The next piece to Project Grace could have an Air about it.
During the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series at the Wilmington Convention Center Thursday morning, New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet announced that the block of downtown Wilmington slated for a new library and museum could also include an area for a Michael Jordan museum.
Coudriet said the county has entered into “a memorandum of understanding” with the family of the basketball star and business mogul to “plan and design a museum dedicated to highlighting the accomplishments and legacy” of the man he called “the GOAT: the greatest of all time” and “second to none in the worlds of sports and business.”
Michael “Air” Jordan, a Wilmington native, is considered by many the greatest basketball player ever. He’s a six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and one of the world’s most famous people. Until August, he was also the majority owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
Coudriet said the county and the Jordan family “have identified the corner of Third and Chestnut streets (as) the ideal location” for a museum.
According to a news release from the county, an upcoming planning phase “will include schematic design as well as operational details of the partnership. Funding for this phase will be included as part of the overall Project Grace planning budget and is expected to occur in 2024.”
During his presentation Thursday morning, Coudriet attributed the Jordan family’s interest in building a museum here to “the leadership of Project Grace.”
According to the memorandum of understanding itself, which is dated Dec. 4 and signed by Coudriet and Jordan’s mother, Deloris P. Jordan, the museum as envisioned would include “important artifacts and objects to tell the family’s story.
“The Jordan family is willing to contribute and loan the personal items necessary and appropriate to activate and fulfill the purpose of the museum.”
The memorandum goes on to state that the county and the Jordan family “will work together during the 2024 calendar year to develop the building’s design schematics and operating agreements.”
The memorandum also notes that “it is only an expression of mutual interest and not a binding agreement … A binding agreement will arise only upon the parties’ complete execution and delivery of a final, agreed-upon set of documents for the museum’s design schematics and operating agreement.”
The document appears to leave open the possibility that a Jordan museum would be managed by the Cape Fear Museum, even if a Jordan museum was a separate building or facility.
Since the 1980s, the Cape Fear Museum on Market Street, which will share a new Grace Street location with the downtown branch of the New Hanover County Public Library when Project Grace is completed, has had a display called “Michael Jordan: Achieving Success.”
The Cape Fear Museum also has a “Michael Jordan Discovery Gallery” that explores the ecosystems of the Lower Cape Fear.
Jordan grew up in Wilmington, starring in basketball for Laney High School before going on to win a national championship in 1982 with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Thursday’s announcement could be a turning point in acknowledging Jordan’s Port City roots.
There’s a stretch of Interstate 40 in the county bearing Jordan’s name, as well as the Michael Jordan Sports Complex at Laney, to which Jordan has donated money over the years.
Beyond two murals on Castle Steet depicting Jordan’s No. 23 jersey from both Laney and UNC, however, there’s little else.
Jordan is not in the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame. He’s also not on the Wilmington Walk of Fame, which highlights local notables and is located in the Cotton Exchange parking lot. While Chicago has a statue of Jordan outside the arena where the Bulls play, Wilmington does not have a monument.
Interviewed for a StarNews story about Jordan’s importance to Wilmington in 2022, Mayor Bill Saffo was asked about an MJ statue in the city.
“It should be downtown. Tourists would love it,” Saffo said. “It’d be a great honor to have it. It’s long overdue and, honestly, probably should’ve happened a long time ago. For whatever reason, it hasn’t.”