A rezoning and the use of exceptional design principles helped pave the way for a planned 240-unit apartment community in northern Brunswick County, according to developers and a commercial broker involved in the project.

The developers expect a grand opening to be held at Hawthorne at Leland, a class-A apartment community that will be located on Blackwell Road near the town of Leland, by early 2017, a news release said. The project is a joint venture between Evolve Development LLC and Hawthorne Residential Partners of Greensboro, which owns and manages 10 communities in the Wilmington area.

Work has begun on the 15-acre Hawthorne at Leland site, where grading is underway and foundations will likely be poured in the next 30 days, said Ed Harrington, principal with Hawthorne Residential Partners, on Monday.

When Don Harley, broker and partner in Wilmington-based Coldwell Banker Commercial SunCoast, was approached by Mike Winstead, partner and one of the founders of Evolve Development, to help him find property for a new apartment complex, Harley thought of two tracts in Leland. One involved 8 acres zoned Commercial Low Density (CLD) that were for sale, while the other, an adjacent 7-acre parcel, was neither for sale nor zoned CLD.

“I was confident we could put this deal together and make this property work for Evolve. Once we got the 7-acre tract under contract, we worked with Evolve and Brunswick County to get it rezoned to CLD. We also worked closely with the Brunswick County Planning Department to secure density credits to allow for the type and size development needed to make this project viable,” Harley said in a news release.

He said CLD-zoned land has a maximum density, or allowable units, per acre, but the Brunswick County Unified Development Ordinance allows for additional density credits if the developer can produce an “exceptional design” that includes such things as open space and energy efficient buildings.

Phil Norris, principal of Norris & Tunstall Consulting Engineers of Wilmington, was hired by Evolve Development to come up with an exceptional design master plan for Hawthorne at Leland. Norris worked with Brunswick’s planning staff in the creation of the master plan, according to the news release, and the county’s planning board approved enough density credits to increase the density from 13 units per acre to the developer’s goal of 15 units per acre.

Norris said in the release that Brunswick County “has the criteria for density credits clearly spelled out in its Unified Development Ordinance, and this particular property had the physical characteristics that make an exceptional design possible – not all properties do. Throughout the site plan process, we worked closely with Planning Staff to ensure we were interpreting the guidelines correctly.”

Winstead said Coldwell Banker Commercial SunCoast went “the extra mile to identify the right property for our project and to alert us to the county’s density credit program. Without their expertise and guidance, the outcome could have been dramatically different, but instead, we’re looking forward to celebrating the grand opening of 240 new apartments with the Leland community next spring.”

Hawthorne at Leland Apartments LLC bought the 15 acres earlier this year from two different owners for about $1.6 million, according to deeds recorded in Brunswick County.

When finished, the apartment community will include 240 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 10 buildings, a clubhouse and pool, fitness center, business center, outdoor kitchen and grilling area with TV, pet park and landscaped grounds, according to the release.