June 27, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

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

Subdivisions in progress

            This is an incomplete list but gives readers a taste of the residential building underway in town, which had a population of about 5,700 in 1990. The town’s planning department estimates there are over 25,000 residents in mid-2007. You can calculate 2.6 residents for each dwelling unit. The town has approved 6,826 homes that remain to be built, including these below.

• The Alexan at Ligon Mill will have 288 apartments in 12 buildings along the future extension of Ligon Mill Road between Wal-Mart to the south, the future Shoppes at Caveness Farm to the west and Caveness Farm Apartments to the north. It was approved at the May 15 town board meeting, and most of the work will be done in 2008.

• Holding Village will have about 1,350 homes – apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes – on 256 acres between the N.C. 98 bypass to the north, the CSX rail line and South Main Street to the west and Heritage to the south. The town commissioners approved it on May 15.

• Austin Creek on N.C. 98 east of town will have 430 single-family homes and 196 townhomes when complete in about 2015. Beazer Homes has pulled permits for 13 of the single-family homes thus far, five last year and eight this.

• Bowling Green, which will connect internally to Austin Creek subdivision and have entrances on N.C. 98 and Jones Dairy Road, will have 283 single-family homes and 94 townhouses in 2010, when the project is slated to be complete.

• Grading for streets has just begun for Saddle Run, a 34-home subdivision on Chalks Road.

• Heritage North will have 387 homes when built out in 2011 or so. It lies along Heritage Lake Road.

• Reynolds Mill on Forbes Road and the future Ligon Mill Road has just begun construction of the 125 single-family homes planned.

• Shearon Farms has nearly completed its single-family section and has just begun the 372 townhouses and apartments planned for that subdivision along Capital Boulevard just north of the Neuse River and south of Burlington Mills Road.

• Heritage South and Wildflower are jointly planned subdivisions south of Rogers Road. Heritage South will have 444 single-family homes. Wildflower, approved in 2004, will have 111 single-family homes and 165 townhouses.

• Dansforth on Burlington Mills Road was approved in 2001 for 313 single-family homes and is expected to complete the last 33 homes this year.

• Thornrose on Forestville Road has nearly completed all its 187 single-family homes.

• Stonegate at St. Andrews was approved in 2004 for 691 single-family and multi-family lots. About 400 single-family homes and 217 multi-family homes remain to be built.

Subdivisions in review

• Traditions is the name of the multi-use project the Ammons brothers – Andy, Jeff and David – are proposing for the 357 acres north of Wait Avenue on the west side of the Smith Creek reservoir. There would be a Traditions Retirement Community with a variety of living for seniors – from single-family homes through a nursing center – along with homes for younger families. Altogether there would be about 1,560 dwelling units. Planner Chad Sary has said the review is underway and the project may reach the planning board this summer.

• The Landings at Bishop’s Grant is planned for 153 single-family homes on 34 acres just to the east of Bishop’s Grant, where homes are now being constructed. The Wake Forest Comprehensive Planning Committee agreed on April 17 it could go forward to the planning staff and planning board.

• Trillium will have 92 single-family homes along Harris Road near its intersection with West Oak-Wall Road.

• Olde Chestnut Townes is planned as 32 affordable townhouses on West Chestnut Avenue. The CPC sent this forward for development on April 17.

• The Registry at Bennett Park will be 31 single-family lots along an extension of West Holding Avenue, bounded on the west by Richland Creek. The master plan was recommended for approval by the planning board on June 5.

Future shopping centers

• Lowes Foods will be the grocery store anchor for Gateway Commons Shopping Center where Jones Dairy Road meets the N.C. 98 bypass. The shopping center will also be accessible from Heritage Lake Road and Friendship Chapel Road. The plan for the center was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on May 15.

• Planner Ann Ayers is reviewing plans for a shopping center on the east side of Capital Boulevard north of Harris Road. It was originally to be named Wake Forest Commons but Ayers said this week the working name now is Purnell Place. The developer, Regency Center in Raleigh, plans for 80,000 square feet of retail and commercial space with four out-parcels.

• La Scala Uptown is proposed for Star Road on the east side of Capital Boulevard near the former Chris Leith Kia dealership. Ayers has only preliminary plans and the development could hinge on a consultant’s recommendations about Star Road, where a number of other developments are planned. La Scala is proposed to have a full-service entrance on Capital Boulevard, Italian architecture, upscale boutiques and restaurants, an office park and an amphitheater.

• Wake Forest Towne Center is planned for the Parker-Hannifin site on Wake Union Church Road. A major department store will anchor the center, but the name has not been announced and plans have not been submitted to the town. It is a joint venture of local developer Jim Adams and Weingarten Realty.

• The Shoppes at Caveness Farm has an approved master plan, and Weingarten Realty Investors has announced Steinmart will be one of the anchors. Three restaurants are being constructed on out-parcels (see below).

Future restaurants

• Two of the three planned restaurants on out-parcels at the future Shoppes at Caveness Farm on Capital Boulevard are close to opening. Chili’s and Red Robin both have signs saying they will open soon and smaller signs saying training is underway. Land has been cleared next door to Red Robin, and that will probably be the site for the Texas Roadhouse, which has been approved, but there are no signs.

