Paula and Jake Vandergrift knew they’d rather live in a Wilmington neighborhood with amenities than one without.
As they considered moving from their Monkey Junction-area home, their daughter, Jill, encouraged them to look at Riverlights.
The 1,400-acre Riverlights master-planned community on River Road in Wilmington welcomed its first residents in 2016. Since then, as officials predicted when they celebrated its opening, the community has grown to the size of a small town. Excluding apartment residents, current developer Brookfield Properties estimates Riverlights has more than 3,000 residents, with room for more.
The Vandergrifts moved into their newly built Riverlights home this summer. Paula Vandergrift is a retired educator, while Jake Vandergrift retired from his home inspection business in 2016. They left Annapolis, Maryland, and lived in Sunset Beach for five years before choosing a two-story home in their previous Wilmington neighborhood.
“It was a nice house, and it wasn’t the steps because we never had to go upstairs. … But something was missing, and we just decided for the second part, last third of our life, or whatever it is … that we really wanted to enjoy every single thing about where we were living,” Paula Vandergrift said.
They chose to live in The Haven at Riverlights, a single-family phase by homebuilder Pulte, which advertises The Haven as having low-maintenance ranch homes in the $400,000s to $500,000s. The Vandergrifts paid a little extra for a spot in The Haven that has more woods visible through its picture windows.
“I feel like I went to heaven because I love the beach, but I love trees. Trees are my dream,” Paula Vandergrift said.
Jake Vandergrift sees it with a practiced eye.
“The design of this house is really one of the better designs I’ve ever seen in a rancher because it’s got all this glass and light,” he said.
One of the best parts of Riverlights, Jake Vandergrift said, is that “it has a great social network.”
As soon as they moved in, a neighbor invited the Vandergrifts to a luau.
Paula Vandergrift enjoys the two pools residents can access and recently joined one of the community’s many book clubs.
More residents are on the way to Riverlights. In addition to single-family homes, the community includes apartment options. A new complex called Drift is in the works, with a groundbreaking expected this month.
Brookfield officials said Drift will include nearly 300 apartments next to Marina Village, a commercial and residential component of Riverlights. Drift is also expected to offer familiar amenities, including a swimming pool, resident game and social lounge, pet spa and pickleball courts.
About 200 residential lots remain in Riverlights, according to Brookfield Properties officials.
Some townhome properties have opened recently or are on the way. Lakeside Townes, a Pulte community of 33 townhomes near the Riverlights Lakehouse, opened in the spring. Locally based Trusst Builder Group is working on Parkside Towns, which is expected to have 20 townhomes, while Pulte also has another project with 72 homes scheduled to come next year.
The townhome projects “represent a robust market for both younger and older/retiree buyers who are seeking a low-maintenance lifestyle,” said Nick Cassala, vice president of operations for Brookfield Properties.
HOA dues for the townhomes cover all exterior maintenance and insurance, plus access to all Riverlights amenities, he said.
For the Vandergrifts, the list of Riverlights pluses is long, including one of the most important in real estate.
Jake Vandergrift said they love the quick access to both downtown and Carolina Beach via River Road.
“The location here,” he said, “is unbeatable.”
In The Zone is a monthly feature focusing on specific areas throughout the region. Coming up next are Porters Neck (December) and Downtown (January).
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