Downtown Master Planning Market Feasibility and Economic Analysis Services

The City of Wilmington, North Carolina, is seeking a qualified vendor to provide downtown master planning market feasibility and economic analysis services. The agency needs to assess its current baseline, set a strategic direction, gather data, analyze strengths and opportunities, and identify potential incentives. This initiative aims to solve the problem of unstructured downtown growth by establishing a clear, data-driven roadmap for future development. The scope of work covers conducting market feasibility analyses across residential, office, retail, and hospitality uses, alongside developing site strategies and targeted uses. The selected vendor must create a comprehensive roadmap that locates preferred uses and intensities, identifies future public spaces, and outlines conceptual activations. Additionally, the project requires establishing preferences for urban design, streetscapes, and connectivity, developing detailed public investment and incentive strategies, and adopting a regulating plan and form-based code for the district. Eligible bidders must be onshore organizations based in the United States. The agency will allow the performance of the work to take place offsite. Bidders must submit all questions regarding this opportunity no later than June 29, 2026. The agency is currently looking for proposals to determine the budget and has not disclosed specific evaluation criteria in the initial request.