A previous dead zone development has moved into the town of Shallotte with developers at the ready.
Future residents of the new development will be part of Shallotte following a recent request from project developers.
Here's the latest.
Early planning
Plans for San Rio Ocean & Beach Club began in the mid-2000s. At the time, the community, a Caribbean-themed planned residential development, sought to double the town’s population. Raleigh-based Wakefield Development Co. was the original developer for the project.
San Rio was permitted as a planned residential development with 2,400 housing units in 2007. The 2011 master plan laid out a total of 2,022 residential units.
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New hands, new development
Though the projected completion date of San Rio was 2008, the residential development was never completed.
The once zombie development has slowly come back to life since Drapac Capital Partners purchased San Rio in 2014, revamped the name and revised the master plan.
The Shallotte Board of Aldermen during its April 2025 regular meeting tabled approving several property owner requests for the Solserra planned unit development.
The board was to discuss the property owners, Stars and Stripes 21 LLC, requests to annex around 300 acres of the Solserra project into town limits, update the master plan and rezone several parcels of the property. The Shallotte Planning Board recommended the aldermen approve the requests.
Solserra is a partially plated subdivision along the Shallotte River off Grey Bridge Road.
Phases four, five and six of the former project were not annexed into the town with the original plan. This resulted in some of the development remaining in Brunswick County jurisdiction.
The developer submitted a revised master plan showing the remaining tracts as a planned unit development with hopes to annex the entire project into town limits. This includes a new 17-acre tract around Tar Landing Road.
Board's decision
After residents voiced concerns about traffic, development size and wildlife during the board's May 6 meeting, assistant town manager Robert Waring said, the board approved annexing the remainder of the project into the town and rezoned the project to planned unit development.
The development, including the previously approved 262 single-family unit development, will consist of 1,278 residential units. Of those units, 804 are single family homes, 300 multi-family units and 174 townhomes. The project will be built in three phases.
Aldermen also set several "fairly standard" conditions with their approval, Waring said.
The conditions are as follows: Homeowner association documents detailing stormwater and road maintenance be recorded with subdivision plats, sewer allocation be issued in 60 lot/unit increments, new town of Shallotte stormwater permit applications be submitted with phased subdivisions and copies of all state and federal permits be provided when available.
The developer, following approval, will submit subdivision or site landscape plans that will include more details.
Traffic analysis details
Per the approved North Carolina Department of Transportation traffic impact analysis, the phase one should be built by 2029. The build year for the "full build" is 2035.
If the development is built, the NCDOT has required the developer to install numerous improvements.
A revised traffic impact analysis will be required for review by NCDOT if changes are made to site driveways, land uses, land use intensity, or other study parameters, or if the build year studied in the report has passed.