A planned development off South College Road is preparing for its next phase of growth with around 300 new townhomes and apartments.

The Nexus at Whiskey Branch is the second phase of the project on 64 acres at 5601 S. College Road. The townhome and apartment community plans are scheduled to go before New Hanover County’s technical review committee next week.

The 64-acre planned development is part of a roughly 150-acre Whiskey Branch site, said Hill Rogers, broker-in-charge at Cameron Management. Dry Pond Partners LLC, a Cameron Management entity, owns the development site. The latest phase is a joint venture between Cameron Management and Blue Ridge Development Services.

Construction on an initial Whiskey Branch subdivision began in 2017 and wrapped up in early 2021, Rogers said. Later that year, New Hanover County leaders approved rezoning 64 acres nearby for a planned development.

The Timbers at Whiskey Branch, a community of single-family homes and duplexes, was the first phase of that planned development. Rogers said he expects paving to begin on the community’s interior roads next week and will soon have lots on the ground.

The Nexus at Whiskey Branch will become the development’s next phase, occupying nearly 18 acres of the planned development site. 

Site plans include 50 townhomes, 18 carriage homes and six multifamily apartment buildings, which range in size from 7,930 to 20,115 square feet. According to Rogers, the unit count for the entire community will total about 300, with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Plans also include nearly 500 parking spots, a pool and pool house, a pickleball court, a bocce ball court and a dog park.

Rogers said he expects the project to have its permits and be ready to break ground next summer. But that groundbreaking will likely depend on other factors.

“Whether or not we break ground at that point in time, it will be more of a function of the state of the apartment market,” Rogers said.

That decision will also hinge on the “state of the financing and capital markets,” he said. 

Once the Nexus phase is complete, approximately 11.5 acres along South College Road will remain vacant and undeveloped inside the planned development area.

“That’s all the frontage on South College Road, so [we’re planning] commercial, retail,” Rogers said. “We might have a vertical mixed-use component that ties back into the Nexus Whiskey Branch. We’re not sure yet.”

The area will likely see a mix of upscale professional and retail uses, Rogers said. The specific types of uses will be determined by market conditions, with plans being developed in the coming months.

“We will start working on that in more detail next year,” Rogers said.