Despite Wilmington’s Planning Commission approving a rezoning of the property at 1618 Dawson St. to a Community Business Conditional District for general retail use with fuel pumps, plans for the site have stalled.
The Planning Commission’s approval would have allowed for the construction of a new, single-story Circle K at the former Walgreens site on Dawson Street, but Wilmington City Council met the rezoning ordinance with a tied vote, resulting in a denial of the rezoning.
Walgreens closed in November 2021, leaving an 11,000-square-foot building and 33,000 square feet of parking on the site. Circle K had plans to demolish what’s left of the property and construct an approximately 5,000-square-foot structure and add 14 fuel pumps under a one-story canopy.
Before becoming the site of a Walgreens in 2019, 1618 Dawson St. operated as an Eckerd Drug, and then as a Rite Aid.
The applicant’s representative, Amy Schaeffer, told the planning commission that the site as it sits currently is in no way aligned with the city’s comprehensive plan. The current condition offers no pedestrian connectivity, active ground-level retail or public amenities.