter most now?

Replacing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, which has been in place since 1969, will probably be one of the most expensive projects in the state’s history when it is completed. Brunswick County, on the west bank of the Cape Fear River across from us, is one of the fastest-growing counties in North Carolina, if not the fastest.

As its population has grown and people have moved there for affordable housing and other reasons, the bridge has become a critical link to our city and its businesses. We’re told the replacement could cost up to about $1.3 billion. It would be a significant state investment in this part of North Carolina and is projected to carry roughly 90,000 to 95,000 cars per day within the next 20 years. Today, the bridge carries more than 65,000 cars daily. Finding a long-term solution for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is one of the most significant infrastructure decisions facing our region.

How is the city working with the private sector on housing?

Companies looking to relocate, move here, or expand their operations consider affordability. They ask what they will have to pay employees and whether those employees can find reasonably priced housing within that pay range. As in Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, or Asheville, people here are moving farther out to find affordability. The city of Wilmington has a program where we set aside one cent out of the property tax rate toward affordable housing, and we like to partner with tax credit developers or the private sector to ensure we can put a certain amount of affordability into our marketplace. We think that is extremely important for the economics of this region and this area.

How are tourism and the port evolving?

This is a beautiful area, so hospitality and tourism continue to grow. The sector employs more than 7,000 people locally. It is a significant driver and has always been a mainstay of southeastern North Carolina’s economy. I continue to see hotel opportunities because we desperately need additional rooms. In New Hanover County and Wilmington, especially during spring, summer, and even fall, finding a hotel room is difficult because we don’t have enough. We have tracked that need for some time. As a member of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, I see the number of people coming here for vacations, weddings, and other destinations, and the market continues to grow. 

I also see tremendous opportunity in transportation initiatives that support shipping through the Port of Wilmington. The state has made significant investments in the port. The goal is to deepen the Cape Fear River channel from 42 feet to 47 feet, although that raises environmental issues. It was previously deepened from 38 feet to 42 feet.

How are education partners responding to workforce needs?

One of the great things North Carolina did many years ago was create the community college system. We work closely with Cape Fear Community College to ensure employees are trained in the applications and processes a company will use, allowing them to get started as soon as a plant is finished. One company we’ve recruited is Protocase, which came from Nova Scotia, Canada, and does a lot of business with the space industry.

Training workers to assemble those systems was critically important to the company’s decision to move to Wilmington and continue expanding its operations here. The same is true for Amazon, which will use the community college system for logistics, robotics, and related work. Corning is also expanding in the Wilmington area, making employee training critically important. The community college works hand-in-hand with us on economic development and workforce preparation.

What are Wilmington’s priorities for the next few years?

The optimism will always be here. Southeastern North Carolina will continue to grow. In our discussions with the state and demographers tracking population growth, we’ve seen that North Carolina has made significant changes to its tax structure, including efforts toward a zero corporate tax and a lower state income tax. Those changes have been a major driver in bringing more businesses to the state. North Carolina continues to be one of the fastest-growing states in the country.

In the most recent Census estimates, North Carolina had the third-largest population increase in the nation, behind Texas and Florida. About one million people moved to the state during the last decade, and another million are expected between 2020 and 2030. We see the state’s population continuing to grow. Buncombe County and the Asheville area are among the four areas expected to receive the highest percentage of that growth. We see the state’s population continuing to grow, with some of the strongest growth occurring in major metropolitan areas and fast-growing communities across the state.

The Charlotte region, the Triangle, and southeastern North Carolina are all expected to continue seeing significant population growth. Brunswick County, in particular, is projected to be among the fastest-growing counties in North Carolina. We will continue to see people moving into this area.