N.C. State developers are constructing North Shore, a group of homes located on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus to help build up a community of N.C. State’s faculty and corporate partners.

Michael Harwood, Associate Vice Chancellor for the Centennial Campus Development Office, said phase one is to begin in mid-to-late August.

Phase one includes the development of about 7 to 8 acres on which 10 homes and a community pool will be constructed, according to Harwood. 

The majority of phase-one homes will have two bedrooms or two bedrooms and a study or library, after reviews of larger units found that people thought them to be too big and too expensive. 

Harwood said his group is looking to sell North Shore homes to people who are just starting their careers, young families buying their first residential real-estate or people working on or near campus, rather than being another student housing option.  

“Our hope is that a student can come to N.C. State, live in Wolf Ridge then, get a job and live in the Green Apartments, and after a couple of years and saving, reside in North Shore,” Harwood said. “We hope that they will be able to live here for quite a while, and that’s how we see the three different types of properties.”

North Shore has been in the plans since about 2001, but due to legal issues and the 2008 recession, building was interrupted, Harwood said.

To ensure building does not stop abruptly again, contractors will only be building as many homes as can be sold.

“We have set this up so we will build only as many as we can sell, and if they stop selling, we will stop building,” Harwood said. “No half-finished buildings in the incomplete nature that the last developer and set of activities left on the site. If not successful, we will stop.”

If the construction and sale of North Shore is successful, Harwood said there would eventually be 111 units on about 10 acres. 

Harwood said he was confident that the homes would sell as evidenced by market studies done by a developer. However, if the homes don’t sell, there are other plans that could be enacted. 

Benefits of living in North Shores include a private community pool, easy access to greenway paths and views of Lake Raleigh, Harwood said. 

North Shore will be located on the southern end of campus on Capability Drive, about a five-minute walk from James B. Hunt Library.