WILMINGTON — Four developments are in the City of Wilmington pipeline — two would bring apartment complexes to downtown, another is proposing townhomes in the Kings Grant area, and the last will have to be annexed into the city before moving forward.
READ MORE: Mixed-use complex submitted to replace shopping center, home to Elizabeth’s Pizza
Charlotte-based Canvas Residential Partners, LLC, has submitted 11.23 acres of its property along N. Kerr Avenue for annexation and rezoning. It envisions a 79-unit townhome on seven parcels, three of which are located in New Hanover County; pending the annexation goes through, the owner is then requesting to be placed in the city’s MD-10, medium density multiple-dwelling residential, zoning district.
As for the other three developments, each was submitted for a pre-technical review committee assessment to ensure site plans meet development standards before potentially heading to the planning board. However, none of these developments will need a rezoning; their mutli-family housing proposals are allowed by-right.
If all the developments were approved and constructed, it would add 219 units to the city’s housing stock.
N. Kerr Avenue
Canvas Residential Partners is looking to transform the vacant wooded lots on N. Kerr Avenue, near the intersection with MLK Jr. Parkway, into 13 townhome buildings. The 79 units will be a mix of three and four bedrooms.
The development will be accessed via a private drive from Marjoram Way; Azalea Landing Drive will also be extended to connect to Marjoram Way as part of the project.
A total of 62 significant trees are proposed to be removed on site. Required mitigation can be accomplished through a combination of one or more of the following: retention of existing non-protected trees, new tree planting, or through a payment-in-lieu of planting.
The application states the development will provide in-demand “middle” housing, meaning housing in between high-density apartments and low-density single-family. It also indicates its location will be “near a major intersection providing direct access to downtown, existing commercial nodes along Market Street, Kerr Avenue and New Centre Drive, available public transportation and employment areas, all of which is favored by the [Wilmington] Comprehensive Plan.”
The application gives further justification for the annexation and rezoning by claiming its transition into the city would be a parallel move. New Hanover County zoned its portion of the property as R-MFL, which allows a density of 10 units per acre; its proposal has a lower density.
Staff is recommending conditional approval; the annexation will go before the planning board on April 2.
Pop Lofts in Soda Pop District
Wilmington-based Storehouse Holdings LLC is proposing 72 units and almost 22,000 commercial square feet on 1.93 acres at 10th and Princess streets, right in the heart of the Soda Pop District.
The mixed-use buildings would become neighbors to Bowstring Burgers and Brewyard, Cugino Forno and Hi-Wire Brewing. Soda Pop Holdings LLC sold the nearly 2-acre tract in August to Storehouse Holdings LLC for $2.5 million, according to property records.
The current property is vacant but zoned urban mixed use, which has no density cap for vertically integrated mixed-use buildings.
The units will be spread across four buildings, two of which will host the commercial offerings on the ground floor; one-bedrooms will total 48 and there will be 24 two-bedrooms total. The buildings are located close together, with a 42-foot courtyard in the middle.
Trip generations included in the site plan estimate a little more than 1,000 trips daily. Per the site plan, the development does not include onsite parking.
Room 40 in Brooklyn Arts District
Storehouse Holdings LLC has also submitted plans for an apartment complex on downtown’s northern end.
The site plan notes there would be proposing 20 units and 1,300 square feet of commercial space on two parcels, both not even reaching a quarter an acre, near the corner of N. Fourth and Swann streets. The mixed-use building would join three10 and Brunch Thyme, two restaurants located alongside single-family homes.
The 7,000-square-foot building would front N. Fourth Street with the apartment parking, totalling 18 spaces, accessible from James Alley at the rear of the property. The building would offer three stories, thus standing 40 feet tall.
The property is located in the central business district, which allows for the mixed-use by right; there is also no maximum density requirement for new residential construction on a site equal to or less than half an acre.
[Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article had listed 155 Savings Street as a residential development. Upon clarification from city staff, the proposed development is actually for office/warehouse space. Its entry has been removed from this article. PCD regrets the error.]
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