1. Who is Riptide Builders?
Riptide Builders, headquartered in Sunset Beach, is a veteran-owned residential building company that employees nearly 20 people in Brunswick County. Since our founding in 2009, we have lived by the governing philosophy “to develop and to build innovative homes which meet and exceed the needs of today’s clients.” We are committed to quality and customer service. As the builder and developer of Sea Trail, Riptide Builders can ensure high-quality land plans and residential construction to further protect and enhance the Sea Trail community.
2. What is included in the Sea Trail plan?
Riptide Builders purchased the property in 2020 with plans to bring the original Sea Trail plan to life and to breathe new energy into the community, including providing the amenity upgrades so desperately needed.
Our plan will secure Sea Trail long into the future by:
o Improve and expand existing amenities, including the addition of more pickle ball courts and expanding the amenities at the existing Maples Amenity Center.
o Add wide sidewalks throughout our new development areas, enabling residents to safely explore the neighborhood and even reach downtown Sunset Beach by sidewalk.
o Build top-of-the-line pools, clubhouses amongst many more amenities within our new development areas.
o Activate ponds and river with observation decks, benches and picnic areas.
o Enhance green spaces by adding walking trails, pergolas, fire pits, dining areas, and other amenities.
o Build thoughtfully designed, high-end single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums. New, diverse housing that was planned all along is necessary to support our golf courses and to revive our dining operations.
o Helping keep, maintain, and improve all three golf courses.
o Helping re-upfit and re-open the convention center for events and community use.
Riptide Builders worked hand-in-hand with the Sea Trail Master Association to rehabilitate entries to the Sea Trail community, retrofit street signs, install wayfaring signage, repair stormwater systems, and dramatically enhance the chapel’s grounds.
3. Are you getting rid of the golf courses and replacing them with condos?
No! We have no plans to turn the golf courses into residential lots, as some have feared. Sea Trail’s beautiful golf courses are a fundamental part of why we made this investment. Properly maintained, if not improved, golf courses are a major part of our plans for the future of Sea Trail. Suggestions to the contrary are false. In fact, the Jones and Byrd courses are protected under our North Carolina state stormwater permits, and the Maples course is not suitable for development. We cannot bring the Sea Trail plan to life without them.
We do need more housing, as originally planned and approved, to support Sea Trail’s golf operations—which is true of every golfing community—and to revive, sustain, and add to our restaurants. Our neighborhoods and golf courses support each other, and all of them need to be healthy for Sea Trail to excel. Diverse quality development is crucial to making this important eco-system obtainable.
4. Sunset Beach is already crowded, and this will just make it worse. What do you have to say to that?
Sunset Beach is a wonderful place to live, visit, and vacation, and we want to keep it that way. The fact is that the Sea Trail community, planned for more than 40 years, has been left dormant for far too long, which has hurt the community. Our aim is to complete it thoughtfully, adding long-sought amenities throughout: pools, club houses, walking trails, green spaces, and locally owned restaurants and businesses. Without completing Sea Trail in its entirety, the amenities so many of you value will continue to deteriorate.
Moreover, we are proposing development that is significantly less dense than projects the town has previously approved. For example, our Pelican Preserve (aka tract 6) sub-community was previously approved for a 500+ unit condominium development. Instead, we plan to build approximately 175 high-end single-family homes.
As Sunset Beach residents, we are striving to keep the wonderful spirit of this community alive, while adding the HOA and commercial amenities the community desires. Our plan includes wide sidewalks that would make it possible to go downtown in a golf cart or a bike instead of a car, truck, or SUV, relieving the parking shortage downtown.
The question is not whether more growth is coming to Sunset Beach—the question is what kind of growth. We believe it makes sense to complete Sea Trail in conjunction with its original vision and plan but improving on it with even more and better amenities.
6. Will you be cutting down trees?
We understand that natural beauty is part of what makes Sea Trail a great place to live. Our plans include greenspace areas, tree conservation, and landscape enhancements throughout Sea Trail. We want the same things desired by current and future Sea Trail homeowners: a beautiful, well-planned community.
7. Are you eliminating the driving range and replacing it with new development?
In collaboration with golf course owners, we will develop a brand new, state-of-the-art practice facility for the Sea Trail community.
The land currently housing the driving range, Gulls Landing, has always been intended for future development of single-family homes, as it is located in a major ingress/egress point of the Sea Trail community. That said, we do not intend to eliminate the current driving range before a new practice facility is complete. We are committed to ensuring that all Sea Trail residents and guests always have access to a practice facility. We have several standalone tracts ideal for this type of facility, and we look forward to planning and discussing next steps with the community as things progress.