A mixed-use development could one day replace a mobile home park at 7000 Wrightsville Ave. in Wilmington.

The owner of about 5 acres there is seeking a rezoning from the city that could help pave the way for commercial space and residential units, with up to 40 townhouse units allowed if developed as a single-family project or 66 units if developed as multi-family, according to city documents.

The site would be incorporated into the master plan for land that previously held the former Galleria shopping center, which is at 6800 Wrightsville Ave. and zoned urban mixed use (UMX), or developed as a complementary use to the redevelopment of the Galleria site, according to a letter to city council members and the mayor from City Manager Sterling Cheatham.

The rezoning request for 7000 Wrightsville Ave., part of the agenda for Tuesday night’s Wilmington City Council meeting, would change the property’s zoning from its R-15 residential designation to UMX Conditional District.  

The land’s current use, as the 47-unit Melrose Mobile Home Park, dates back to 1967 and 1968. The mobile home park is not a permitted use in an R-15 district and “is considered a grandfathered nonconforming use,” the city letter states.

The property became part of the city of Wilmington as part of a 1995 annexation that took effect in 1999. Currently, a majority of the mobile homes are occupied, according to the city.

City documents say that as part of the potential redevelopment project, the front 2.6 acres of the site would hold the commercial portion while the back 2.6 acres would be used to build the townhomes or apartments.

“The existing parcel is currently underutilized as a mobile home community and is noted for its redevelopment potential in the Wrightsville Sound Small Area Plan (WSSAP). In addition, the Create Wilmington Comprehensive Plan ... identifies the subject parcel for redevelopment potential, with a transition to higher density and as an area for [a] mixed-use urban center,” the applicant, McKim & Creed Engineering, wrote in the rezoning application.

The city’s staff agreed with that statement. The owner of the property is the estate of Emily R. Fields.  

The Wilmington City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 102 N. Third St.