Who Owns the Carolina Beach Boardwalk Now?

"It is almost a shut-off valve come the end of September," Roger Monk told WilmingtonBiz in August. Monk is an owner of The Tropical, and he was talking about how fast visitors leave the Boardwalk once summer ends. This year the valve closed with a crowd. On Saturday, October 3, the SeaWitch Tiki Bar held its last night and a public auction, and people carried home patio signs and bar mats.

The bar's closing is the most visible change, but it is not the biggest one. Over the past five weeks, ownership of the Boardwalk's center passed from a private landholder to the Town of Carolina Beach. The public process to decide what goes there has not started yet. For people who live on Pleasure Island, the coming off-season is the period when the Boardwalk's future is still undecided.

The SeaWitch Is Getting a Hotel Next Door

The SeaWitch sat at 227 Carolina Beach Ave. N. StarNews reported in September that the owners planned to redevelop the property with a hotel and a new restaurant that would also carry the SeaWitch name. Alan Nelson of Harmony Hospitality, which owns the original building, described the farewell auction to WECT as "like a giant yard sale, but it's been fun." The company hopes to open the new SeaWitch by the middle of next summer. It says the restaurant will be different but keep the same flair, tuna nachos included.

Harmony Hospitality is also the developer of the SpringHill Suites Carolina Beach, a 140-room hotel planned to anchor the Boardwalk's north end. Town council gave the project conditional-zoning approval in November 2025. As of August 12, the town's community development director, Jeremy Hardison, said Harmony had started applying for permits. The first phase is an oceanfront amenity pavilion, and Harmony planned to start building it this fall, with the hotel to follow. As of early October, no groundbreaking date or issued construction permit had been reported. The fall start is still a plan.

Business owners nearby see the hotel as a way to stretch the season. Jim DeGilio, executive director of the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce, expects it to bring in guests who are in town for business events, family reunions and weddings. LeeAnn Tluchowski, an owner of Malama Cafe, pointed to the conference space as good for Boardwalk businesses. Monk said he hopes the hotel brings more visitors in the off-season, when he says Carolina Beach becomes a "ghost town."

The hotel is a private answer to the quiet months. The town has started on a public one, a few steps away.

The Ground Under the Rides Changed Hands

On September 1, the N.C. Local Government Commission approved a $10 million installment-financing contract for the town's $12 million purchase of nine properties in the Boardwalk area. The deal breaks down this way:

• Financed: $10 million through Truist Bank at 4.53% interest over 15 years
• Remaining $2 million: split between room-occupancy-tax revenue and town cash
• Seller: Carolina Beach Land Holdings LLC, under a lawsuit-settlement agreement with the town
• What sat there: seasonal amusement rides run by SECOF Construction, owned by Ken Cofer, at 1 Cape Fear Boulevard

In the town's September 29 announcement, the purchase is described as completed, though no deed-closing date is given.

For anyone who grew up with the carousel and the summer carnival, the important detail came from Mayor Lynn Barbee in a WECT interview in early September. "They will most likely not be on this property next year," he said of the rides. He added that "there's plenty of vacant property around and certainly we would entertain those ideas if they wanna move." Barbee said the purchase is about keeping the Boardwalk in community hands and protecting it from future development, not about the rides.

So the summer of 2026 may have been the last season of rides on that lot. Nothing about where they might go next has been announced.

What the Town Says It Wants There

Four weeks after the financing vote, the New Hanover Community Endowment approved a $3.5 million provisional grant for what the town calls the Carolina Beach Coastal Park and Event Stage. The park would sit on five of the nine newly purchased properties. Early ideas include a stage for entertainment and educational programs, a large open lawn for events, and family-friendly features such as a possible splash pad.

In the town's announcement, Barbee tied the project to the beach's history:

"In 1887, Captain John Harper brought the first day-trippers down from Wilmington, and this stretch of oceanfront has been a gathering place for New Hanover County residents ever since."

The design has not been drawn yet. The town says the grant lets it begin planning, including gathering public input on the park's design. Port City Daily reported a two-year goal for council and staff to produce an oceanfront park plan with public input. As of October 4, no public meeting dates or design milestones have been published. In August, Barbee said he would like to see the site host concerts, markets and outdoor movie screenings. DeGilio said he hopes the land purchase creates a "true center of town" for both visitors and locals.

A related idea is still under study. Monk brought a social district proposal to town council earlier this year. A social district would let people buy a drink at a participating business and carry it anywhere inside a designated area. Council did not vote on it, and staff were directed to research the process and requirements. No date was set for the proposal to come back for discussion. In August, Monk said talks about the details were on hold during the busy summer season. No later council action had been reported as of early October.

If a park with an event stage gets built, the town will own the Boardwalk's central gathering space. Whether that space fills up in February depends on decisions that have not been made yet.

The Off-Season Calendar Through Thanksgiving

The busiest part of Pleasure Island's fall calendar falls in the weeks after the SeaWitch auction. Several of the biggest events take place on or near the waterfront spaces that are changing.

The Kite Festival begins on Friday with activities at the pier and in Carolina Beach, then moves to Fort Fisher for daytime kite flying over the weekend. During Restaurant Week, participating restaurants offer prix-fixe dishes or special menus. It's an easy week to try spots you have driven past all summer. The Boo! To Trash cleanup is a joint event of the town and the North Carolina Aquarium, and it starts at the pier.

Several of these events, including the bonfires and music nights, the markets and the holiday lighting, are the kind of programming the mayor has described for the future park. For now they are spread among the pier, Lake Park and Kure Beach's Ocean Front Park.

Two Changes at the South End

There are two schedule changes for anyone heading toward Fort Fisher. The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is closed for construction during a multi-year renovation and expansion. The Southport–Fort Fisher ferry switched to its fall weekday timetable on September 8, and that schedule runs through December 31. Compared with the spring and summer weekday table, it drops the 10 a.m. departure from Southport. Weekend sailings follow a separate timetable all year.

One date is missing from the calendar above. A 2026 date for the Pleasure Island Seafood, Blues & Jazz Festival had not been confirmed in current event listings as of this writing. Check with the organizers before you plan a weekend around it.

Changes to the Boardwalk can change what nearby oceanfront homes and furnished rentals are worth, in both directions. The Chris Luther Team follows each step on the hotel, the park plan and the rides, so owners on Pleasure Island know how it may affect their property. Request Your Free Coastal Home Valuation, and we will walk you through what the Boardwalk plans could mean for your home.