Comfort Suites Hotel Building Update - Feb 4, 2009

Leland today has no hotels. Within the next year or two there will be four. The first, a Comfort Suites Hotel, is going up next door from our office. The grand opening is on schedule for May 1st. Today I asked Project Superintendent Joe Stephenson for a tour of his work in progress and he graciously showed our Office Manager Kari Essig and me around. The hotel is being built by Harold K. Jordan & Co., Inc. general contractors. The manager will be Barry Eagle. I took the photo below while we were walkling to the building. (Is this what they mean by a "green" building?)

We went in the north end of the building. In the photo below looks from back to front down the central hallway.

This shot isn't too interesting, just looks from one room through the wall to others. They start putting up sheetrock next week.

Originally planned for two meeting rooms, the hotel is going to have one 50-person capacity room.

There will also be an inground pool.

And an exercise area adjacent to the pool.

Here's a shot of the lobby, looking across from what will eventually be the breakfast/lounge area.

The hotel will be on the far end of business upscale for the Choice Hotel's Comfort Suites Hotel line. There will be 106 rooms in all.

So thanks again for the tour, Joe.

Why I Think You Should Buy a New Home in Leland, NC

I'll admit right off that I'm passionately biased in favor of living in Leland, North Carolina. North Carolina, specifically the southeastern coastal area, is an increasingly popular U.S. destination address across diverse population segments for obvious reasons:

• year-round temperate climate
• outdoor sports and lifestyle
• 100s of miles of accessible beaches with warm water (especially compared to New England and California)
• incredibly rich marine life
• many historic sites and preserved residential historic districts
• strong higher education opportunities - university, colleges, and community colleges
• cultural depth and diversity
• a long tradition of support for music, theater, and the arts
• culinary delights in 1,100+ restaurants and delicious regional dishes
• a variety of shopping destinations
• many regional museums, parks, exhibits, and other attractions
• a growing job market with emphasis on technology-based industries
• an extensive hospital and health care system
• active environmental, ecological, historic, and preservation interests
• a responsible, foreward-thinking, "can-do" attitude toward future development
• strong citizen participation in local and regional government
• a multitude of local and regional festivals and celebrations
• a tradition of support and encouragement for entrepreneurs and small business owners
• courteous, friendly people

The greater Wilmington area has all the above and more. Residential and commercial development are proceeding regardless of the tempo and development cycles in other part of the United States. It's clear that people want to move here and are moving here in ever-greater numbers.

While our whole region is growing and developing, the northern section of Brunswick County centered around Leland, just across the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, is the fastest-growing and in many ways the most attractive area of southeastern North Carolina.

Why are so many people moving to Leland and adjacent towns in northern Brunswick County? The reasons are many, varied, and clear:

• Great new home selections in many fine new developments as well as super buys on existing homes
• New homes available in a wide range of prices, from the low $100s to over $600,000.
• Leland has a fast-growing commercial and retail corridor with shopping, dining, and entertainment facilities increasing monthly. Four new hotels are currently under construction.
• Close proximity to downtown Wilmington's historic riverfront, restaurants, shopping, theater, and clubs.
• Easy access to major highways
• An enthusiastic populace that welcomes others who want to participate in the excitement of growing a new community - it's a chance to be a pioneer (but with municipal water and sewer already installed, plus quick access to hospitals, shopping, beaches, and golf)
• Because until fairly land in Leland was much less expensive than on the eastern side of the Cape Fear River - your real estate dollar goes much further in Leland.

If you're interested in other areas in and around Wilmington I'm very happy to help you and point you in the right directions. In the five+ years my wife have been here I've developed close relationships with other professional REALTORs from Southport to Jacksonville and as far west as Burgaw - I've worked successfully with those folks to help people find their dream homes for primary residences or second homes in the Cape Fear area.

I have primary contact relationships with REALTORs in Southport, Bolivia, Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Hampstead, Holly Ridge, Surf City, Topsail Island, Jacksonville, Rocky Point, and Burgaw. I'd be delighted to introduce you to my colleagues and help you get started with them.

If you're interested in Leland and the immediately surrounding towns in northern Brunswick County, however, I'd be delighted and honored to work with you to find the very best property to meet your needs.

I realize not everyone looks for a home in the same way. Different people use different processes for making this very important decision. However you prefer to work, I'm ready and able to provide:

• Executive summary-level information so you can make your decision independently based on your parameters
• Hot points and market trend info so you can make the best investment in a home and also have the most fun
• Support and guided touring of local communities and homes, introducing you to people who live in all areas so you can see who your new friends and neighbors will be
• Extensive economic and regional background data for your careful and thorough analysis.

I'm ready, willing, and certainly able to help you find the best house to call your new home.

Visiting Compass Pointe in Leland, NC - Ready to Sell!

