A Houston-based company looking to construct a 180- to 202-unit student-centered apartment development near the University of North Carolina Wilmington has inked a deal for a new demo/leasing office.

Alex Abernathy, leasing and marketing specialist with Asset Student Housing, said Thursday his firm’s leasing office will occupy units 101 and 102 at 5214 Market St. by mid-November. That’s in the Market Street Station Shopping Center near the Market Street Walmart.

Gabriela Clontz, a broker with Wilmington-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Sun Coast Partners’ Team Silivanch, completed the lease transaction for an undisclosed amount.

Officials closed on the two-unit lease Sept. 10.

Abernathy said the 2,400 square feet of retail space will allow the company to showcase this newest multifamily project – Progress 910 – located near the Randall Parkway corridor, which has become a behemoth of new student-centered apartment development over the past two years.

Currently, Aynor, S.C.-based Progress Builders LLC is set to build the multimillion dollar luxury student apartment complex. Steve Hall, a broker with Wilmington-based Maus, Warwick, Matthews & Company, currently has the land under contract as a long-term lease agreement.

Wilmington City Council members recently approved a first reading to rezone the 16-acre property, located at 316 Marlboro St., for the development.

Unlike a number of garden-style apartment complexes recently completed across the city, Progress 910 will consist of three four-story apartment buildings with total indoor access. The buildings will offer elevators and remote outside entry for residents.

The rezoning request will be heard again for a second reading at the council’s Sept. 17 meeting.