Middleburg Expands North Carolina Footprint

Mosby at Riverlights. Image courtesy of Middleburg Communities

Middleburg Communities is entering the Wilmington, N.C., market with a 250-unit multifamily project that will be built on a newly acquired 9.3-acre site in the Newland master-planned Riverlights community. Construction of  Mosby at Riverlights, a Class A apartment community at 4027 Watercraft Ferry Ave., is scheduled to start this week with leasing beginning in late 2020.

Once completed, Middleburg will manage the property. Middleburg Construction is serving as general contractor and McKim & Creed is providing civil engineering services. Cline Design Associates is the architect of record, interior designer and landscape architect.

Located steps from the Cape Fear riverfront, the development will be a short walk to Marina Village, the master-planned community’s mixed-use town center with a new riverfront park and boardwalk, 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurants and Live Oak Commons event venue. Mosby at Riverlights will offer water views of the community ponds and Cape Fear River and will also have access to an extensive trail system that is surrounded by 550 acres of natural amenities including coastal marshes and tidal creeks.

Alexi Papapieris, Middleburg Communities vice president of development, noted in a prepared statement that the development has been carefully planned to take advantage of the natural setting and outdoor amenities within the 1,400-acre Riverlights waterfront community. Papapieris cited Wilmington’s above-average job and population growth, thriving downtown and diverse economic base as reasons why the company is locating in the city. Other North Carolina developments include Mosby University City in Charlotte, N.C., and Mission University Pines in Durham, N.C.

Mosby at Riverlights will have walking trails connecting to Marina Village. Other community amenities will include a 7,500-square-foot, two-level clubhouse; fitness center; resort-style pool; dog park and pet spa; grilling stations and fire pits; package locker concierge; and bike and kayak storage. The property will offer valet waste service and have more than half of the units (54 percent) serviced by elevators. Apartment features include stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, luxury vinyl plank flooring, 9-foot ceilings, Bluetooth keyless entry, Nest thermostats, large walk-in closets, balconies and in-unit washers and dryers.

Middleburg will be offering rent discounts to firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and public school teachers through its Local Heroes program.

Growing Portfolio

Middleburg Communities has acquired and developed more than 19,000 apartment units since 2004 in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. As of September, the company had a portfolio of 2,100 apartment units under management with an additional 2,000 in the development/redevelopment pipeline.

The pipeline included almost 1,000 units in Atlanta that were acquired for $91 million in May through the Middleburg Workforce Housing Fund. The Atlanta properties acquired through the fund, which is now closed, are: The Grove, 220 units that were rebranded as Vesta Red Oaks; Park at Bouldercrest, a 438-unit community rebranded as Vesta Bouldercrest; and Majestic Park, a 298-community, that was rebranded as Vesta Adams Park.

Middleburg launched the fund in January with Vesta Derby Oaks, a previously purchased 428-unit community in Louisville, Ky.