Middleburg Starts Work on NC Community
Eagle Realty Group is a joint venture partner on the project, which is slated to open next summer.

Middleburg Communities has begun the construction of Mosby Barclay West, a 290-unit community in the Midtown market of Wilmington, N.C. The developer partnered with real estate debt and equity provider Eagle Realty Group to finance the construction of the project.
The development will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units in five residential buildings, all with elevator access. Units interiors will feature hard stone countertops, stainless steel appliances, shaker cabinets and in-unit washers and dryers. Common-area amenities will include a clubhouse with a pool and fitness center, a dedicated dog park with a pet spa, electric vehicle charging stations, 24/7 package reception and coworking spaces.
The project is slated to open in the summer of 2026. The community will be adjacent to Middleburg’s Hamlet at Barclay West development, a 280-unit single-family built-to-rent property. Both communities will be walkable to and from The Pointe at Barclay, a 150,000-square-foot retail and entertainment destination anchored by The Pointe 14 Theatre.
The two communities will complement each other, according to Spencer Merritt, development partner for the North Carolina region at Middleburg.
“We’re able to hit all the demographics, really, within this one little submarket with both product names,” Merritt told Multi-Housing News. “Typical multifamily apartment dwellers are a little bit on the younger side, contrasting that with the Hamlet product, the product next door, which tends to skew young professional to but also older as well, the kind of folks who want a little bit less of the burden of home ownership.”
The development is Middleburg’s third one in Wilmington since 2021, following the completion of another multifamily community, Mosby Riverlights, and the aforementioned Hamlet Barclay West, which is currently under construction and delivering its first units in spring 2025.
Middleburg’s active development pipeline includes 14 communities under construction in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, totaling nearly 4,000 units. Eagle Realty manages an $8.1 billion portfolio in 44 major markets, with over 320 loans and an average loan size of $24 million.
Wilmington supply races to meet demand
Wilmington has been a fast-growing rental market with a reported 25 percent increase in renter household growth from 2020 to 2023, according to Avison Young data. The area’s population as a whole has been on a steep upswing since 1980, when it totaled about 44,000 residents, according to Census Bureau data. The 2020 Census put the total at 115,800, and the World Population Review forecast for 2029 is 136,600.
“Ever since the pandemic, there have been a lot of relocations to the area,” Merritt said. ”This trend has been going on for years, but accelerating in the last few years.”
Supply levels are also increasing. According to the same Avison Young data, inventory growth in multifamily is expected to reach 15 percent by the end of this year. But they have been on the up and up for years. Inventory levels increased by some 30 percent since 2019.
“We’re going to start here in the first quarter of ’25, so by the time we’re built out, we’ll have worked through all that supply,” Merritt said. “Also, Class A locations and new products are always going to have a place.”