Grayson Park Clubhouse and Pool, Leland, NC

In 1968 Burt Lancaster starred in The Swimmer, a movie in which his character travels through a suburb by swimming through residents' pools. I was reminded of the movie concept Wednesday afternoon when I re-visited the new clubhouse and pool at Grayson Park. This fine community, developed by Stevens Fine Homes, is located off US Route 87 north of US Highway 17 is in Leland, North Carolina, about 8 miles west of Downtown Wilmington. (Note to movie producers and other film industry folks: if you decide to do a re-make of The Swimmer based on someone swimming his or her way across a country via subdivision pools, you heard it here first, and I'm NOT the Bruce Brown who made The Endless Summer, the original surfing flick, also in the 1960s.)

Grayson Park has existing and pre-sale homes and townhomes for sale, but whenever I visit this fine neighborhood lately I'm drawn to the clubhouse and more particularly to the pool. I'm not actually much of a swimmer, but my wife Marge is. Marge loves to swim and I like to sit by the pool and read - sometimes my total exercise-oriented activity for the day is counting laps as Marge churns the water back and forth. Grayson Park's pool is, in a word, gorgeous. There are six swimming lanes plus a blocked off shallow area for non-lane swimmers. There's also an adjacent spa and plenty of undercover space at the back of the clubhouse for people who'd rather sit out of the sun but still enjoy the pool area.

The clubhouse itself has a full kitchen, a comfortable seating/lounging members area, shower facilities, and two offices currently used by the Grayson Park sales staff. A new section of homes called Parkside will soon be open with what sounds like an appealing combination of high-end features and aggressive pricing. If you're in the market for a new home and haven't yet seen Grayson Park, and would like to, give me a call at 910-297-8753 or e-mail BruceBrown@SeaCoastRealty.com. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised at how much you can get for your money by traveling a few minutes west of Wilmington. I'd be very happy to show you Grayson Park and other communities in the Leland and Wilmington areas. In the meantime, I may talk to Marge about doing our own version of The Swimmer - if we can convince the neighborhood people to let us do it, she'll test the lap swimming and I'll practice counting.

SeaBrooke in Leland, North Carolina

Because I'm a REALTOR, and particulary because my office is in Leland, NC, I try to keep up with newly developing neighborhoods in the area. It's part of my job, which is cool, because I also think it's a lot of fun. My main purpose is to stay current with area neighborhoods so I can assist potential buyers in our area. I may spin off this content into a separate blog dedicated solely to neighborhoods I visit in Leland and Wilmington, but for now will keep the content in this, my primary blog.

Yesterday afternoon I took a ride to two of our newer local Leland neighborhoods. The first is SeaBrooke. The following reads a bit like a press release, I realize, but, hey, I was a journalist for 18 years and many of my best friends still are in public relations, so a little of what they do rubbed off. The following isn't a product review like the 1000's I wrote for PC Magazine (Google "PC Magazine Bruce Brown" if reading old computer and printer reviews is your thing) and it isn't an ad. The neighborhood info isn't an endorsement, either, but I did attempt to succinctly capture the major features and the builder/developer conceptual goals.

SeaBrooke, a new community opening in Leland, North Carolina, combines NAHB Green Building Program standards and an intentional "village" feel. Single story garden homes and two-story village homes in SeaBrooke are priced in the mid to high $200s and include a long list of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly attributes. Homes in SeaBrooke include many "must-have", check-list features such as hardwood floors, 42" kitchen cabinets, solid surface countertops, stainless steel appliances, and ceramic tile baths. In addition to the garden homes and village homes SeaBrooke will also have a section of townhomes with prices starting in the $180s.


Located off Lanvale Road in Leland, across Route 17 from the newly rising Villages of Brunswick Forest retail and office complex, SeaBrooke's 200 acre site is within natural forests and with ponds, fountains, and walking trails. Neighborhood amenities will include a pool, playground, and community pavilion.

If you're from the Leland/Wilmington area you'll know that SeaBrooke is close to the fast-growing "New Leland" area and about a 10-minute drive to downtown Wilmington's riverfront and historic district. If you're not local, SeaBrooke is about 45 minutes from North Myrtle Beach, and within 20-30 minutes of a great selection of North Carolina's beautiful beaches and yet is still conveniently located for shopping, entertainment, health services, commuting to major employers, and of course within minutes of golf courses (which pretty much applies to all of Southeastern North Carolina).

If you're interested in more information about SeaBrooke, just give me a call at 910-297-8753 or e-mail me at BruceBrown@SeaCoastRealty.com. I'd be honored to assist you.

Key West Band Downtown Sundown Concert - Wilmington Riverfront, Friday Oct. 17th

Great fun is available for free Friday late afternoon and early evening at Riverfront Park in downtown Wilmington. The Key West Band , a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, will be playing from 5:30 - 10PM. It's sponsored by the Downtown Business Alliance and a bunch of other I'm sure fine folks. You can bring a lawn chair or beach chair but no coolers or pets, which also means no pets in coolers, I'm sure, so don't get sneaky. They also ask that you don't bring "outside" beverages, which I'm pretty sure means they want to be sure that if you show up you support local merchants who have sponsored this free event rather than carry in your own beer or whatever. For more details on this free concert, check out this Facebook event link. To keep up with other events including the Downtown Sundown Concert series, make the Downtown Business Alliance a favored link. Please note, the photo on this blog post was blatantly borrowed from The Key West Band's web page.