building of distinction
It’s a beautiful, sunny summer afternoon on the back deck of Smoke on the Water, the new restaurant in the RiverLights develop-ment
on the banks of the Cape Fear. The bright, azure sky is reflected in the river, making the typically tannic water look almost
blue.
“This is the only restaurant with a river view between downtown and the beach,” says Laura Miller, project manager and prin-cipal
for LS3P, the architectural firm that designed the building for Newland Communities, the company developing RiverLights.
“Nothing else has a Cape Fear view like this. There are a lot of people who don’t have the opportunity to interact with the river. Just
to sit and enjoy the river, there’s not a lot of opportunity for that in Wilmington.”
Behind the restaurant there’s a meandering, shaded boardwalk lined with live oaks leading to a 220-foot pier and 400-square-foot
gazebo out on the water.
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The restaurant at RiverLights was designed to take advantage of the development’s sunset views of the Cape Fear River. A wrap-around
deck and outdoor seating, along with a pier that leads to a gazebo on the water, allow patrons to see the sunset over the water.
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