Waterford Of The Carolinas

They call this fairly new housing development Waterford of the Carolinas, but it could just as well be called Intraconnection Plantation — residents and guests can travel almost anywhere within the development by a variety of methods. Want to walk? You can, through a system of interior sidewalks and bridges.

Want to use your car? You can drive to or from the property’s commercial district or its medical area.

Want to use your boat? If it’s no longer than 16 feet and doesn’t run on gasoline, you can paddle — or use your electric trolling motor — to get from your home to about 90% of the 10 to 12 miles of man-made canals and lakes on this 900-home-site development.

The canals at Waterford were built to enhance the homesites, but they also provide a means of drainage, a goal of recreation and a pathway of water to the proposed grocery store and doctors’ offices that are included in the developer’s plans.

More than 160 homesites have been sold to date. According to Roy R. Holdford III, the community specialist for the development, six neighborhoods — ranging in individual home price from $160,000 to $650,000 or more — are currently under construction.

Some buyers work in Wilmington, an historic retail and educational center, but others are retired and some just didn’t want to be on a golf course (although there is a golf course in the adjacent and connected Magnolia Gardens). For those who are among the first to live in Waterford, construction begins at the rear of the development, not far from Osprey Lake — one of the planned centers of recreation. The reasoning, according to Holdford, is intended to protect the first homeowners from the disturbance of noisy construction vehicles rumbling by their homes when subsequent phases begin.

D. Logan, owner of D. Logan Construction and Development Co., is building The Reserve neighborhood adjacent to Waterford Village. A social center is only a five-minute walk from any part of the development, and he is excited about the prospects.

Before Logan began his own company, he helped construct “highend” homes at Wrightsville, Figure 8, Landfall and Porters Neck. Now he builds custom homes for retirement and resort communities, and he specifically notes that The Reserve is “designed to meet the needs of retiring baby boomers.”

“I’ve acquired a taste and skills for constructing the finest-quality homes money can buy,” Logan says. He began construction on his first four homes in late February. More information is available at his web site at: www.LoganDevelopers.com.

The townhomes and patio homes he plans to build in Waterford all offer maintenance- free lawns, a place on the waterfront, gated communities and all-brick construction. On many of the plans offered through Waterford Realty by Logan, options such as additional rooms can be added.

The Waterford Center, which is under construction, will include up to six tennis courts, a large pool, a dance floor and other amenities that will cater to one or more of the several neighborhoods that dot the development. Both it and Osprey Lake will have outdoor cooking areas, and Osprey Lake is expected to offer myriads of recreational opportunities, including, perhaps, a cane fishing pole tournament for young people.

Developer Exum thinks his development will be the last built along U.S. 17 at the intersection of U.S. 74-76 because of wetlands, the river and other environmental water issues between Leland and Wilmington.

As it stands now, U.S. 17 is marked at Leland by a long, elegant, faux-falls sign that gushes with — as you’d expect — the mark of Waterford.