The developers of a planned condominium complex known as The Crossings expect to break ground on the first units sometime this spring.

Workers began clearing trees at the intersection of Brewers Neck Boulevard and Route 17 for the project last June. The plans on file with Isle of Wight County call for 210 residential units in a style similar to what has been built in the Bridgewater and Eagle Harbor developments and up to 234,000 square feet of commercial space.

Per the plans, a new road, which will be named Spadia Way, will bisect the development, turning the T-intersection of Brewers Neck and 17 into a four-way one. To the right of Spadia Way will be the condos and to the left, a 202,100-square-foot shopping center. A series of commercial parcels along Route 17 will also be created.

“They are getting very close to having final site plan approval and putting their surety bonds in place,” said Amy Ring, Isle of Wight’s director of community development.

Plans for The Crossings began in 2002. Developer Gary Werner of Franciscus Homes secured county approval for a conceptual plan in 2011. According to Ring, Werner hasn’t submitted any detailed site plans for the commercial phases yet, but was allowed to clear the parcels along Route 17 ahead of any development.

“The reason why there’s so few trees left is due to the construction footprint of the stormwater management ponds and the clear area that they needed to lay down equipment to build the roads,” she explained.

Franciscus Homes also obtained a wetland permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which the developer needed in order to build the road.

“They needed to do that before it expires, so that was the reason why we did allow some of the clearing in this area,” Ring said.

Another Carrollton development known as Brewer’s Station — located along Brewers Neck Boulevard — is already under construction. Approved in 2014, the current phase being built will eventually include 162 townhouse-style apartments and a one-acre commercial site. Three buildings, two with eight units and one with six, are already approved for building permits and are under construction. No plan has been submitted for the commercial site yet.

Additional phases call for 65 single-family residences, 34 condominiums and up to 85,000 square feet of commercial space, according to plans developer Francis P. Norsworthy Jr. submitted in 2014.

Collectively, the two developments, once built out, are projected to bring nearly 200 additional students to Isle of Wight County’s school system, according to population estimates an Ohio-based consulting firm, Cooperative Strategies, supplied to the county’s school board in 2018. The study projected nearly 900 new students entering the school system over the next 12 to 13 years when all currently planned and in-progress developments throughout the county are completed.