ILM Has Spent $150 Million of Its $300 Million Buildout

Wilmington International Airport has spent roughly half of its $300 million, 10-year capital program, and the remaining $150 million is committed over the next five years. Airport director Jeff Bourk outlined the milestones this week. The program exists for one reason: enplanements (passenger boardings) have doubled, from about 450,000 in 2021 to a projected 910,000-plus by the end of 2026. ILM has simply outgrown itself.

What opens first?

The garage. ILM broke ground last summer on the second phase of a $130 million project covering parking and curbfront work. The new garage — 600 general spaces plus 300 rental car spaces — opens by Thanksgiving, with the extended pick-up and drop-off curb following in April, Bourk said.

The math is blunt. "If your enplanements are going to grow, your parking has to grow, your rental car spaces have to grow and your curb length has to grow," Bourk said. "So that's what was really driving this entire project."

Once complete, the airport will hold roughly 3,600 total parking spaces. That buys capacity until 2033, when projections show ILM outgrowing parking again. A second future garage is already planned on the site of an existing lot near the terminal. Planning beats pleading.

When does the terminal expand?

Not soon, by design. The terminal project adds five new gate parking positions for aircraft and four jetways, plus two new concession spaces and additional seating. The ramp expansion that must precede it should finish by December 2027, with terminal construction wrapping in 2029.

Bourk frames the timeline as a warning against waiting. "We could still add some more flights and still keep growing that a little bit, but if we sit back and do nothing for three more years, by the time we need more space, we won't have it," he said.

The terminal is, in his words, already at capacity for gates and passenger design load. Inbound and outbound baggage area expansions are in the design phase. For concession operators, two new spaces mean two new lease opportunities inside a terminal whose traffic has doubled in five years.

What about the hotel?

In the airport's business park, construction is underway on a 150-room Crowne Plaza. New York City-based developers Chip and Andrew Weiss, through ILM Hotel Partners LLC, closed at the end of September on tax-exempt financing for the $50-million-plus project.

"We are looking to open our doors in 20 months," Chip Weiss said in mid-October, "and we believe that's a pretty realistic time schedule. All of the subcontractors are on board, and things are moving quickly. Quite frankly, this is the much easier part for us. We've built a lot of hotels, but getting through the bond process was long, a long process."

Five years in, the project was originally slated to open three years ago. The delay, Weiss argues, has been accidental market timing. "Look at what's happened with the expansion of enplanements at the airport in the last three years. Look at what's happened in population growth … and hotel rates and occupancy are up as well over this period," he said. "The passage of time, although painful, has worked to our advantage."

Bourk added that the hotel could house flight crews who regularly overnight in Wilmington — a steady, rate-insensitive demand base most airport-adjacent properties would take gratis.

What else is in motion?

Plenty. The runway work alone is a phased campaign:

• Pavement rehabilitation at both ends of the 8,000-foot primary runway is complete.
• ILM secured $6.3 million in federal grant funding this summer for the runway's center section.
• That work starts in March.

On the ground side, the $1.1 million East Ramp Utility Project is finished, bringing water and sewer to an underdeveloped airport zone where tenants are weighing site developments. The airport is also extending Hall Drive through its business park to Castle Hayne Road, giving traffic a straighter shot to Interstate-140, and has committed companion funds to a N.C. Department of Transportation project widening 23rd Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Airport Boulevard.

Funding comes from the airport's net operating income, state and federal grants, and standard facility charges on passengers and rental cars. No local tax subsidy appears in the mix.

Bourk notes that airlines weigh an airport's growth and investment when deciding where to add flights — infrastructure as a recruitment tool, not just concrete. "We're going to continue to grow as long as we don't become a constraint to our own growth," he said. "And that's what our capital program is all about: making sure we can accommodate the growing needs of this community." The next test arrives at Thanksgiving, when the garage opens and 900 new spaces meet a passenger count still climbing.