Plans move forward for affordable housing project in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Plans for the construction of an affordable housing complex in Wilmington will soon move forward, after the city was awarded a grant of  $9 million from the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency.

Starway Village will hold 278 affordable units, and will be built where Starway Flea Market is located off Carolina Beach Road.

The need for affordable housing increased after Hurricane Florence, which damaged at least 1,200 rental units, displacing lower-income households.

Starway Village is expected to increase access to affordable housing, both multi-family and single-family.

“This is close to our bus stops, places where people can go grocery shopping, hospital. It’s an ideal location for affordable units to be built. We have also identified in respect to affordable housing that we have a gap of about 416 units per year, and in the last ten years alone just in the city, we developed about 390-something units,” said Bill Saffo, Mayor of Wilmington.

The City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, and NCORR have invested more than $16 million towards the project.

“This commitment makes sense, as it is in line with the board’s strategic priorities around intelligent growth and economic development.  Starway Village is taking a piece of vacant land, which is something that is increasingly rare in New Hanover County, and committing to provide quality housing at rates that will be affordable,” said Tim Buckland, New Hanover County
Intergovernmental Affairs manager.

Developers expect to break ground for Starway Village in late spring or early summer of next year.

“The construction time for the development will be 20 months, so we’re hoping to have families moving in by early 2025. We wish we could make this go faster, but unfortunately it’s a large development and it takes time to build 278 units,” Ted Heilbron, Starway Village development team.

The units will be available to households that make 60% of the area median income, and will include 20 fully accessible units.