15 affordable units added to massive Wilmington project. Some wonder if it's enough.

A massive development set to bring 570 rentals to 50 wooded acres near a busy Wilmington intersection is moving forward -- with a few adjustments.

On Tuesday, the Wilmington City Council unanimously voted to approve rezoning the 50 acres of land at the Northwest corner of S. 17th Street and Independence Boulevard.

The rezoning will allow Middleburg Communities, Virginia-based construction, and property management company, to move forward with plans to build a 290-unit apartment complex, 170 single-family rentals, 96 townhomes, and seven duplexes on the site.

The proposed site being eyed for development is part of the more than 300 acres rezoned in 2013 by the Wilmington City Council for the development of Barclay West. That rezoning aimed to accommodate large-scale developments and included areas on the north and south sides of Independence Boulevard between S. 17th Street and Carolina Beach Road.

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The company's plans have changed since the project won unanimous approval from the Wilmington Planning Commission in June. Members of the commission encouraged developers to consider adding affordable housing to their plan -- and they did.

Plans presented Tuesday included renting 15 one-bedroom apartments at 80% of the area median income for at least 10 years. The estimated rental rate for the more affordable apartments is $1,363 per month. The market rate for the one-bedroom units is estimated to be approximately $1,705 in monthly rent.

Developers revised an initial proposal, which included 25 one-bedrooms at 90% of area median income for at least two years, to reach the final count of affordable units.

Wilmington city council members Kevin Spears and Clifford Barnett pressed the developers to include more affordable units in the project. Spears said he thought 15 affordable units was "low" for a 570-unit project.

But developers told the city council that 15 affordable units are the best they can do.

"We're kind of stuck in the middle where we're trying to get as many affordable units as we can out of the project, but at the same time we have to make the project financeable," said Alexi Papapieris, vice president of development for Middleburg Communities, "and if we go any higher, honestly, we might not be able to do the deal."

The company does not plan to use any federal financing incentives that are often used to encourage the development of affordable housing units, Papapieris said. He added that changing the affordable unit count could delay the project and major revisions of the project's planning and land deal.

"I promise, we've looked at this a million different ways," he said. "This is the maximum we can do."

The affordable units will be located in the five-building apartment complex on an approximately 20-acre tract that borders S. 17th Street.

Developers also plan to build a neighborhood of cottage-style rentals, which are being called The Hamlet. Designs for the neighborhood situate the single-family homes around shared quad-like greenspaces. The cottage and townhome community will be built farther from S. 17th Street, on a more than 30-acre piece of land that abuts the Hanover Heights neighborhood.

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at 910-343-2096 or edill@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New apartments, and rental homes coming to Wilmington intersection