This year, local industries and leaders face significant issues, from finding a new permanent head of the $1.7 billion New Hanover Community Endowment to asking voters in New Hanover and Brunswick counties to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in school bonds.
The following story also highlights other developments expected to punctuate 2026. For example, Novant Health is developing new facilities to serve a growing population, with the opening of a 74-bed Scotts Hill hospital expected this year. A local expert explains how the area’s film industry has been struggling and faces an uncertain 2026. And in the tourism sector, officials are hoping to attract more visitors to the area through strategies outlined in a master plan.
Endowment expected to search for new chief
In 2026, the New Hanover Community Endowment will begin its search for a permanent leader and continue studies that could guide future grant-making in New Hanover County, officials say.
The $1.7 billion fund was formed in 2021 from the proceeds of the sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health. Since its inception, the endowment has committed $176 million in grants, with $53 million committed in 2025.
The endowment has operated under the leadership of interim president and CEO Sophie Dagenais since July, following the resignation of former president and CEO Dan Winslow.
The endowment board plans to begin discussions around the search for a permanent leader during the first quarter of 2026, according to board chair Shannon Winslow, who is not related to Dan Winslow. The board opted to hold off on the search as it worked to implement an ongoing strategic refresh that will guide the organization through 2030 if approved by state regulators.
The endowment also plans to move ahead in 2026 with studies that will guide future investments. This fall, for example, the fund selected a partner for a comprehensive assessment of the county’s recreational landscape.
The endowment has announced partnerships with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to map the county’s existing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem and with NC Child to study resources and needs in the county’s early childhood sector.
In December, Dagenais said the endowment did not yet know the official 2026 grant budget but estimated it at around $58 million. Of that, a little over $20 million has already been committed to existing multi-year grants and forward commitments, leaving an estimated $30 million available for new awards in 2026.
Health care facilities on the rise in New Hanover
Wilmington residents can look forward to several new hospital campuses in 2026, as Novant Health has four expansion projects slated for the new year, and nonprofit MedNorth Health Center expects to complete new construction on a new 35,000-square-foot campus downtown in March.
Novant’s expansions fill important gaps in the region’s growing health care needs as inpatient occupancy rates at the area’s flagship hospital, Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, trended above 95%, according to a spokesperson. As Novant prioritizes expanding care to surrounding communities, residents will benefit from having care closer to home.
Novant expects to open a 16,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center in Leland, on Ocean Highway East, with an expected opening in the summer of 2026. Novant also filed an application to build a 20-bed hospital near the Terrapin community in Leland, which is forecasted to open in 2030.
Closer to its flagship hospital, Novant is opening an outpatient clinic in midtown Wilmington at 3601 Converse Road, on two floors of a former Verizon Wireless call center, with construction slated to finish by late 2026 and a phased opening between late 2026 and early 2027. Additionally, Novant is also expected to open its three-story, 74-bed, 250,000-square-foot hospital in Scotts Hill Medical Plaza, which will connect to and expand the existing Scotts Hill emergency department, in the summer of 2026.
“We’re investing approximately $400 million to bring several new projects online in 2026. The bulk of the investment is for Novant Health Scotts Hill Medical Center,” said Ernie Bovio, president of Novant Health Coastal Region.
In addition to the new campuses, in 2025, basketball legend Michael Jordan donated $10 million to NHNHRMC to advance research and innovation in brain health. The donation will go toward dedicating Novant’s neuroscience institute as the Novant Health Deloris Jordan Neuroscience Institute, in honor of Jordan’s mother. The ceremony is slated for early 2026.
Lastly, MedNorth is finishing construction on its long-awaited campus downtown. The planned facility is two stories tall and approximately 35,000 square feet.
Voters to decide on school bond proposals
Two bond referendums are slated for the 2026 ballot to fund new schools and other investments in both New Hanover and Brunswick counties to accommodate ongoing growth.
In New Hanover County, the proposed $320.5 million school bond would fund an initial phase of improvements at New Hanover High School, a new elementary school in the Riverlights area, and the construction of two new schools to replace Trask Middle School and Pine Valley Elementary School.
Also included in the bond would be funding to add eight classrooms to Porters Neck Elementary School, along with district-wide improvements to building systems, infrastructure, safety and technology.
If approved, the proposed bond would result in an estimated property tax rate increase of 1.75 cents per $100 of valuation for 10 years, according to New Hanover County officials.
In Brunswick County, officials are pursuing a $350 million bond referendum to fund the design and construction of a new elementary and high school. The schools will be located in parts of the county, such as the Leland area, where the population is growing the fastest, according to Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Dale Cole.
The bond would also fund new land purchases, facilities upgrades and the extension of Governors Road, which aims to alleviate traffic backups around Town Creek Elementary and Middle schools.
If approved, the proposed bond would result in an initial property tax rate increase of 2.25 cents per $100 of valuation in 2027, increasing to a total of 5.73 cents per $100 of valuation by 2031.
Both referendum proposals will need approval from the N.C. Local Government Commission before being placed on the November ballot.
Film industry uncertainty expected to continue
As of December last year, only one TV series had been booked for Wilmington in 2026.
ABC detective show “RJ Decker,” based on a Carl Hiaasen novel and starring actor Scott Speedman, filmed in Wilmington in late 2025 and was expected to continue filming this year. In December, Gov. Josh Stein tried to put a positive spin on the situation, declaring that three film projects, including “RJ Decker” (which is receiving $11.6 million in film grants) and two more filming in other cities, were receiving incentives.
But overall, the filming news has not been good at all.
More alarming than the lack of Wilmington-area projects, said Wilmington Regional Film Commission director Johnny Griffin, is “leading up to this, there’s been a huge reduction in production in general, all across the U.S.”
An example: “Soundstage occupancy in LA normally runs in the 90% range, and right now, it’s like down in the lower 60s,” Griffin said.
Uncertainty abounds.
“We don’t know that it’s going to come back early in ’26,” Griffin said in December.
He and other industry professionals say part of the problem is the North Carolina film incentives program, which is a 25% rebate program.
“For us to stay current, we’ve got to be able to update it,” Griffin said. “We are starting to fall behind a little bit because we’re just not making changes to keep up with it.”
Meanwhile, he said, “Europe is extremely busy,” and “Production in Australia this year (2025) is up like 85%.”
On top of that, Griffin said, writers’ contracts, which led to a strike in 2023, are up for negotiation once again this year.
He said, “We don’t know what the outcome of that is going to be this go-round.”