Wow, the opening screen on the video below is pretty scary looking - to me anyway. We can't quite figure why it happened. Don't worry, though, as soon as you click the "play" icon the odd-looking Bruce with the half-closed eyes goes away.

Today I got to tour Compass Pointe in Leland, NC. Compass Pointe is one of Leland's newest developments and is being built and marketed by the same developers produced Waterford of the Carolinas, Wedgewood, and Palmetto Creek. I toured the property with Angela Batchelor, the marketing liaison and Todd Garrett, one of the lead on-site sales folks.

Compass Pointe is located just off Routes 74-76 west of Leland, just past the Leland campus of Brunswick Community College. To put it in a regional perspective, Compass Pointe's main entrance, also called the East Entrance, is 9.2 miles from the 3rd Avenue light in Wilmington, just after you get off the Cape Fear River Bridge.

No one lives in Compass Pointe yet, so you still have a chance to be the first official resident. Lots have been sold and several homes are under contract, with most expecting to move in in 1-3 years. A lot of work has been accomplished on the infrastructure of the community and in the first phases streets, landscaping, and street lights are in - awaiting only blacktop to be finished, as can be seen in the photo below.

The model home, built by Logan Builders, is nearing completion, with actual occupancy by the on-site sales staff expected in March or April.

There will be a wide range of amenities in Compass Pointe, including multiple pools, tennis courts, pavillions, and fitness centers. One interesting feature will be the Beach - why move to coastal North Carolina if you can't have your own beach, right? The shot below shows work in progress on the beach adjacent to one of the communities larger ponds.

In many places you can see homesites that are ready to build on, but in others it's clear that a lot of heavy lifting is still going on. The two photos below, taken in the area where first phase patio homes and townhomes will be built, show the busy work taking place.

Compass Pointe will be a golf course community, with 27 holes in all. The pro shop will have wide porches and viewing areas and will also have a grill and an event room.

Much of the golf course has been laid out so potential property owners can see what their eventual views will be. The initial course opening won't be until 2011 or 2012.

One golf feature that will be unique to the area, is an extensive golf practice area. With multiple target greens, multiple tee boxes, and lots of putting practice areas.

I toured Compass Pointe with fellow agent Ophard Willis and we were both pleased and surprised to see the extent of the existing development. This neighborhood is ready to sell.

Angela and Todd are in the photo above, at the West Entrance of Compass Pointe. That entrance will lead initially to an area of village-style retail and specialty shops that will be accessible to the public but also very convenient for residents of the community.

I have a lot more information about Compass Pointe that I will be posting on my real estate blog, but wanted to share these initial photos and impressions with you now.

Business in a Bubble!

Our Leland BNI Business Attractors meeting this week took a slightly different approach from our usual format. presented a strong, positive message. We decided that, in light of the commonly less than fully positive headline news about the economy, we'd each talk about our respective businesses and how they were fairing this year. The results might surprise you.

While we are aware that the national economy is in a general downturn, and has likely bottomed out, our regional and local geographic areas have created what several in the group referred as a "bubble" in which many businesses are not only doing well but in some cases thriving to unprecedented levels. In some cases businesses are gaining clientele because competitors have left the market and in other instances because of the growing population and market demands and the general economic overall health of our region (defined by one member as extending from southern Virgina into Georgia) and our local area in Northern Brunswick county.

So it was a great way to start the day.

The BNI Business Attractors group meets every Wednesday at 8AM at Antonio's Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Leland. Our membership, currently at 16, is looking to grow and we encourage visitors any Wednesday. For more information call Bruce Brown at (910) 297-8753 or Jeff Baker at (910) 343-5775.

Comfort Suites Hotel Building Update

Work is proceeding with great haste on the Comfort Suites Hotel next to the Leland office of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty. We even saw people working on the roof on Thanksgiving morning and they generally start at daybreak and continue until dusk.


The 106-room Comfort Suites Hotel, the first to be completed of four planned hotels within two mile stretch on Route 17 in Leland, is scheduled to open in May 2009, so that timing is certainly driving the work.

This is just one more sign that northern Brunswick County is continuing to develop at a rapid pace, in contrast to much of the country where commercial development has slowed significantly.

Peacock Still Needs a Home!

George the peacock is still around. I took these photos this morning. I wrote about George about a month ago and no came forward to try to catch him and give him a home. He's quite tame, as long as you don't try to catch him - he will not let you get closer than about 12 feet (I used my camera's zoom feature in the photo below). Many have now tried, all have failed to catch George . . . and this has been going on for almost a year and a half.


It's time George had a forever home. Feel free to e-mail me if you're interested at brucerbrown@yahoo.com.

And, oh yeah, I've already heard the "tastes like chicken" and "peacock skin boots" lines. No thanks.

Hotel Happenings and Wicked Awesome Cinnamon Chip Scones - Delicious Wonder Drug?

