Zombie zones - Stalled housing sites litter local landscape

A deer prances near the unfinished road then disappears into dense woods.

Tucked into the far backwoods of Brunswick County, the Villages at Goose Marsh once planned to house almost 800 families. Now it’s a desolate, lonely community of one.

The story is similar throughout Brunswick County, especially in the N.C. 211 corridor.

Dozens of planned developments slowed or stalled when the economy took a nose dive, leaving them in a zombie state: not quite dead, but nowhere close to finished.
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 While there are some signs of life, the county’s property market remains shaky at best.

According to Market Opportunity Research Enterprises, 180 new homes and condominiums were sold in Brunswick during the first three months of this year at a median price of $196,000. That’s down from 284 new residential units sold at a median price of $225,000 during the same period last year.
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The numbers show a market awash in inventory as demand sputters. Some estimate Brunswick has at least a 10-year supply of residential lots, possibly double that for high-end properties.

In New Hanover County, a quick review by the county planning staff found nearly a dozen approved projects with almost 1,000 residential units that have stalled in the past year.

So builders wait, developers hope the economic and credit crunch eases, buyers wonder if the market has hit bottom yet and local officials try to pick up the pieces.

Meanwhile, there’s a landscape scarred with half-finished roads and broken dreams.

San Rio Ocean and River Club in Shallotte was supposed to have 2,400 homes. Then developers whittled it down to 1,600, and finally 260 units.

Now it might be 0.

Construction stopped about a year ago on the massive development that was supposed to be a contender to St. James – a large and successful golf course plantation development to the east.

Paul Varoutsos thought he would retire in San Rio, spending his days relaxing in the waterfall pool or happily floating down the lazy river.

The Caribbean-theme project and the reputable development company backing it appealed to Varoutsos, one of nearly 60 people who bought lots before construction began.

But two years later, everything has turned upside down.

The entrance to the planned plush subdivision has an elaborate sign and a bridge to a small island. One home stands about 70 percent completed, and there are signs of beginning construction on an office/sales building. But beyond that, there is no sign of life.

Faced with hefty mortgages, the lot owners are looking at either paying for seemingly worthless land they can’t build on or defaulting on their loans.

Varoutsos, 57, had planned to retire here from New Jersey.

He bought a lot in San Rio for $249,000 but says now – without sewer, water or any of the other necessary infrastructure in place – he might get $30,000 for it.

“It looks like our property is pretty much worthless,” he said.

The deadline to complete the infrastructure for the first phase of the project is June 8, Shallotte Town Administrator Paul Sabiston said.

If the developers cannot finish the water, sewer and the roads, the town of Shallotte will step in and recover bond money to finish it. Sabiston said it’s looking virtually impossible for San Rio to meet that deadline.

A message left for officials with Wakefield Development Co. was not returned.

Adding insult to injury, the lot owners also had to pay property taxes on their undeveloped land for 2008.

Kevin Brown of Raleigh, whose San Rio property cost about $190,000, said he paid close to $1,100 in 2008 taxes.

“It’s just dirt in the woods,” he said.

Sabiston said he believes the developers are trying to refinance, but it’s not looking promising, at least not for the next year or so.

And even if the project gets moving, it’s doubtful it will ever reach the intended scale that buyers like Brown and Varoutsos were expecting.

It’s clear now to developers, bankers and real estate agencies that the planned development in Brunswick didn’t fit the market.

“What we saw from an appraisal and real estate point of view was that we really peaked about the third quarter of 2005,” said Tom Shoaf, a broker with Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty. “But by then, the permits had been pulled for a lot these projects and stuff was getting in the ground, so they were past the point of no return.”

In the end, these developments will probably get moving again – though maybe not for the next couple of years, officials say.

“I foresee a slow, steady growth,” Brunswick County Assistant Attorney Jana Berg said.

But the homes will likely be cheaper, smaller and come with fewer perks.

“Some of these projects as originally designed just aren’t feasible anymore,” said Dave Spetrino, president of Wilmington-based Plantation Building Corp.

Exactly how soon or even if these developments might start moving again is unknown. Some will go into bankruptcy and then to auction. The lucky ones will refinance and scale back.

Shelby Sebens: 343-2076

On Twitter.com: @shelbsnc26
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