WILMINGTON — The Kerr Avenue Shopping Center may soon be replaced by a mixed-use student housing project.
With 144 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space submitted in the plan, the skyline of South Kerr may be getting higher.
The city’s Planning Division received a site plan for the development of two buildings: one three-story residential unit and one four-story, mixed-use unit.
“The proposed site is an obsolete and under-utilized strip shopping center, already zoned for commercial uses, and an adjacent residential tract, which is being used for some business activities,” wrote Cindee Wolf, the development’s applicant and owner of Design Solutions.
The project earned an ‘F’ on its traffic report from the city. Still, the developer hopes to move forward with their plans, like other projects in town which earned a failing traffic grade.
Traffic generated by the rezoning and project’s construction would result in traffic “in excess of its reasonable capacity,” according to the application. “The ongoing widening and improvement of Kerr Avenue will mitigate current traffic service issues, thereby allowing more density to become feasible in the area.”
Growth from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington was also cited as an additional reason for the development, with added student housing and retail services on South Kerr Avenue making “good sense” according to the application.
4.66 acres on the corner of Kerr Avenue and Franklin Avenue has been owned by Kerr Station Village LLC since 2014. Thomas Cascino, Brian Welch and Brothers Three of Palm Beach County Inc. are the remaining property owners involved in the proposed development.
On Dec. 6, the Wilmington Planning Commission will meet to discuss rezoning the total of 8.39 acres, located within the South Kerr Avenue shopping center.
The owners are seeking the property to be included in the office and institutional district for the commercial district mixed-use project.
If approved, property owners are also seeking a special use permit to increase building height in the office and institutional district up to 75 feet.
Saigon Market and Sakura Japanese Restaurant, located in the Kerr Avenue shopping center, will eventually be displaced by any potential development.
Sakura’s co-owner, Tony Nguyen, is unsure of the future of his business.
“I have no idea what I’m going to do,” Nguyen said. “Move to a new location, or (stay) right here in the new building- just depends.”
Kerr Station by Johanna Ferebee on Scribd
Johanna Ferebee can be reached at johanna@localvoicemedia.com or @j__ferebee on Twitter
