A new downtown residential fixture is open for business on Wilmington's northern riverfront.

Sawmill Point, an apartment complex with 280 units at 111 Cowan St. in downtown Wilmington, is expected to be complete by April or May, although 15 tenants already have moved into completed apartments, according to development officials. Another 42 leases are pending.

This week, officials at Sawmill Point, which is located by the Cape Fear River next to the Isabel Holmes Bridge, opened the community's 8,300-square-foot clubhouse.

Incorporated inside Sawmill Point, the clubhouse includes a lobby, leasing office, conference room, lounge area, a fitness center, yoga studo and more amenities for residents.

Developer Blair Booth worked with a team from design firm Shelton Taylor & Associates and architect Chad Askew, senior associate of Housing Studio, to bring his vision for Sawmill Point to life.

"One of the themes that you'll see that resonates throughout the project are these sweeping curves that are supposed to mimic the river," Booth said, during a tour of the clubhouse Friday.

The curves can be seen in a wavy drop ceiling and the shape of the porcelain tile floor running from the entrance to doors that open into another gathering area and the apartment community's pool. Other elements of the clubhouse space include reclaimed wood -- the beams over a doorway were part of an old church in Tarboro -- and industrial style light fixtures.

"We wanted to key into the downtown urban environment, and we wanted to key into the fact that this was a sawmill site," Booth said.  

The designers, including Judy Shelton, Katherine Leicht and Maggie Younghouse of Shelton Taylor & Associates, also brought in elements of the Port City's downtown scene by having a photographer spending a week shooting landmarks and business facades -- including restaurants and stores -- and digitally turning those into large pieces of art that look like oil paintings.

A yoga studio and fitness center has the latest, state-of-the-art equipment, said Jeff Vickers, regional manager with Bell Partners, the firm managing Sawmill Point. He said rents range from $1,294 to $2,200 for the one- to two-bedroom apartments.

Officials consider Sawmill Point, which cost about $50 million to build, an important project for downtown Wilmington.

"It's been a long-term strategy for us to add more residences in downtown, and this is certainly a grand addition to meeting that long-term goal. It continues to show demand for residential [space] in the center city," said Ed Wolverton, president and CEO of Downtown Wilmington Inc., as he toured Sawmill Point on Friday.