I'm happy to report an unexpected possible benefit from The Old Wilmington Tea Company's Cinnamon Chip Scone mix and recipe. Marge and I bought a bag of the mix when we visited Blue Moon Gifts on Sunday and she whipped them up and served them for dinner. (I was out of the kitchen blogging and Twitting for a couple of hours and when I came back the scones were on the table - isn't it cute how I wrote she "whipped them up"? OK, it also wouldn't be correct (or safe) to say Marge labored in the cooking for two hours either, so . . . allow me to reset.) Correction: Marge made them.

OK, so anyway, the recipe allowed Marge to "make" eight scones. She plated (cool chef verb) four of them for our evening meal and four we saved to take to a recuperating friend (this is where the Wonder Drug lie comes in, but that's later). They looked so pretty I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and grabbing a photo. Actually it took a 6-8 attempts to get a decent shot for this blog entry - the problem, beyond my combined technical and artistic ineptitude, was the sugar coating which made it difficult for me to get a good exposure. Whatever, they looked great, smelled better, and tasted awesome and at the end of our meal only crumbs remained - in the interest of continued domestic harmony I'll mention that there only two human food eaters in our house and Marge consumed only one of the scones.

So here they are (below). As always, depending on your browser you should be able to click to see the image in much larger size. (Caution - click at your own risk, you may experience an immediate visceral reaction that causes you to eat cookies or hop in the car for an emergency Krispy Kreme run.)

So here's the Wonder Drug part: Monday morning I dropped off the remaining four scones at my friend and colleague Craig Spafford's house. Craig's recovering from a medical procedure and I hadn't seen him since the day after the surgery a week or so ago.

On Monday I dropped off the scones on Craig's porch. On Tuesday our Office Manager Kari Essig and I dropped by after attending the Lanvale Forest Grand Re-Opening in Leland and Craig was up and dressed in street clothes. Wednesday he showed up at the office for a while to give everyone a hard time. He also mentioned that the scones lasted less than 10 minutes, their disappearance assisted by generous slatherings of sweet butter.

To summarize:
- Monday - no Craig in sight, drop off scones - scones consumed rapidly
- Tuesday - Craig dressed and smiling
- Wednesday - Craig in office fussing about but really being his usual stellar professional self
My conclusion: Old Wilmington Tea Co. Cinnamon Chip Scones Made by Marge are a Wonder Drug - Works for me!


Hotel Progress - The Comfort Suites hotel is going up fast right next door to our office in Leland, NC in front of Magnolia Greens.


Here's a shot of dirt and the slab on October 7th:




Here's a shot of the first structural steel being delivered on October 13th:

And here's a shot from yesterday, November 13th, of a bunch of workers hammering away on the third floor!

Occupancy expected for May 2009!

Will Leland NC Be the Next State Capital??

OK, folks, I know some of you listen or read politely when I talk about how Leland will grow, but you don't really buy it. When I mention a population projection of 50,000 by 2020 it seems exciting, but distant, and maybe farfetched.

Well, an article in today's Wilmington Star News doubles the bet!!!

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081107/articles/811070250

This Friday's Leland town council meeting should be very interesting. They will discuss and potentially approve the 3-years-in-the-making Leland Master Plan (which is a beautiful thing to read and if you want a copy let me know). Even just perusing the news article above gives you enough data to make it easy to understand why the projected growth is not just possible, or a town planner's dream, but very, very probable.

And here's kicker #1, not mentioned in the article. This article speaks only about Leland. It doesn't mention Belville! Belville has its own master plan for growth and Belville areas are intertwined all around the southern part of Leland (for example, did you know the residential part of Waterford is in Leland but the commercial part is in Belville?). The area of Belville right to the left of the 133 South exit of Rt 17 west that used to be a huge eyesore is going to be a very very high ticket retail, office, and residential space with close-in deep water dockage! There's more and more going on right there.

Here's kicker #2. There's plenty of room west on 17 and along 74/76 from Leland for more development - areas with infrastructure in place or easily accessed. If desired, the growth has space to continue with existing good roads.

Here are kickers #3 and #4 - If the Southport International Port AND the SkyWay Bridge project are completed (which if they happen, which is more likely than not, will be in the same time frame mentioned in the article) the whole region's growth and economic development will be fueled and supported by improved infrastructure and jobs.


Who knows, Wilmington may become a quaint place to visit from the bustling, modern, commercial/residential/economic western shores of the Cape Fear River, with the epi-center of the area in Leland!


And here's a bit of NC historical trivia that might make us wonder . . . Brunswick Town, the historic, original center of North Carolina's government and commerce, located a short drive down Route 133 from Leland and through Belville, was founded in 1726. Who knows, maybe in 2026, just in time for Brunswick Town's TriCentennial, the new center of North Carolina commerce may be located right in the same area, but this time in a once small town we know as Leland -- and which some of us affectionately refer to as L.A - the Land of Abundance!!

