A new residential community with a commercial element is moving forward in Porters Neck four years after its initial proposal.
Inspire Futch Creek, a planned senior living community at 8704 Market St., has received approval for a mixed-use building from New Hanover County’s Technical Review Committee, according to county documents. The latest approval builds upon the previously greenlit plans for hundreds of residential units in the community.
The mixed-use site plan consists of a 189,500-square-foot apartment building with an additional 6,000 square feet of commercial space and 46 duplex units.
In total, Inspire Futch Creek will include 206 units across 37.18 acres, a proposed density of 5.55 units per acre. The development will have 14.15 acres of open
space, exceeding the requirement of 10.45 acres.
The project is part of a string of communities along the East Coast being developed by North Carolina-based company Liberty Health.
In Leland, the company operates a 55 and over apartment community known as Inspire Brunswick Forest. The community includes 152 multi-family units, creative arts center, athletic club and pool. One-bedroom units in Inspire Brunswick Forest start at $2,055 per month, according to the company’s website.
Inspire Futch Creek is just one of several new developments slated for Porters Neck.
Another senior living community, known as Edgewater Senior Villas, is coming to 226 Edgewater Club Road. The planned development consists of 38 single-family homes and 44 townhome units.
Big Apple RV Resort will bring 89 recreational vehicles spaces to a 27-acre plot of land behind Lowes Home Improvement. Site plans also include a manager’s office, bathroom facilities, a pool and a proposed sewage dumping station near the park exit.
A lawsuit currently moving through the county court system will determine the fate of Bayshore Townhomes, a proposed 304-unit development that the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners denied in 2025.
The board unanimously voted to deny the project’s special use permit request on the grounds that the project would endanger public health and that the project was not in harmony with the area. However, developer Bee Safe Porters Neck alleges that commissioners were swayed to deny the proposal by “more than 200 pages of ex parte communications from members of the public” during a hearing where public comments were limited.
Nearly two dozen neighboring residents in the Marsh Oaks community have formally intervened in the lawsuit, which is set for a jury trial on Nov. 9.
Daniel Sheehan covers New Hanover County for the StarNews. Reach him at dsheehan@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Porters Neck mixed-use development moving forward years after proposal
