The historic building on Front Street could see a new facade

The historic building on Front Street could see a new facade

Changes could be coming to the facade of a historic building in downtown Wilmington.

The proposed changes to 9 S. Front St., a location most recently home to Platypus & Gnome restaurant, include remodeling the facade to reflect the original store design.

The changes are scheduled to be presented to the Wilmington Historic Preservation Commission for review on Thursday.

James Goodnight bought the Front Street building in 2016 for more than $1.8 million. While modernizing the space for a “new food and beverage tenant,” Goodnight said developers found evidence of the storefront's original design, which dates back to the building's construction in 1899.

Goodnight now proposes demolishing the non-original storefront and constructing a new storefront with two entrances to “recreate the original configuration of the storefront,” according to a case summary compiled by City of Wilmington planning staff.

“Restoring this storefront and slightly changing the floor height will make the space much more ADA compliant and create a much more efficient interior layout without devoting as much square footage to circulation space,” Goodnight wrote in an email to the Business Journal .

Additional work is also planned along Bettencourt Alley on the south side of the building. New exterior lighting and the removal of a non-historic fire escape are proposed for Front Street.

The location previously housed Caffe Phoenix for more than two decades. Platypus & Gnome opened on the first floor of the building in 2016 before vacating the space last year for a location near Wrightsville Beach.

Work on the building is expected to be completed in 2025, and while Goodnight said he has a “great tenant in tow,” he isn’t ready to announce the new occupier just yet.

The three-story building is a contribution to the Central Business District Historic District Overlay. Wilmington's seven-member Historic Preservation Commission considers exterior modifications to properties in the city's historic district, or overlays, “to ensure compatibility with the historic character of the district,” according to the city of Wilmington's website.

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