Those interested in creating new commercial development in recent months have been searching Pender County’s Hampstead area for suitable spots, says commercial broker Randy Cox of RE/MAX Essential.

The impetus for additional commercial activity in the community lies in part because of the area’s residential growth. It also stems from the fact that about four years ago, Trask Land Co. partnered with the Onslow County division of Pluris LLC, an operator of water and wastewater utilities, to build a wastewater treatment facility to accommodate the planned Blake Farm development.

The project ran sewer service from the Scotts Hill area to Sloop Point Loop Road.

“With that, now you’ve got a lot more interest in the Hampstead area … New Hanover County is about built-out outside a couple of projects left like River Lights and the Cameron project [The Pointe at Barclay area off South 17th Street]. Outside of that there’s really no more than a lot here, a lot there. You’re getting a lot more movement up north going up into the Hampstead area, which of course now brings commercial,” Cox said.

One challenge is a planned median project that will only leave four full-access traffic lights on U.S. 17 in the Hampstead area. Certain retailers and fast-food restaurant chains prefer to be located at those lights, Cox said.

One major development on the way to Hampstead is a shopping center. Swain & Associates is planning the more than 75,000-square-foot, grocery store-anchored shopping center, dubbed Headwaters for now, on the east side of U.S. 17 between Hughes Road and Deerfield Drive. The grocer has not yet been announced.

“Our company has always made a point of trying to be in front of the growth trend,” said Jason Swain, developer with Wilmington-based Swain & Associates. “That’s why we made the investment in Hampstead because it was easy to see that the growth from Wilmington was going to extend to the Hampstead area.”

Hampstead Station shopping center owner Jeff Turpin is adding a 7,500-square-foot retail building to an outparcel at that center, which is anchored by a Food Lion grocery store and located at 14564 U.S. 17 in Hampstead.

The new building will be anchored by a 6,000-square-foot Hampstead location of Axis Fitness, Turpin said.

“That’s my busiest center,” said Turpin of Hampstead Station. He also owns Fulton Station on South 17th Street in Wilmington and Masonboro Commons, a Food Lion-anchored shopping center on Carolina Beach Road.

Check out another business story about Pender County in our Region in Focus special section:
Pender gears up for expected growth