March 7, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

planningzoning_subdivisions.aspx?rld=308 and look at  “plan review information” for the status.

            We will update information as we get it.

            Update: Most of this issue is an update about growth and development, and the important parts will be incorporated into The Growth Rate in the future.

Future restaurants

• No Lone Star at the corner of Retail Drive and Warmoven Street. The company has pulled the building permit and is securing the site. No reason was given.

• Old Chicago, featuring deep-dish Chicago-style pizza and 110 beers from around the world, is headed for the former Bennigan’s building in Wake Pointe Shopping Center, but there is no activity at the building yet.

• A Texas Roadhouse, a Chili’s and a Red Robin are under construction on outparcels at the Shoppes at Caveness Farm. The shopping center is on Capital Boulevard between the entrance to Wal-Mart and Caveness Farm Apartments. Ground has been cleared but there is no indication yet which is going where.

• A Steak and Shake is possible at Wake Pointe Shopping Center (Wal-Mart) next to O’Charley’s.

• Wendy’s on Capital Boulevard just south of Wake Forest Crossing Shopping Center (Lowe’s Foods) will open soon. The sign is up; the parking lot is still dirt. It is on taxable land owned by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. There will be a second tenant, not yet determined, south of Wendy’s.”

• There will be a Hooters, we hear, but it will be somewhere in Wakefield.

• Plans for a Carolina Ale House have been approved at the corner between the N.C. 98 bypass, the extension of Retail Drive into the North Park office buildings and the ramp from the bypass to Capital Boulevard. Ground is being cleared.

• There may be a Japanese Steakhouse coming as a second tenant in the new building on Retail Drive.

New stores and services

• Update: There will be a Steinmart at the Shoppes at Caveness Farm, a shopping center on the east side of Capital Boulevard.

• Some of the other national stores said to be looking at Wake Forest are Kohls, J.C. Penney, Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx.

• Update: The YMCA at The Factory, an extension of the Banks D. Kerr Family YMCA in Wakefield, will open this spring. It will have a 21,000-square-foot facility for adult fitness with a nursery and youth programs. A membership at one YMCA includes membership at the other. You can sign up now at 562-9622 or go to www.YMCATriangle.org. No opening date has been set.

• Despite the rumors and statements about an Eckerd’s drug store and a Food Lion at the corner of Jones Dairy Road at the N.C. 98 bypass, those do not appear to be materializing. Planner Ann Ayers said she does expect some type of neighborhood shopping development at the intersection of the bypass and Heritage Lake Road, and she expects to see the plans very soon.

Commercial projects

            The clearing underway in the northwest corner of Capital Boulevard and New Falls of the Neuse Road is for the Rex Health Park at Wakefield. There will be a 39,500-square-foot wellness center and a 113,000-square-foot multi-specialty ambulatory care center.

            The wellness center will be similar to those Rex operates in Cary and Garner, with a gym, heated pools, physical rehabilitation services and nutrition and exercise programs.

            The ambulatory care center will provide therapeutic and diagnostic services, heart, vascular and oncology services. It will not be an emergency room. The WakeMed North Healthplex at the corner of Falls of the Neuse and Durant roads, already provides an emergency room for the area.

            In the future, the health park will be part of a larger development that will have retail space, a library, hotels and other commercial uses.

            When representatives from Rex introduced the plan to the Wake Forest commissioners last summer – see the June 7, 2006 issue of the Gazette – clearing was to begin later in the summer.

            The main entrance to the health park will be on Forest Pines Drive.

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            It has been a year since the planning and town boards approved the plans, but a three-story, 118-unit apartment building for active seniors is now under construction on the east side of South Main Street just south of the N.C. 98 bypass.

            The project is now called the Wake Forest Retirement Residence, but that will probably change. Curry Brandaw in Salem, Ore., is the developer and has about 300 similar facilities throughout the country, about 15 in North Carolina including ones in Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington and Cary.

            The apartments will not have kitchens. The residents, who are expected to be single people in their 80s who do not need assistance, will eat meals in the communal dining room.

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            Crews are clearing land on the south side of Rogers Road behind the BB&T Bank and The Factory for a 32,000-square-foot, two-story building that will be Heritage Medical Park. Andy Ammons said he sold the land two years ago and the developer now is a group called Vanguard, headed by George Venters of Raleigh. One of the tenants will be a specialized pediatric dentist.

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            Update. The Radio Shack in the new flex building on Retail Drive across from Chick-Fil-A is close to opening. There is no word yet on any other tenant(s) in the building.

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            Update. At the end of South Main, between it and Capital Boulevard, the former Weavexx tract is being transformed into Glenn Boyd’s Nissan dealership. He also owns Crossroads Ford in Cary and Wakefield Ford in Wake Forest. Poythress Commercial is constructing the large building and parking lots; the January building permit said the cost would be $2.8 million.

Housing projects approved for more water

            Alexan at Ligon Mill will be a 288-unit apartment complex south of Caveness Farm Apartments, north of the Wal-Mart store and east of the Shoppes of Caveness Farm shopping center. The increased water allocation for the project was approved by the town board in December. Once it has all the approvals, construction may start in 2007. The developer is Trammell Crow Residential. See the Nov. 29 and Dec. 20 issues of the Gazette for details.

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            Holding Village will be a 1,200-home traditional neighborhood development that includes shops and services south of the N.C. 98 bypass, east of South Main Street and the CSX rail line, west of Heritage North and north of Heritage Wake Forest. The town board approved the increased water allocation in October and changed the town’s zoning ordinance to allow for a traditional neighborhood in January. The developers plan to start the first phase on the land nearest the bypass in 2007. See the Oct. 18 issue of the Gazette for details.