Last year, developers submitted plans to build student housing and commercial space on the former Kmart property near the University of North Carolina Wilmington. But although the South College Road store closed in March 2017, Kmart had an option to renew its lease.

And that's exactly what the embattled retailer did, a spokesman confirmed this week, renewing the lease in December last year.

"Controlling good real estate, long term, at attractive market rents provides the company with many opportunities," said Howard Riefs, spokesman for Kmart owner Sears Holdings Corp., in an email Friday regarding the renewed lease. "At this time, a decision has not been made regarding its future use."

The nearly 13-acre site on highly visible property in the 800 block of South College Road includes an almost 118,000-square-foot Kmart building and empty parking lot. The Chili's Grill & Bar restaurant is part of the same tax parcel, county records show. 

Wilmington-based GHK Cape Fear Development and Capstone Collegiate Communities, a Birmingham, Alabama-based student housing development company, had joined forces to plan, on the Kmart site, a project called The Hamilton, a mixed-use development that would hold up to 899 student beds in one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments.

The Hamilton would also include 28,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.

Officials planning The Hamilton declined to comment Friday, including on whether the project is still in the works.

The developers had submitted site plans last year to the city of Wilmington for technical review, but there's been no activity in the city approval process since 2017, said Brian Chambers, senior planner for the city of Wilmington. 

City planners and leaders have long used the Kmart site, even before the store closed, as an example of a property that was prime for redevelopment, partly because of its sea of parking that might be put to a better use and partly because of its location. 

"That's a prime piece of real estate right next to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, one of the fastest growing universities in the university system that needs housing close to the university," said Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo on Thursday.

Of the property as it stands now, Chambers said, "It's not good for any city to have vacant buildings, especially on a prominent road like that. I don't think anybody wins."

The developers of The Hamilton had initially hoped to start the project quickly and complete it by August 2019.

The property is owned by Jack A Sneeden Corp., according to New Hanover County property tax records. Jack A. Sneeden Corp. is a Z.A. Sneeden's Sons Inc. company. Stuart Sneeden, vice president of Z.A. Sneeden's Sons, did not immediately return a message left for him Friday morning. The Wilmington Kmart on the site closed in March last year after Sears Holdings announced in January 2017 that it would be closing more stores.

In some of the latest news about the retailer, Sears Holdings announced additional Kmart and Sears closings in June, and said in July that it was laying off 200 more Sears employees, according to national news reports. The Sears store in Wilmington off Oleander Drive closed this summer.