WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s been one month since the city council approved a resolution to declare a number of city-owned properties as surplus, to make way for the possible purchase of the Thermo Fisher building.

Nine city-owned properties will be declared surplus if the city purchases the Thermo Fisher campus.

WWAY spoke with a realtor about the market’s demand for commercial properties.

The largest properties declared as surplus by the city, are in downtown. The Harrelson Building and parking at North Third Street and Chestnut Street, with 28,596 square feet and 11,306 square feet, and offices at 305 Chestnut Street that are 63,236 square feet.

Steve Mitchell,2023 Cape Fear Realtors president and 2020 Realtors Commercial Alliance president, says within the last few years, a lot of new office space has become available in downtown Wilmington, and absorption has been favorable.

“The thing about real estate is location, location. If you look at the evolution of our city over time, a lot of things that were purposed for one purpose have now been repurposed for something else, and that evolution constantly continues. So, it could be office today, might be residential tomorrow. Who knows what the demand could be in the future, and typically that would be what would happen in our city,” said Steve Mitchell, 2023 Cape Fear Realtors president.

Mitchell spoke about the process of selling commercial properties, and steps companies would take exploring available spaces on the market.

“Explore the property, understand all of the nuances with it from a physical characteristic from what could happen down the road, with highways improvements or rezoning,  understand the history of the property, look at –investigating things about the building, if there’s a building on it, and then from a use standpoint, to make sure that if their purchasing the property they can use it for the intent that they intend to use it for, –or if it’s an investment, make sure that the investments going to pan out, and achieve their investment goals,” said Mitchell.

If council votes to move forward with the financing for the purchase of the Thermo-Fisher building, also referred to as the Northern Downtown Office Building, the buildings declared as surplus would be available for sale.