The “missing tooth” problem.

In the case of real estate, the phrase has nothing to do with dentistry. Among land and urban planners, it’s a well-known metaphor that can help underscore the benefits of infill development.

“If you can picture a street where you’re going down – say North Fourth Street or Third Street or wherever – and you see a gap where there’s been a building that’s been taken out and nothing’s been put back, it’s like having a missing tooth in your smile,” explained Glenn Harbeck, director of planning, development and transportation for the city of Wilmington.

The same goes for vacant land surrounded by development. It’s an aesthetic issue, but it’s also important to have a continuous streetscape, something infll projects can provide, he said.

But infill development can also be a solution to what Harbeck sees as one of the main challenges facing the city.

“The No. 1 issue that we have in Wilmington right now is concerns about traffic, and infill development, by shortening the distance between homes and services or homes and places of work, actually is the best solution available to reducing traffic on our streets,” Harbeck said.

In addition to easing traffic, infill and redevelopment projects make use of existing infrastructure, can boost languishing neighborhoods and expand a community’s tax base, planners and developers said.

Closer To Home

The current influx of competing grocery store chains planning and building new stores in the Cape Fear region reminds Harbeck of free-standing pharmacy development that took place at a rapid clip not too long ago. It makes sense that grocery stores would follow suit as the city grows.

“Those stores are catching on to the fact that they want to locate to be more convenient to where people live because people are tired of fighting the traffic just to get to the grocery store,” Harbeck said.

Sometimes it can be hard to convince neighbors that a new store could cut down on the number of cars headed their way.

“The very best thing we can do as a city is to have more services closer to where people live. Not in the midst of neighborhoods, but on the margins of neighborhoods along our major thoroughfares,” he said.

Developer and property owner Jim McFarland is working on bringing a major grocery store to an infill and redevelopment project at North 10th and Princess streets, on the site of the now unused Coca-Cola bottling facility.
Tentatively called 10th Street Station, the project could bring new businesses and housing to unused buildings and vacant land.

“We’re going to make the area very walkable, very inviting, a community center feel out of everything,” McFarland said in a recent interview.

Maximizing Use

The beauty of infill development, said Clark Hipp, an architect based in downtown Wilmington, is that it can be more cost-effective, environmentally effective and socially responsible because the infrastructure is already in place.

“That’s important to the community because the community’s the one who really pays for the sewer lines and the water lines. It’s rarely the developer.
The developer may pay for an extension or a portion of it, but the Sweeney Water Plant is paid for by you and me,” Hipp explained.

Hipp’s business partner Clark Henry, a land planner, added, “A mile of water and sewer costs a lot of money, so you want to maximize the use within that mile.”

Harbeck said, “By having more infill development where the city is already in place, that sends the wave of population coming our way where it can be accommodated without destroying the very things that bring people here to Wilmington – our marshes, our sounds, our waterways … The more people we can capture where the area’s already urban, the better we’ll be able to protect our natural environment.”

A New Vision

Current examples of infill and redevelopment in the works or on the way to downtown Wilmington abound – from McFarland’s project to a recent request for proposals and qualifications to study development possibilities in an underused city block owned by New Hanover County.

The property, about 3 acres, includes the main branch of the New Hanover County Public Library, the library’s new Story Park, an EMS facility and a 650-space parking deck, all of which must remain on the block, although “there is the potential for reconfiguration,” the request says. The request says the county services “could be incorporated into new buildings proposed at the site.”

Wilmington Downtown Inc., one of New Hanover County’s economic development partners, is leading the effort to find a firm or firms that can conduct a market demand analysis and a site analysis for the property.

The results of the studies, which could eventually lead to a private-public partnership, are expected to be complete by next summer, a WDI announcement said.

Along with the county facilities, the property includes surface parking lots and an unused county building. The former Register of Deeds office is vacant after the department was relocated to newly renovated space at 320 Chestnut St.

Currently, the former Register of Deeds location is “not particularly useful” for commercial or office purposes, the proposal request says.

Henry, of CIII Associates, said his firm plans to respond to the request, calling the site a rare chance to help accommodate growth while enhancing downtown and the region.

But infill and redevelopment are also becoming important outside of downtown.

The city’s Comprehensive Plan identifies specific areas throughout the city where infill and redevelopment could work. And soon, that plan will be followed by a revamping of Wilmington’s zoning laws.

“I believe that’s going to encourage the development of commercial nodes throughout the city,” Hipp said.

Infill also takes vision on the part of developers and a willingness to work on making that vision a reality in previously untested spaces, said Henry and Hipp, who have launched a real estate investment crowdfunding company, Our Move, that focuses on community revitalizations projects.

“You have to find developers that are willing to make that leap,” Hipp said.