"It's exactly what we needed," Jamie Alfalla told Port City Daily this summer. She meant a car wash tunnel at 8121 Market St., with arched ceilings and a big parking lot, sitting between the Walmart shopping center and a cluster of medical offices.
Alfalla's group first looked in the Wrightsville Beach area for its second Concorde Espresso Bar. They chose Porters Neck once that building came open. For anyone who lives across the Figure Eight Island swing bridge, the choice says something about the stretch of Market Street that islanders cross every day. A hospitality group with an established downtown following weighed the beach against Porters Neck and went north. This fall, the mainland strip at the island's front door is filling up with reasons to stop.
A Car Wash Tunnel, Rebuilt as a Jet Cabin
Concorde opened in Porters Neck on June 26, 2026. The original Concorde is downtown, inside the Front Street Inn bed and breakfast. It shares parking with the inn and depends mostly on street parking. The Porters Neck site has neither problem.
The group bought the property last year for $1.8 million and turned it into a 2,500-square-foot bar on a 1.3-acre lot. The old conveyor line is now a tube-shaped private jet cabin that seats 40 diners. Oblong screens line the walls like windows, showing trees and a lake at takeoff, then clouds against a pink-and-orange sky once "in flight." Creative Media Group, a company that also works on NBA jumbotrons, helped install the screens. Alfalla calls the effect "an in-flight immersion." Because the same video moves down the cabin, every seat sees the same view.
Outside, a fenced courtyard has couches and four-top tables, most of them with fire pits for s'mores. An upstairs lounge sits above. The menu mixes coffee and cocktails from around the world: Thai iced tea, Vietnamese coffee and a latte fleur on the coffee side, and a Singapore Sling, a Passion Fruit Martini and a Brazilian cherry mojito on the cocktail side. Each weekend the "flight" goes to a new city, with Tokyo, Paris and London among the early stops.
About 1,200 people came through on opening weekend, according to Alfalla. That is a big crowd for a strip of Market Street most people know for errands.
A Short Stretch of Market Street, Filling In
Concorde isn't alone on this part of Market Street. Two other addresses close by show how this corner of Porters Neck has been adding places to sit down and stay.
| Address | Business | What it is | Status as of late September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7946 Market St. | Brewha | Bottle shop and taproom with live music and food trucks | Grand opening held in April 2024 |
| 7968 Market St. | Brasato Chophouse | Italian steakhouse with 100 seats | Targeted a Sept. 15 opening; no opening confirmation found |
| 8121 Market St. | Concorde Espresso Bar | Coffee and cocktails in a jet-cabin setting | Open since June 26, 2026 |
Brewha came first. When it opened in spring 2024, StarNews described it as a family-friendly bottle shop and taproom. Brasato Chophouse is the next one coming. Restaurateur Gianni Cinelli told Port City Daily in August that he planned to serve lunch and dinner seven days a week starting at 11:30 a.m. He also said the kitchen would have no head chef "per se," and he was hiring a sous chef and an executive kitchen manager. The target date was Sept. 15, and finishing work was still underway when that story ran. As of this writing, the restaurant's website shows only a newsletter signup. Calling ahead is the surest way to learn whether the dining room is open.
Between Brewha's taps, Concorde's courtyard and Brasato's planned 100 seats, a few blocks just past the Figure Eight bridge now cover morning coffee, an evening drink and a steak dinner.
October and November, Close to the Bridge
These businesses aren't the only draw. The fall calendar within a short drive of the island is already full, and it starts this week. Here are the dates in order.
- Oct. 2 to 11: Port City Taste Restaurant Week. There is no ticket, coupon or password. Diners ask a participating restaurant for its special menu. Two restaurants appear on the North Wilmington roster. Bridgewater Wines + Dines, at 178 Porters Neck Road, offers a $50 prix-fixe menu after 4 p.m. Cornelia's Restaurant, at 980 Roadhouse Circle, offers a two-course lunch for $20 and a three-course dinner for $50.
- Oct. 3 to 4: Haunted Rooms Paranormal Investigation at Poplar Grove. The Haunted Rooms America team runs an overnight ghost hunt from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. with traditional and modern equipment. Snacks and refreshments are included, and there is free time to explore at the end.
- Oct. 10: Paranormal Ghost Tour at Poplar Grove. Tours run on full or new moons. Each guest gets some history, a Scroll of the Dead and the chance to focus on one or more rooms. Tickets are $25 plus taxes and fees, and advance reservations are required.
- Oct. 17 to 18 and Oct. 24 to 25: two more Haunted Rooms overnights. Same 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. format.
- Oct. 31: Halloween night Paranormal Ghost Tour at Poplar Grove.
- Nov. 27 to 29: Merry & Bright opens at Poplar Grove. Tickets are $10 for all ages, with hours from 5 to 9 p.m. Expect campfires for roasting marshmallows, Santa, a decorated manor house, a juried gift show, a USO letter-writing station, food trucks, drinks, live music and lights. The festival returns Dec. 4 to 6, and its final weekend is Dec. 11 to 13.
The Poplar Grove dates mark a change of season on its grounds. The Wednesday Open Air Market, which ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., held its last market of summer on Aug. 26. From the first October weekend until Merry & Bright opens over Thanksgiving weekend, the evening programs take over.
What Hasn't Arrived Yet
The north end's next chapter could be bigger, but it isn't settled. Blake Farm's planned commercial hub in Scotts Hill would hold up to 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, medical and office space. As of WilmingtonBiz's May 2026 report, tenant talks were still preliminary and no tenants had been named. It is a project to watch, with no confirmed names behind it yet.
Concorde is the confirmed part of the story. A downtown group with a known following looked at the beach and picked a car wash near the Figure Eight bridge for its arches and its parking. For a broader view of island life, see our look at the Figure Eight Island coastal lifestyle and the Figure Eight Island neighborhood page. For how a nearby waterfront community spends its own season, see a Bradley Creek Point summer.
If you own on Figure Eight Island and want to talk about how changes along Market Street might shape the way your property is presented, Sam Crittenden is glad to share what he's seeing from the mainland side of the bridge. Schedule a Private Consultation.
