In the Wilmington area, the term “neighborhood retail” is not only being applied to communities currently under development but also to infill commercial projects. 

During a recent rezoning request considered by city officials, the term was used for Arbor Commons, a development expected to include a grocery store, an office building and more than 10,000 square feet of retail space in a third structure on South 17th Street in Wilmington. The Wilmington City Council unanimously voted in June to grant the rezoning request that will allow Arbor Commons to be built on about 12 acres of undeveloped land close to growing residential areas.

“At Arbor Commons, the city called this area a neighborhood commercial hub. Interconnectivity, walkability were major factors that the city wanted our client to put into the site design,” said Nicholas Silivanch, partner in Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate, the firm representing Arbor Commons developer Leon Capital Group for the project’s leasing and sales.

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Urban Land Institute define a “neighborhood center” as a place that provides for the day-to-day living needs of the immediate neighborhood, typically built around a supermarket as the primary tenant and ranging in size from 30,000 to 100,000 square feet.

For centers in or near a community, a grocery store can be key, Silivanch said. 

“There are some concrete facts about the grocery business. No. 1, people need to eat; No. 2, people like competition and value for price; No. 3, people don’t want to travel far to purchase their food,” he said. “Those are reasons why neighborhood grocery stores will continue to be an element of planned communities and infill locations.”

While restaurants are considered service providers rather than retail, they’re often staples of neighborhood commercial hubs. For River Bluffs, a planned development on the rise in New Hanover County’s Castle Hayne area, a recently opened restaurant in the neighborhood called Porches Cafe is a convenience for residents and those who live or work nearby, said River Bluffs developer Burrows Smith.

While there are only about 30 families living in River Bluffs right now, that number could grow to a total of 600 in years to come as more lots are sold and homes built there. The community is gated, but Porches Cafe is open to the public, and those who aren’t residents can visit the restaurant just by giving their names to the guard.

“Our whole concept is kind of a neo-traditional design and trying to be more sustainable and cut down on car trips, so we have our organic farm out here that supplies a lot of the neighborhood and then it also supplies our café,” Smith said. “So people can come here and eat lunch and not have to drive. And in the evening, they can come in and have a glass of wine and not have to worry about driving. They can walk over here.”

The café also appeals to River Bluffs’ mix of ages, Smith said.

“The older people like it because they don’t have to drive, and the younger people find out they like it, too, because the kids can come over by bicycle and get something … Older teenage kids can go to the pool and get lunch,” Smith said. 

Having access to businesses close or in their neighborhoods is something the public wants, Smith said.

“We may expand on that [the café] in the future, maybe do more convenient items where they can come over here and get half a gallon of milk or a roll of toilet paper and not have to drive out and pick it up,” he said.

He said the restaurant also gives potential homebuyers who are looking at River Bluffs a place to go to think about or talk over whether they want to live there.

“We see that happen quite a bit, and then also sometimes people come to eat lunch and then it introduces them to the neighborhood,” Smith said. “We’ve actually gotten a few sales that way.”

River Bluffs plans to eventually add a riverfront restaurant, which will also be open to both residents and the public, Smith said.

It’s typical these days for a developer planning a 100-acre or more residential project to include a small commercial center at or adjacent to the neighborhood’s entrance, said Cindee Wolf, owner of Design Solutions and a land planner who has also been working with Leon Capital Group on Arbor Commons. In New Hanover County, infill projects like Arbor Commons could be on the rise as land dwindles for large, master planned communities.

“The convenience factor – especially by pedestrian or bike – is huge,” Wolf said, “but without the adverse stigma of driving through a large commercial corridor to get to the simple daily stuff.”