A corner lot at the intersection of Randall Parkway and South Kerr Avenue that was once poised for a student housing development has new owners, according to a broker involved in the transaction.
 
Cary-based Solstice Partners LLC and the N.C. Department of Transportation bought three parcels totaling 4 acres at 363, 369 and 375 S. Kerr Ave., P.J. Doherty, a managing partner and broker with Wilmington-based Carolina Commercial Investment Properties, said Tuesday.
 
Doherty and Bob Lucas, a broker with Wilmington-based Pickett Pointe Properties, represented the sellers during the March 7 transaction totaling $765,000.
 
The parcels were formerly owned by Wilmington-based B.J’s Construction.
 
While 3.8 acres was sold to Solstice officials, a 0.2-acre tract is set to close in the coming weeks to NCDOT for $190,000 as right-of-way for the future Kerr Avenue widening project, Doherty said.
 
Many neighborhoods along the Randall Parkway and South Kerr Avenue corridors are beginning to transition from single-family to multi-family because of their proximity to the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
 
But it’s been a transition that has been difficult for some longtime residents of the area.
 
In September, developers with B.J. Construction were looking to rezone five separate parcels from residential or multi-family low-density to multi-family medium-density for the Lofts at Randall Parkway – a three-story, 78-unit, student-centered apartment community that was proposed to rise along Randall Parkway.
 
Area neighbors, mostly concerned with traffic and setbacks to their property, filed a protest petition with the city in opposition to the project.
 
Since neighbors filed the protest petition, the item needed a super majority vote to be approved. It failed after council members Laura Padgett and Earl Sheridan voted against the project.
 
Had the petition not been filed, the rezoning request would have passed.
 
Cathy Connors, manager of Solstice Partners whose development firm purchased the site, said Tuesday that company officials are currently working with city planners on how best to redevelop the site. She did not, however, disclose any specific plans for their property.