In the last year, the Cape Fear region has seen a number of newly proposed communities that feature shared greenspaces and cottage-style development.

Natural space and cottage-style housing often goes hand-in-hand, said Cameron Moore, the executive officer of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Homebuilders Association, and it's becoming a development trend as available land dwindles in the area.

The local trend mirrors a greater focus across the globe on developing urban greenspace in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which studies and surveys have shown increased public appreciation and demand for open, outdoor meeting areas. 

Here in the Port City, Moore noted, the energy is moving in the direction of cottage developments, which can often pack more housing onto a small pocket of land while still keeping room for shared common spaces.

Taking advantage of available land has become increasingly important as a growing population has heightened demand for new development in the Cape Fear. That's left many developers eyeing the potential for infill development in which projects are built on vacant or under-developed tracts surrounded by existing homes or other buildings.

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Just off of Oleander Drive near Wilmington's Seagate neighborhood, father-and-son development team Joel and Ross Tomaselli are proposing what Ross Tomaselli told the StarNews was the "definition of an infill project" on a piece of land surrounded by single-family homes and a mobile home park.

Plans for the development include cottage-style homes with shared courtyard spaces -- a style of development the Tomasellis say is new to the city of Wilmington.

Moore said cottage-style projects by definition often include an element of common space shared between residents. 

“The cottage-style development in the world of planning is typically centered around a greenspace requirement,” Moore said.

Moore said while he's noticed increasing pressure for developers and homebuilders to include greenspace, trees and sidewalks in their plans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's something they've been trying to include more of for years.

Some Wilmington projects like the growing 1,400-acre Riverlights community has intentionally tied into existing multi-use trails while communities have invested in their own outdoor infrastructure.

Last year, Riverlights announced the start of construction on its own neighborhood of cottage-style rentals, which is scheduled for completion in 2023.

Yet another project drawing on the cottage concept is a proposed neighborhood at the intersection of Independence Boulevard and S. 17th Street.

Middleburg Communities, a Virginia-based construction and property management company, is proposing more than 280 single-family rental cottages and townhomes in a community they're calling The Hamlet. 

Designs for the neighborhood situate the single-family homes around shared quad-like greenspaces that provide residents room for gardens, fire pits and other outdoor activities.

Jason Pfister, who works as the vice president of land entitlements for the company, told the StarNews earlier this month Middleburg Communities spent years workshopping the concept of the cottage-style project.

Moore said a re-write of Wilmington's land development code, which was adopted last August, gives builders and developers "more tools in the toolbox" when it comes to proposing new development styles in the changing "urban fabric" of Wilmington.

“Available land is certainly sparse and has its challenges,” he said.

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at 910-343-2096 or edill@gannett.com.