Culver's, the Wisconsin-based chain famous for ButterBurgers and frozen custard, has filed plans to build its first Wilmington restaurant at 6 Van Campen Blvd., a site that would require demolishing a former Kirkland's Home building near UNC Wilmington. The proposal calls for a roughly 4,500-square-foot drive-thru restaurant with 95 parking spaces, replacing the 7,108-square-foot former home decor store built in 2006. But anyone craving cheese curds shouldn't clear their calendar just yet — planning documents indicate construction is not expected to begin until 2027.
The filing, submitted to the city on July 24, was first reported by the Wilmington Star-News. Public filings reviewed by the paper include no formal construction timeline or opening date beyond the anticipated 2027 start, according to a separate review of city planning documents by Port City Daily. The 1.51-acre property sits on land zoned regional business and is currently owned by Cole KR Wilmington NC LLC, which bought the site for over $2 million from NENR Investments LLC back in 2012.
Untangling exactly who is moving the deal forward takes some work. Entitlement paperwork shows franchise representative Dimitri Dimitropoulos authorized 6 VCNC Land Co. LLC as the buyer to secure permits from seller Vereit Real Estate LP, which had previously acquired the property from original owner Cole Real Estate Investments, per Port City Daily's reporting. The Dimitro Group LLC, the entity tied to the franchise application, is based in Shorewood, Wisconsin.
Why This Stretch of Market Street Made the Cut
The site's appeal comes down to traffic and students. Commercial real estate filings show the parcel sits near corridors handling 23,000 average daily vehicles on Market Street and 18,600 on New Center Drive, less than a mile from UNC Wilmington and its 17,915 students, according to filings reviewed by TSCG. Culver's official site selection guidelines specify a preference for corner lots at signalized intersections with dedicated left-turn access and pre-existing drive-thru zoning approvals, according to WilmingtonBiz. The site plan requires a two-way entrance on a public drive to accommodate the expected flow.
Redeveloping the parcel comes with an environmental cost, too. Site plans filed with Wilmington planners show the project will require removing seven trees, including an 8-inch and a 22-inch Live Oak along with several magnolias — a job that requires special city tree-removal permits, per the same Port City Daily filing review.
Wilmington Stands Alone in the Tri-County Market
Culver's corporate franchising materials list coastal North Carolina's tri-county region as a target market, but officials in neighboring Brunswick and Pender counties have confirmed that no development applications have been submitted in their jurisdictions, Port City Daily reports. For now, that leaves Wilmington as the chain's only active foothold along the coast. The nearest operating Culver's locations for southeastern North Carolina residents have been roughly 80 to 100 miles inland, in communities including Hope Mills, Clayton and Wake Forest, according to Culver's own restaurant locator.
The Wilmington filing lands amid an aggressive national push. Culver Franchising System LLC is targeting 59 new store openings across 20 states in 2026, marking its largest single-year expansion in more than a decade, per Men's Journal. That follows a steady run of net openings — 55 stores in 2022, 51 in 2023 and 53 in 2024 — that pushed the franchised network to roughly 990 locations before it crossed the 1,000-store mark, as previously reported by Hoodline. The chain now has 18 locations in North Carolina.
Still a Small Player Nationally
Despite the growth spurt, North Carolina remains an emerging market for the chain rather than a stronghold. Among the 27 states with operating locations in mid-2026, Wisconsin leads with 151 stores, followed by Illinois with 137 and Florida with 118, according to location tracking from ScrapeHero. North Carolina's 18 locations put it well behind those established markets, underscoring how new this corner of the map is for the brand.
Culver's traces its roots to 1984, when Craig and Lea Culver, along with Craig's parents, opened the first restaurant in Sauk City, Wisconsin. The chain says it cooks every ButterBurger to order and sources every cheese curd from a Wisconsin dairy farm, serving what it describes as fresh meals and farm-fresh dairy frozen custard. Culver's is known for that trio of ButterBurgers, frozen custard and cheese curds, and the company announced a new menu rollout earlier this year that continues through the calendar year. Kasey McDonald, per the Star-News report, said Culver's puts its own spin on menu creations — a detail that fits the brand's pitch as it looks to introduce itself to Wilmington diners for the first time.
