It seems as though everywhere you turn in Wilmington, you are bound to find something under construction. Be it new housing developments, revamping of student living, shopping centers or new religious buildings, Wilmington continues to grow.

On March 1, the New Hanover Regional County Commissioners approved the rezoning of a 64-acre tract of woodland on South College Road, just 5 miles from UNC Wilmington’s (UNCW) campus. The land, owned by Dry Pond Partners LLC, was previously slated as residential, but was changed to planned development. The new development has secured the proper designation for the construction of both residential and commercial spaces.

The development plans to bring a large amount of new residential space to the area, with 250 apartment units, 40 townhome units and 120 single-family homes. The commercial space will be made up of a 10,000 square foot shopping center, office space, restaurants and a hotel.

Dry Pond’s development is currently slated to be completed in its entirety sometime in 2024.

Elevation Student Living is also looking to take advantage of student absence over the summer to build, with the coming addition of two new apartment buildings on Cherry Avenue. This latest development will be called Elevation Studio, bringing 45 furnished studio apartments just about 2 miles from UNCW.

Construction on Elevation Studio has already started and looks like it will be wrapped up in June, just in time to welcome students in to stay for the fall semester.

This will be the latest phase of development for Elevation Student Living, adding to their existing properties such as Enclave apartments located off Wilshire Boulevard, and the Elevation main development located directly behind their front office on Wrightsville Avenue.

Yet another construction project just on the edge of UNCW’s campus will be the Center for Christian Thought (CCT), situated on the corner of Wood Dale Drive and Riegel Road.  

The CCT’s Christian community center will be a place for Christian students to gather, worship and study. Additional programming such as the hosting of seminars and guest speakers looks to be on the table as well. Students can expect this building to function much like the UNCW Campus Catholic Ministry, hosting both community and charity events. 

UNCW is just the latest destination of one of CCT’s community centers, with similar sites already in operation near UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University.