The New Kingswood Community Center

A new home for the heart of Riverside

Since 1946, the Kingswood Community Center has given Wilmington’s Riverside neighborhood a safe place to learn, play, and gather. For nearly 70 years, it did that work from a 17,000 square foot building on Bowers Street. But the community outgrew it long ago.

Today, Kingswood has a home worthy of its mission. The new 81,000 square foot center, built on land behind the original building, brings early learning, recreation, healthcare, and senior programs together under one roof. It’s the latest milestone in the REACH Riverside revitalization led by The WRK Group.

EDiS served as Construction Manager from preconstruction through turnover. As the owner’s advocate, our team worked side by side with The WRK Group, Fearn-Clendaniel Architects, and our trade partners to bring the community’s vision to life.

Built for every generation

Kingswood likes to say it serves the community “from the cradle to the cane.” The new building does exactly that with these new features:

• Early Learning Academy with infant, toddler, and after-school classrooms; more than doubling childcare capacity from 122 to 250 children and adding infant care for working families.
• A full-size gymnasium with hardwood floors and a video-wall scoreboard that seats 600 for games and 1,500 as an auditorium.
• A fitness center and outdoor court for neighborhood athletes.
• A commercial kitchen and dining room to expand health, nutrition, and community gathering programs.
• A dedicated senior center; the first in Kingswood’s history.
• A Nemours pediatric health center, bringing expanded medical care to a historically underserved neighborhood.

Scope grew, the schedule held

From the earliest design phases, our preconstruction team worked with Kingswood to align the program with available funding. Along the way, we helped the owner rethink how its funding sources were applied, freeing up the flexibility to say “yes” to every alternate. The result is a bigger, better building for the community.

As the building came to life, Kingswood’s vision kept growing, with an enhanced lighting package, upgraded security, terrazzo floors, and the hardwood gym. Our team worked every addition into the plan without extending the schedule, and we kept field and design changes to under 2% of the project. Through it all, we treated the job the way a Construction Manager should: transparent numbers, honest answers, and a team that went to bat for the owner every day.

Planning ahead made the difference. Our BIM/VDC model from our AMP Team mapped out the steel sequence early, keeping cranes moving efficiently between the conventional steel structure and the Butler pre-engineered gymnasium. The team closed in the complex facade before winter, and when Otis arrived to install the elevator, their crew told us they had never seen a site so prepared. Kingswood turned over with a minimal punch list, right on time for its November 2026 grand opening.

Built with the neighborhood, for the neighborhood

This project was about Riverside from the very first day. In January 2025, EDiS hosted a Subcontractor Job Fair at The Warehouse, connecting neighborhood residents directly with trade contractors hiring on the project. On site, we treated our trade partners as true partners, listening to their input and sequencing work to protect quality.

For EDiS, this one is personal. Project Engineer Deonta Martin grew up using the original Kingswood center. “Kingswood is not just a construction project,” he said when the project began. “It’s a symbol for making a difference from within.”

Kingswood opened its doors in November 2026, delivered on schedule, with every alternate included and a building the community helped design.

The new center is already being celebrated as the heart of Riverside’s transformation. As Wilmington Housing Authority Executive Director Ray Fitzgerald told WHYY, “If Kingswood was the heart before, it’s the whole body now.”

For 80 years, Kingswood has carried Riverside’s trust. We were honored to carry it with them, and to build a safe gathering place for the next 50 years and beyond.

1 of 3 Exterior Rendering