The improving housing market is prompting a Charlotte-based developer to resuscitate a formerly defunct development in Surf City.
 
Robb Stinger, sales manager of Diamondback Development, said Tuesday his firm is now marketing and selling lots in The Peninsula at Topsail, a housing development located off Atkinson Road in the growing beach town.
 
Diamondback Development specializes in purchasing large tracts of prime real estate, and developing the infrastructure for the property to sell the lots directly to consumers, Stinger said. He said many to the firm’s properties are located on lakefront, mountain and coastal regions of North Carolina and Virginia.
 
Officials began selling lots in the development last month.  
 
“We market to the end user,” Stinger said. “Our model is to find unique tracts of land  and buy them outright and to sell under market value. The best way to do that is eliminate everything in the middle.”
 
The firm acquired the 8.88-acre property in late 2013 from Shallotte-based Red Apple Group LLC, Stinger said.
 
Singer said the site, which juts out into Topsail Sound, was originally slated to include 36 lots. But after the original developers ran into problems getting local and state approval to fill 1.9 acres of wetlands on the property for development, Stinger said the project ultimately stalled.
 
Since purchasing the property, Stinger said Diamondback officials have reconfigured the site to accommodate 24 lots and have recommitted 3 acres of the site back into wetlands – a plan recently approved by the N.C. Division of Coastal Management (CAMA).   
 
Lot prices start in the mid $100,000s, Stinger said. He said each home site also has dock-able water frontage and paved roadways; Surf City water and sewer infrastructure is in place.
 
“There are 24 dock-able waterfront lots with private beach access,” Stinger said. “Because of the geography, the property juts out into Topsail Sound more than any other buildable land in the area, offering property owners unobstructed sunrise and sunset views forever.” 
 
Stinger said since placing the development back on the market, officials have closed on one lot and two others are under contract. He said the site’s proximity to Wilmington and Jacksonville, along with its direct access to Pender County beaches, are helping to drive sales in the development.
 
“Most of the interest is coming from people who already live on the island,” Stinger said. “You’re talking about property that is about 800 feet from the ocean … Everything about this property is unique.”  
 
The firm also plans to market The Peninsula at Topsail to potential buyers in Raleigh and Charlotte given the development’s location as an ideal secondary vacation or retirement residence for big city dwellers.
 
Stinger added that if a buyer closes on a lot and receives the proper CAMA permitting, Diamondback officials will also construct a boating dock on their site.
 
Officials say they are pleased with the area and the development’s potential – one of their first in the Topsail Island area. 
 
“The people there have been great and real welcoming,” Stinger said. “We’re excited to be there.”

To learn more about the development, click here.