A two-part development project planned by Middleburg Communities could bring 580 residential units to midtown Wilmington, across the street from The Pointe at Barclay.

Dubbed The Hamlet at Barclay West, the project encompasses 184 detached single-family cottage units and 96 two-story townhomes on an interior parcel. That phase will connect to an apartment project with 290 planned units facing 17th Street via a roundabout. 

The undeveloped land is currently owned by Graham Cameron AG & Timber Co. LLC. Middleburg Communities is under contract to purchase the property contingent on its plans passing the permitting phase, developers told attendees of a community information session Thursday evening. 

The overall site encompasses 144 acres that currently abut the Hanover Heights neighborhood. Neighborhood representatives asked developers to consider building a fence and not construct a connecting road at the meeting. Company representatives said they would not connect the neighborhoods unless instructed to do so for fire safety reasons. A 75-foot buffer will divide the project from the neighborhood. 

Currently zoned regional business and office and institutional, the developers are seeking MD-10 and MD-17 conditional rezonings. 

The cottage/townhouse section would be developed at 9.3 units an acre with 24% open space; the apartment project would include 39% open space, preliminary plans show. 

Company officials pointed to Mosby at Riverlights, a 250-unit project Middleburg sold in October 2021 for $63.8 million, as an expected benchmark for quality and aesthetics. 

Though the details are still being fine-tuned, amenities will likely include a clubhouse, fitness center, pool, dog park, grilling stations, fire pit, package locker concierge, valet waste service and electric vehicle charging stations.

Both phases of the development entirely comprise rentals. Rent for the units – especially the cottages – will be at the top-end of the market, company officials said. 

“We offer a premium product and we charge for a premium product,” Jason Pfister, Middleburg’s vice president of land entitlements, told attendees. 

The company hopes to rent the first single-family units by 2023 and the first apartments by the first quarter of 2024, officials said. They said they don’t foresee school capacity presenting any concerns and are currently working through a traffic impact analysis. 

The conditional rezoning request has yet to officially appear on the city's planning approval docket.