As the development of two master planned communities in the Cape Fear Region proceed, new announcements include recreational facilities and the builders involved.

The communities, Blake Farm in Scotts Hill and RiverLights in Wilmington, represent two of the largest new communities that will soon be bringing new housing and commercial development to the local market.

Blake Farm

The developer of Blake Farm expects to break ground in April or May of this year on housing at the Scotts Hill project.  

Planned on a 1,300-acre site in Pender County, Blake Farm also will include YMCA recreational facilities, developer Raiford Trask III, said earlier this month. The first phase of the YMCA facilities will involve the creation of three sports fields, a field house and a 4,000-square-foot program center. 

Trask said the YMCA presence in the community would be a draw for potential residents. The second phase will include an outdoor pool and a potential 40,000-square-foot YMCA facility.

For housing in the first portion of Blake Farm, Trask’s firm, Trask Land Co., plans to build 240 garden-style apartments, 200 senior apartments and 88 single-family homes.

Of the 240 apartments, Trask said, “I think it’s important that people have the opportunity to rent and live in a superior school district,” referring to Topsail schools.

Rent for the apartments will be market rate, Trask said. He said including multifamily offerings and the recreational facilities has been part of the vision for Blake Farm from the start.

“We want to provide a diversity of housing and community opportunities for our residents,” Trask said.

The prices for Blake Farm houses will vary, starting at $295,000.

“The sweet spot for residential is in the $350,000 to $400,000 range,” Trask said. “We’re going to have a broader range than that.” 

Trask said he thinks demand will be high for the apartments and the Blake Farm homes.

“The market is robust, especially in southeastern Pender, Highway 17 corridor,” he said.

The design for the apartments and homes at Blake Farm will be Cape Fear Heritage style to reflect the country coastal lifestyle native to Scotts Hill, Trask has said.

Thomas Construction Group will build the apartments, and Trask Land Co. plans to announce the homebuilders that will work on the single-family houses at Blake Farm soon. 

Trask said the company hopes to finishing the first single-family section of 88 homes by summer 2017 and the apartments by the end of 2017.

The timeline for build-out of Blake Farm, which is expected to include the completion of 1,800 homes, will be “totally market-driven,” Trask said. 

The market for homes in Pender County overall has been bustling. 

Kyle Breuer, director of planning and community development for the county, said his department issued 97 more building permits for single-family and modular homes in 2015 compared to 2014. Home sales in the region that includes Pender County finished last year with an increase of nearly 13 percent over 2014, according to statistics from the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors.

As well as adding homes to southeastern Pender County, Blake Farm will include an expected 350,000 square feet of commercial space. Trask said his team is taking a measured approach when it comes to what kind of tenants will be located in the commercial area, which will be on a 100-acre portion at the front of the development.

“It’s going to support the lifestyle of our residents along with being a regional draw for commerce,” Trask said.

Blake Farm is the largest new community of its kind in Pender County that is moving forward on its development plans, Breuer said. 

“It’s like building a small town,” Trask said.

Trask Land Co. is incorporating a wildlife corridor and conservation efforts in Blake Farm.

Trask Land Co. is also the developer of Autumn Hall, a community on Eastwood Road in Wilmington.

RiverLights

An announcement about the group of builders that will be involved in the project is the latest update involving RiverLights, a master planned community that will be built on River Road in Wilmington.

The seven local and regional builders are:

• Plantation Building Corp

• 70 West Builders

• H&H Homes

• The Cottages

• American Homesmith

• Trusst Builder Group and

• Charter Building Group

“We employed a thorough selection process to find the highest-caliber builders to partner with us for RiverLights, and we’re thrilled to announce this team,” said Livian Jones, vice president of operations for Newland Communities. “Many were founded in or have ties to Wilmington, and our goal is to work with as many local companies as possible while mirroring the feel of Wilmington. 

“Each builder’s home designs will be approved soon, with many of them brand new and debuting at RiverLights, and construction on their RiverLights model homes should begin in just a couple months.”

According to the announcement, the builder team is creating high-performance, third-party certified homes that fit the design aesthetic set by RiverLights, under development on 1,400 acres. 

Home styles include townhomes, single and multifamily, as well as condominiums, with prices starting in the $200s.

“Each talented builder group brings their own unique touches to their customers’ projects, and many will work with their clients to add custom touches to their new RiverLights homes,” the news release said.

An announcement regarding the builder for the age-qualified section of RiverLights is expected in early May.

In addition to about 2,500 homes at full build-out, RiverLights will also include public parks, a 38-acre freshwater lake, commercial space and other amenities.

Construction of a mixed-use project in RiverLights called Marina Village is also expected to begin before or at the same time as the homes. Among other features, the project will include an information center and commercial tenants.  

The RiverLights community is owned by a business entity of North America Sekisui House LLC (NASH). RiverLights is one of 30 assets the NASH-Newland partnership owns or manages together in 14 states across the U.S.