Art Show and Auction - Wilmington Waterfront, November 8th

Here's another great event sponsored by the Wilmington, NC Downtown Business Alliance. This Saturday, November 8th, from 4-7PM, DBA Wilmington presents an art show and auction held at the Wilmington Event and Art Gallery at 18 S. Water Street. Featuring the Azalea Festival-inspired works of George Pocheptsov and other local artists, the event benefits the Downtown Business Alliance in its support for the Wilmington arts community and Downtown businesses in general.


Admission is free. There will be live music on hand and a cash bar. From 4-6:45PM there'll be a silentt auction for a number of items including works or art, gift certificates for various Downtown business, a stay at the Riverview Suites, a private wine tasting, and several other cool items (my fav is a Fender guitar with one free lesson). From 6:45 - it's over there will be a live auction of major art pieces, several of which are available for online bidding at www.dbawilmington.com.

For more info go to www.dbawilmington.com or email katie@dbawilmington.com.

Seared Scallops on Polenta - Can Food Get Any Better?

Last evening Marge and I had dinner with our friends Naomi and Ophard Willis at Caffe Phoenix on 9 S. Front Street in Downtown Wilmington, NC. Three of us had the only announced special for the night, Seared Scallops on Polenta (the description was actually a lot longer than that but who can remember all the add-ons and sauces and herbs waitstaff recite in most any restaurant where you aren't urged to super-size or add more sticky sauce on top?).

When the entrees were served our table quieted right down for a while as we got to work. I'm not a foodie nor a food critic, but fer shure, Mr. Flay, you could serve this dish as prepared and presented at Bolo in Manhattan and feel right proud.

I had my camera but didn't think to photograph the dish before eating but wish I did (the photo above is a non-attributed royalty-free stock photo). From now on I'll try to remember to shoot before I eat. The scallops were prepared just as most of us like them, not rubbery or hard, but nice and chewy with just the right searing. What had us all talking, however, was the polenta. Wow. The polenta had a tad-thicker-than-thin crust and a great texture. Excellent excellent excellent.

We had a great time talking and laughing and waving to the people riding the horse-drawn trolley down the street (another photo missed), but the scallops, and especially the polenta were fabulous.

Ashton Place Grand Re-Opening in Leland - A Real Estate Success Story!!

Paige Robinson of Brookside Homes and good friend Landon Barker stood in the chilly air and welcomed visitors to Paige's Grand Re-Opening Event today. In less than a year after opening Ashton Place on Old Fayetteville Road in Leland, Paige held a Grand Re-Opening luncheon for REALTORS(tm) today. The old model home used to be right by the entrance but the new model home, a design called the Bradley Creek(see photo below), is halfway back in the community. REALTORs like to eat, a lot, and Middle of the Island caterers did their usual fine job, this time under a tent - it was a bit brisk to say the least today, temperatures were still in the low 50's at midday (yeah yeah, we know you Northeners are snickering - but hey, we expect and usually get GREAT WEATHER year round, so snicker at that!).

The three biggest factors in Ashton Place's success in this time when many are bewailing the real estate market? That's easy: price; design; and build quality. Oh yeah, and there are three more: location; location; and location. The convenient Ashton Place placement is pretty much smack in the middle of Leland, close to schools, post office, library, both the older and rapidly expanding newer retail areas, and don't forget its great access to major highways.

In all there are seven home plans at Ashton Place priced under $200,000! How cool is that? No wonder that in this time when mortgage money is still a bargain and plentifully available for folks who qualify Ashton Place is a poster community for success. The price is right. If you'd like to tour Ashton Place and would like a buyer's agent to represent you, I'd be honored to assist you - please call my cell phone at 910-297-8753 or e-mail me at brucebrown@seacoastrealty.com. You can also look for other homes via my website.

Pepper Loves Downtown Wilmington

Sunday was such a glorious day! Marge, Pepper and I took advantage of the great weather to hang out in downtown Wilmington for a few hours. As usual Pepper made lots of friends. Marge and I pretty much gravitate toward Kilwins at 16 Market Street whenever we're in downtown Wilmington. Yesterday I had an excellent (and generous-portioned) single scoop cup of Turtle ice cream - my only complaint was the plastic spoon was kinda flimsy which slowed my progress. We also bought some of their nifty chocolate-covered stick pretzels to fuel our progress around town. Spent some time in Native Soul Indigena at 25 Market Street and Marge bought some very pretty pink shell earrings.

Pepper loves to pose for the camera. Ever since she was a puppy she learned to sit and stay when I would take her picture, and she still is great about that. Even though there were a lot of people around the river front river walk I put Pepper on the walkway and told her to stay while I took her picture with the river in the background and she was great about it. Pepper is a strong people magnet.