Mallory Pointe remains devoid of houses three years after Smithfield’s Town Council approved the 812-home development off Battery Park Road.

That won’t be the case much longer, according to the project’s developer.

Virginia Beach-based Napolitano Homes broke ground last year on a first phase, which calls for 135 homes spread over 87 acres. As of Sept. 4, the site consisted of a gravel access road, tall grasses and dirt mounds, some pipes and construction vehicles, and a sign pledging new homes coming this year.

“Driving out to the site, you can see that development is well under way and we anticipate delivering completed homesites early in 2025,” said Napolitano Homes President Vince Napolitano. “At that point you will begin to see vertical construction of the homes, with delivery of new homes later in 2025.”

“Mallory Pointe is still actively involved in construction,” said Tammie Clary, the town’s director of community development and planning, who said there is no holdup on the town’s end.

The Town Council, at a contentious July 6, 2021, meeting that drew more than 30 speakers in opposition to the project, voted 5-2 to approve cluster suburban residential zoning for the 500-acre former Mallory Scott Farm. 

Opponents contended the population increase from Mallory Pointe would overwhelm the town’s roads and schools, 

Napolitano has since received additional approvals from the town.

Smithfield’s Planning Commission and Town Council subsequently approved Mallory Pointe’s site plan and subdivision agreement, respectively, in 2023. That same year, town staff learned the written proffers Napolitano had filed at the Isle of Wight County Courthouse in 2021 still showed a community pier that the town and Napolitano had mutually agreed to cut from Mallory Pointe’s conceptual plan.

On Sept. 10, Smithfield’s Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on final plat approval for Phase A1, which includes the first 105 of the 135 first-phase homes.

The site plan, approved in March of last year, called for a 16-inch-wide extension of town water pipes to serve the new development. Construction of the water main is still ongoing, according to Clary.

“It’s a long process to go through site plan and development plan approval, which is now in place,”Napolitano said.

Proffers that remain unchanged since 2021 specify the development is to be built in phases. No more than 67 homes are to be built in the first year following site plan approval, followed by no more than 134 in the second. Up to 201 can be built by the third and 265 can be built by the end of the fourth.

“We have received keen interest in Mallory Pointe from future homebuyers and look forward to creating a premier community in Smithfield,” Napolitano said.