A proposed power retail center in the Porters Neck region of New Hanover County could bring 300-400 new jobs to the area, according to a project official.

David E. Harner, vice president and senior real estate manager for Paramount Development Corp., said his team was working with several national and local retailers that are showing interest in the proposed 225,000-250,000 square feet of retail space in the 8000 and 8100 blocks of Market Street.

Paramount Development, a developer and brokerage firm that constructs and leases single-tenant freestanding sites and anchored retail shopping centers throughout the Southeast, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has studied the property for about 18 months, company officials said.

The Beckley, W.Va.-based firm, which operates a division in Myrtle Beach, is no stranger to the area having completed retail projects in Oak Island and Calabash.
The company now wants to purchase the 44-acre site to construct the major retail center, contingent on being able to get the whole property zoned for commercial use.

Paramount officials hope to present its plans to the New Hanover Planning Board in May for the proposed development.

The 44-acre property includes split zoning. About 15 acres at the rear of the property near Loosestrife Court is zoned residential and owned by the YMCA, Harner said. And the remaining nearly 29 acres, which fronts Market Street, is zoned commercial and owned by New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Harner said.

He said Paramount has placed the properties under contract with the two groups, but the purchase depends on the result of the rezoning request.

The land under contract includes vacant buildings, a cell tower and a water tower, Harner said. The State Employees’ Credit Union, which would be surrounded by the development if it’s approved, owns its parcel fronting Market Street.

Harner said his company was working to rezone the 15-acre parcel to B2, which allows high-density commercial development and matches the zoning designation of the adjoining 29-acre parcel.

A second public meeting about the proposed retail center is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 at the New Hanover County Northeast Regional Library.

Harner said he wants to submit preliminary development plans for review by the county’s April 4 deadline. Once commenting and updates to the preliminary plans are completed, the project could go before the New Hanover County Planning Board by May 2.

The Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization currently identifies both pieces of property as a suburban commercial center in a 2010 Market Street Corridor study, which county commissioners adopted in 2011.

Harner said development officials have submitted a traffic plan to the N.C. Department of Transportation. He said to help mitigate traffic, Paramount was proposing to extend and upgrade the roadway between the credit union and a medical office complex across the street. The intersection would include a traffic signal and controlled access points into the development.

Porters Neck continues to grow more attractive to local and regional developers given the surge of new residential development, increasing household incomes and available land for new growth.

If the project were approved, it would be the firm’s first and largest retail development in the county.