Proposals for some major mixed-use projects made headlines this year, with the development type expected to continue to be popular.
 
“That’s the evolution for our community,” said developer David Swain of Swain & Associates. “When you get to a certain size within a community, then the only reasonable way for it to continue the development process is through the mixed-use process.
 
This year, Swain’s company proposed CenterPoint, a $250 million, 1-million-square-foot development that includes retail, hospitality, office and residential space on 23 acres on Military Cutoff and Eastwood roads.
 
CenterPoint and other mixed-use proposals are expected to gain more traction in the coming year, and a few of them could be up for votes by city officials in early 2018.
 
In some of the latest news about mixed-use proposals, Tribute Companies recently submitted conditional district rezoning requests to the city of Wilmington for projects not far from each other on Military Cutoff called Arboretum West.
 
The plans include 360 apartments, 98 townhomes, boutique retail, fine dining, office space and a coffee shop, according to a letter from Mark Maynard Sr., president and CEO of Tribute Companies.
 
Greensboro-based The Carroll Companies has planned a $200 million Westin-anchored community that would be built over 10 years on property around the 300 block of Military Cutoff Road, and State Street Companies is planning a more than $160 million project on the former Galleria site on Wrightsville Avenue, starting with upscale single-family homes.
 
The Carroll Companies withdrew its request for a rezoning this year for The Avenue, but the proposal could be brought back by the firm early next year, according to Roy Carroll, the company’s president, founder and CEO.
 
The Avenue, CenterPoint, the State Street Companies development expected to be called Airlie at Wrightsville Sound, Arboretum West and Arboretum Village are among the larger of numerous mixed-use projects, but many smaller proposals also are in the works.
 
Elsewhere, to name a few examples, development of the Barclay mixed-use project continues in midtown Wilmington at and around The Pointe at Barclay at Independence Boulevard and 17th Street extension; and plans on South College Road near University of North Carolina Wilmington call for a mixed-use student housing project call The Hamilton.
 
For CenterPoint, the rezoning needed for the property could come before city officials in either February or March of next year. Leading up to that point, Swain explained, state and local transportation officials are awaiting results of transportation studies related to the area where CenterPoint would be built and the options under consideration for easing traffic congestion on Military Cutoff Road.