Brokers are looking for tenants for a new retail and service center at the corner of Independence Boulevard and Carolina Beach Road.

Called Carolina Crossing, the property would include at least 15,000 square feet of space, with smaller units, a two-story building with the potential to include a bank and a larger 5,700-square-foot structure expected to be occupied by a convenience store, according to a conceptual plan.

Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate is handling the sale/leasing for an unnamed developer, who has the property under contract.

“We’re actively looking for tenants, preferably single-net tenants,” said Nicholas Silivanch, partner and vice president of retail for ECCRE.  “It’s a prime location on a great hard corner in a developing area of town.”

At a meeting Sept. 1, the Wilmington City Council approved a rezoning request for 3739 Carolina Beach Road that makes the entire 1.8-acre property a Community Business District zone.  A half acre was zoned residential, a split that created "issues of use and consistency," according to a letter to the mayor and councilmembers from Sterling Cheatham, city manager.

The rezoning was requested by the owner of the currently undeveloped shopping center site, Independence Ventures, represented by John Hinrichs of Commercial Realty Company. With all of the property zoned CB, a larger center is allowed, as well as a gas station with a convenience market and a fast food restaurant, according to a city chart showing typical uses for the zoning.  

Several new residential projects are either in the pipeline or already under way near the site of Carolina Crossing, including Barclay and Meridian at Fairfield Park apartment communities.

And more commercial development is expected to be coming on nearby land. Stone Theatres is building a 55,000-square-foot cinema near Independence Boulevard and South 17th Street in the Barclay commercial area. The commercial part of the Barclay project is a joint venture between Cameron Properties Land Co. of Wilmington and Collett, a commercial real estate firm in Charlotte.