Swansboro's Next Errands Are Being Built on West Corbett Avenue
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
At the corner of NC-24 and Hammocks Beach Road, construction crews are at work on the old ABC store and car wash lot. Farther east, at 768 W. Corbett Avenue, a restaurant project has had its building permit since March. Between those two points, a shell storefront is going up with a credit union already lined up as a tenant. Swansboro's next gas station, bank branch, dental office and restaurant are all being built along this one stretch of West Corbett Avenue.
The clearest record of all this is the Town Manager's Report dated August 2026. It went out in the packet for the Board of Commissioners' October 27 meeting, and it tracks each project from site plan to final inspection.
Listed by street number, the projects run west from the edge of the commercial strip toward Hammocks Beach Road:
| Address | Project | Latest reported status |
|---|---|---|
| 714 W. Corbett Ave., Suite 14 | Swansboro Area Chamber of Commerce office | Open; ribbon cutting held September 2026 |
| 768 W. Corbett Ave. | Bamboo Restaurant and shops | Permit issued March 18, 2026; site work begun |
| 1017 W. Corbett Ave. | Multi-use storefront with Navy Federal Credit Union as a tenant | Shell under construction; credit union upfit plans approved |
| 1071 & 1073 W. Corbett Ave. | Wawa convenience store and gas station | Site work began February 2026; vertical work slated by August 2026 |
| 1121 W. Corbett Ave. | School Street Phase One multi-use storefront | Permit issued; inspections underway |
| 1129 Hammocks Beach Rd. | Swansboro Family Dental | Final inspection phase |
Every status except the Chamber's comes from the August 2026 Manager's Report. The highest street numbers, Wawa at 1071 and 1073, the School Street storefront at 1121 and the dental office at 1129 Hammocks Beach Road, are grouped near the NC-24 and Hammocks Beach Road intersection.
Swansboro Family Dental at 1129 Hammocks Beach Road has gone further than anything else on the list. Its site plan was approved in August 2025. Construction and inspections followed, and the August 2026 report put it in the final inspection phase. No opening date has been published. Of everything going up here, it's the one most likely to be finished first.
Right behind it is the School Street Phase One storefront at 1121 W. Corbett. Its timeline shows how long a modest building can take. The site plan went in for review in June 2025, a second submittal and review followed in October 2025, and building plans were dropped off March 17, 2026. By the August report, the permit had been issued and inspections had started. The report doesn't name any tenants for the storefront.
The storefront at 1017 W. Corbett Avenue is a good example of how construction moves in order. The project needed a stormwater permit, an NCDOT driveway permit and an approved Traffic Impact Analysis before its site plan could clear. After that, the shell's building plans were approved, permits were issued and construction began.
Navy Federal Credit Union is listed as one of the tenants. In the July report, its interior upfit plans were still under review. By August they had been approved, along with a condition stated directly in the report: "Work cannot start until shell is finished." So the walls go up first and the branch interior comes after. A finished-looking exterior on this lot won't mean the credit union is ready to open. Navy Federal hasn't announced an opening date for this location.
The Wawa at 1071 and 1073 W. Corbett is going up on the former ABC store and car wash site. Building plans were approved January 20, 2026, and site work began in February. WCTI News 12 reported on September 23 that crews were working at the site near N.C. 24 and Hammock Beach Road and that the company hadn't announced when the store will open.
Some numbers from that same report give a sense of scale. Wawa's first Onslow County store opened on Western Boulevard in Jacksonville in August 2025. The company told WCTI it plans to open six to eight stores a year across North Carolina, aiming for 90 statewide over the next eight to 10 years. A typical store represents more than $7.5 million in investment, uses about 140 contractors and local partners during construction, and employs about 35 associates once open. WCTI described the Swansboro location as part of Wawa's growing footprint in the county.
Wawa posts upcoming stores on its grand openings calendar, which it updates monthly. In late October the calendar listed openings through October 29, 2026, and Swansboro wasn't among them. Swansboro will probably show up there before an opening date comes out anywhere else.
Bamboo Restaurant and shops, at 768 W. Corbett Avenue, has the longest paper trail on the corridor. Its site plan was approved December 6, 2024. A revision to the parking lot layout went in during March 2025 and was later approved. Building plans were approved in September 2025, and the permit was issued March 18, 2026, with site work started.
You'll probably recognize the name. Bamboo Asian House opened in Swansboro in May 2017, according to a 2019 Only In Onslow profile, and its online ordering lists 918 W. Corbett Avenue for pickup. The Town's report lists the 768 project as "Bamboo Restaurant and shops" and doesn't say whether it's tied to that restaurant. The "and shops" part of the name means the site is planned for more than one business.
The one corridor-area project that adds homes on top of storefronts is Brezza Lofts, a mixed-use building planned for Lot 8 of Ward Farm Town Center. It needed amendments to the Town's development ordinance and a Special Use Permit, which the Board of Commissioners approved in October 2024. Construction was then put on hold for a redesign.
New plans were submitted in January 2026. The Planning Board recommended approval of a Minor Special Use Permit on March 3, and the Board of Adjustment approved it at an April 6 special meeting. Later adjustments to unit square footage and site layout are being handled administratively because use and density didn't change, and phase 1 plans were under review as of the August report. Of everything here, it's the furthest from finished.
The Swansboro Area Chamber of Commerce moved into a new office and held a ribbon cutting in September 2026. Its address is now 714 West Corbett Avenue, Suite 14. The organization that represents the town's businesses now works from the same road where most of the new ones are being built.
The Town's other recent projects show a different pattern. The Visitor's Center reopened after improvements that added public restrooms and facilities for transient boaters, and it received its Certificate of Occupancy on June 12, 2026. The Main Street dock replacement has a $170,164 grant behind it, and staff were preparing the required major CAMA permit application, with no construction dates set. Before that, the Bicentennial Park boardwalk extension and public day-dock were finished on April 23, 2025.
Each of those three projects includes docks or facilities for boaters. Fuel, a bank branch, a dentist and new restaurant space are all being added out on NC-24.
Four signs will show the corridor moving from construction to open doors:
The next Manager's Report in a Board of Commissioners packet will carry the Town's next update on the first, second and fourth.
If you own near the Hammocks Beach Road turn or along West Corbett and want to know what this corridor's build-out could mean for your property's value, I'm happy to go through it with you, one address at a time. Reach out to Holly Griffith and Schedule a Free Consultation.
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