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WilmingtonBiz Magazine

Mixed Bag: Updates On Mixed-use Projects

By Cece Nunn, posted Apr 10, 2023
Major mixed-use projects and communities don’t spring up overnight, and in some cases, they can take years or even a decade to come to life. The following are updates on some Wilmington-area mixed-use projects.
 
AUTUMN HALL
1202 Eastwood Road
STATUS: Established development with upcoming commercial, residential and hospitality additions
DESCRIPTION: Autumn Hall is a 236-acre mixed-use community with 173 single-family home sites, 286 multifamily units, including Carolina Bay at Autumn Hall developed by Liberty Health Care and 140,000 square feet of existing Class A office space.
DEVELOPER: Mike Brown with Cape Fear Development is the development manager.
TIMELINE: Construction on a fourth office building on Eastwood Road is underway, and Thomas Construction is expected to start in late summer.

THE AVENUE
347 Military Cutoff Road
STATUS: Under review by the city of Wilmington
DESCRIPTION: Plans have called for a hotel with meeting space, a spa island connected to the hotel, apartments and commercial space, including stores and restaurants. 
DEVELOPER: The Carroll Companies, based in Greensboro
TIMELINE: First, crews will be tackling infrastructure and subsurface work on the site at 347 Military Cutoff Road, Roy Carroll, owner of The Carroll Companies, said in September.

CENTER POINT 
1531 Eastwood Road
STATUS: Infrastructure work for the development and its apartments is underway.
DESCRIPTION: The 1 million-square-foot development on Military Cutoff and Eastwood roads on 23 acres is expected to hold apartments, storefronts, parking structures, a hotel and more. The N.C. Department of Transportation is using about 3 acres for a road extension that will link Military Cutoff to Eastwood via Drysdale Drive.
DEVELOPERS: Wilmington-based Swain & Associates and The Beach Company, headquartered in South Carolina
TIMELINE: It will take about a year to install infrastructure for the project’s first phase, 6.5 acres that will include a 75-foot-high apartment complex with 351 Class A residential units, first-floor retail and restaurant space.
 
GATEWAY PROJECT
ADDRESS: Expected to include properties in the 900 and 1000 blocks of North Front Street in downtown Wilmington
STATUS: Envisioned
DESCRIPTION: The Gateway Project refers to the plans that have been underway in recent years between city officials and a development firm to transform the city’s northern entrance to downtown. The project, envisioned as a major mixed-use development, would involve city-owned properties and include public facilities, private residences and commercial space.
DEVELOPER: East West Partners 
TIMELINE: Not yet determined
 
PROJECT GRACE
201 Chestnut St.
STATUS: Envisioned
DESCRIPTION: A redevelopment plan in the works for several years that would transform the New Hanover County-owned 3-acre downtown Wilmington block bordered by Grace, Third, Chestnut and Second streets into a mixed-use complex with public and private facilities
DEVELOPER: As of press time, the project did not have a developer formally partnered with the county for the project, but officials with Wilmington-based firm Cape Fear Development were studying the possibility of getting involved.
TIMELINE: “We are really close to being ready to give our feedback, and we are excited with the process we have undertaken because of the benefit it will create for downtown,” said Brian Eckel, partner in Cape Fear Development.
 
THE PROXIMITY AT CAROLINA BEACH
1000 Lake Park Blvd., Carolina Beach
STATUS: Design phase
DESCRIPTION: A development that will contain 250 luxury apartment homes with 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space located on the former Harris Teeter site directly next to the town’s Publix grocery store
DEVELOPER: Cape Fear Development
TIMELINE: “We have selected Monteith Construction as our (general contractor) and plan to break ground early summer as we finalize the permitting process,” Eckel said.
 
RIVERLIGHTS
109 Pier Master Point, Suite 100
STATUS: Established master-planned community with upcoming commercial and residential additions
DESCRIPTION: Riverlights, a 1,400-acre master-planned community along 3 miles of the Cape Fear River, is adding a 37-acre commercial village near its southern entrance called 7Bridge. With parcels for retail, entertainment, service commercial and offices, 7Bridge is part of a larger 120-acre mixed-use village with a variety of residential projects including Argento, a new multifamily luxury apartment community, and The Cottages at Riverlights, a single-family for-rent neighborhood.
DEVELOPERS: Riverlights is owned by a subsidiary of North America Sekisui House LLC and is managed by Brookfield Properties as part of the Newland communities portfolio. 7Bridge is being represented by Bridge Commercial, a regionally focused commercial real estate firm headquartered in South Carolina.
TIMELINE: All of The Cottages units are expected to be open this year, but new commercial space will not open until 2024 through 2025.
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