The Week in Review
....your Wilmington Connection
December 22, 2007
I believe that the true meaning of Christmas is different for everyone. For some it means spending the Christmas season with family and friends, remembering the birth of Christ, reliving old traditions, or giving service to those in need. However you spend your Christmas, I hope that you enjoy this time to relax, enjoy and put a smile on your face. Here's wishing you and your family a wonderful Holiday season!
The Wilmington Housing market slowed with all the festivities in the air. Here is how the week closed up.
Burgaw| Like other municipalities in the region, the town of Burgaw is experiencing a development spurt.
The abundance of undeveloped land and the availability of water and sewers in Burgaw attracted several developers to build in the Pender County town, said Chad McEwen, town planning administrator.
Over the past year, the town's board of commissioners gave the green light to begin construction on six residential and commercial developments, McEwen said.
The planning department also saw an increase in applications from developers in the past year, McEwen said.
He said he expects more applicants in the future once the housing market improves.
"People are attracted to the quality of life in Burgaw," McEwen said. "They like the quiet of the town and the small-town feel where everybody knows everybody because those are the type of things that are sacrificed in large metropolitan areas."
Here are a some of the new developments:
KFC
A 2,500-square-foot fast food restaurant will be built on the land that once housed the Pizza Village restaurant off of U.S. 117. The developer will demolish the Pizza Village building in the next 30 to 45 days, and construction on the KFC will begin shortly after that, McEwen said.
Creekside neighborhood
The neighborhood will include 111 single-family homes on 44 acres off South Walker Street. The developer already installed a retention pond, McEwen said.
William's Walk Neighborhood
The neighborhood will include 28 single-family homes on 15 acres along Penderlea Highway.
Cooper's pointe Apartment homes
The subdivision, which is off Stanford Avenue, will consist of 64 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments . It will feature a clubhouse, pool and laundry facility for residents.
The Village on Eighteen
The subdivision will include 15 to 20 homes on Ballybunion Drive near the golf course off East Wilmington Street. There are six to eight homes complete in the neighborhood, McEwen said.
Office Space
A four-unit commercial complex will be built on an acre off N.C. 53. McEwen said the developer is proposing upscale businesses. Upscale apartments, no theater for Fairfield Park
A development off Carolina Beach Road won't be getting a movie theater, but those in the market for an upscale apartment may be in luck.
The developer of Crosland at Fairfield Park goes before Wilmington's Technical Review Committee this morning to present updated plans for about 18 acres at 4625 and 4544 Fairview Drive. The proposed mixed-use development includes five buildings totaling 342,787 square feet - two mixed-use buildings, two retail buildings and one office/retail building - as well as a pool area and gazebo.
This phase of the 123-acre Fairfield Park originally went before the city in 2005, when the Efird family planned to build a 2,350-seat, 14-screen movie theater operated by Birmingham, Ala.-based AmStar Entertainment. But plans changed in early 2006, when Raleigh-based Quail Forest Associates LLC - whose manager is state Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake - purchased one tract at Fairfield Park and obtained options to buy the others, said Richard Cotton, a broker with Prudential CRES Commercial Real Estate in Wilmington who has represented the senator in various deals.
Hunt has entered into a joint venture with Charlotte-based Crosland - which designs, develops and manages real estate communities - to develop the remainder of Fairfield Park, Cotton said.
"We just decided not to proceed with the theater," he said. "The theater business is a very risky business. AmStar was a relatively small company, and ultimately the negotiations with AmStar broke down and we decided to consider other alternatives."
The project has added residential and retail uses to its latest proposal, said project manager Chris Tingler of Cline Design Associates' Raleigh office.
"We're just keeping within the same character building-wise," he said. "We're keeping within the same building mass and parking requirements."
Cotton said the residential portion will consist of 248 rental apartments in mid-rise, interior corridor buildings with elevator access and retail on the first floor. The units won't be the typical garden apartments you see around here, he said.
"There's really nothing quite like this in Wilmington," Cotton said. "These rentals will probably be the most upscale rentals in Wilmington." Ruling opens way for new bridge
Judge denies injunction to stop Sunset Beach project
Raleigh | A federal judge cleared the way Friday for the state transportation secretary to award a contract to build a new bridge to Sunset Beach, a proposed structure that's been the subject of 30 years of studies, debates and lawsuits.
U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan denied a motion for a preliminary injunction that would have barred the N.C. Department of Transportation from building the bridge until more environmental studies were conducted.
DOT Division Engineer Allen Pope said after Friday's hearing that transportation officials would await the judge's written opinion in the case, which is expected within two weeks, before proceeding with awarding a contract to build the bridge.
The DOT was ready to award the contract Oct. 4 to English Construction Co., which submitted the low bid of $30.9 million. But the state transportation board agreed to delegate the authority to the transportation secretary after the lawsuit was filed that morning by the Sunset Beach Taxpayers Association, Douglas W. Hix, William A. Ducker, Bonnie Kelley, Nina Marable and the Brunswick Environmental Action Team.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit now will decide whether to take the case to trial.
The lawsuit's plaintiffs allege that the DOT failed to address the environmental impacts of the 65-foot-tall bridge that would replace the antiquated, single-lane pontoon bridge connecting the island to the mainland.
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