• Over the Falls Deli, which just reopened after a smoky fire in January, is for sale, owner John Laughinghouse says. He and his wife will move to Virginia this summer for him to become a fulltime youth minister. There are apparently several people already interested in purchasing the popular downtown restaurant.

• Havana Jax on Capcom Avenue featured Cuban cooking. It has closed, apparently some time ago, and apparently did not move to another location.

• The Well, a combination church and coffee house, began church services last Sunday at its new location, 1248 S. Main St., but the coffee house business will not open until later this year. Owner Mark Edwards recently closed the coffee house and church on South White Street in anticipation of the move.

• Interior work is being done at the former Bennigan’s in Wake Pointe Shopping Center. A permit for interior demolition was issued on March 13 to Prostruction. Midtown Niki Development Partners from Topeka, Kan., purchased the building in December of last year, and they are planning to bring Old Chicago, a restaurant featuring deep-dish Chicago-style pizza and 110 beers from around the world, to the site.

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

• The Mellow Mushroom will be built at the corner of Wake Drive and South Main Street (U.S. 1-A) between the American Pride carwash and Taco Bell. The master plan was approved by the town board at its May meeting.

• A Steak ‘n Shake is planned at Wake Pointe Shopping Center (Wal-Mart) next to O’Charley’s, but there is no construction or clearing yet.

• 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. Construction is well underway.

New stores and services

• A plan for an RBC Bank in Heritage Square at 3619 Roger Road is under review by the Wake Forest Planning Department.

• Another plan under review calls for a 11,050-square-foot flex building at 1219 S. Main St. next to the Porter Paint Store. It was submitted by Carolina Resource Group.

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

• An Aaron Rents Furniture store is seeking Wake Forest Planning Department approval for a store on an out-parcel at Wake Pointe Shopping Center (Wal-Mart).

• Planner Ann Ayers is reviewing plans for Heritage Medical Center which would be at the corner of Rogers Road and Heritage Branch Road. The developer is Heritage Medical Office Associates in Raleigh.

Government projects

• Thompson Construction is totally changing the landscape at the 110.5-acre site on Forestville Road that will be Heritage High School. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2009.

• The site for the American Legion building on East Holding Avenue between the water tower and the North Wake Senior Center has been cleared and graded, but work has halted while the Town of Wake Forest waits for the City of Raleigh to issue water and sewer permits. The town is constructing the new building as part of its contract with the American Legion to purchase the existing building and land on East Owen Avenue for the future town hall. That contract specifies the town must hand over the building and a storage building on or before June 30. Williams says the Legion members have no problem extended that date to Oct. 31, which the town board will ratify Tuesday night.

• The town also purchased the small building and 0.64 acres on Brooks Street where the Green & Wooten Insurance Agency stood, paying owners Shirley and John E. Wooten Jr. $495,000. John Wooten III, who operates the agency now, said it has moved to 10433 Ligon Mill Road. “It was hard for us to leave downtown Wake Forest,” Wooten said, but they could not find a suitable site. Now his customers can drop in on their way to Wal-Mart, Wooten said.

• Plans for the new Wake Forest Town Hall are nearing completion. In May the town board saw sketches of the façade design and urged the architects to save some large oak trees on the Wooten site and use something other than potable water for irrigation.

• Wake County is building the Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue next to the Wake Forest Library. Due to open in January of 2008, the center will offer an array of services. Ross Yeager, the director, wants to offer the services the Wake Forest-Rolesville-North Wake area wants. To give him your ideas, call 623-8312 or send a note to ryeager@co.wake.nc.us. The enlarged parking lot now being built will serve both the center and the library.

Commercial projects

• Wake Forest developer and builder Daryl Cady (acting as La Scala Associates LLC) has purchased the land along Star Road which Allen Massey and Jeff Looper (Star Group LLC) had had rezoned for a five-lot commercial subdivision. Clearing is underway on the land just to the north of Living Word Family Church. The subdivision could be part of a larger future project, LaScale Uptown, a mix of retail and offices with an amphitheater planned on 82 acres between Star Road and Ligon Mill Road.

• Clearing has begun for Heritage Center, a four-lot commercial subdivision at the corner of South Main Street and Rogers Road. The entrance will be on Rogers Road, and the street named Heritage Center Drive will connect to Farm Road, a dead-end dirt road.

• Rex Health Park at Wakefield is underway in the northwest corner of Capital Boulevard. 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.

• The Lodge at Wake Forest will be a three-story, 118-unit apartment building for active seniors on the east side of South Main Street just south of the N.C. 98 bypass. 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. The wood-frame three-story building is under construction.

• Crews are putting up steel 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. The developer is a group called Vanguard, headed by George Venters of Raleigh. One of the tenants will be a specialized pediatric dentist.

• 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.

Church building

            Wake Forest Baptist Church has submitted preliminary plans but has not yet made a formal application to build a church, called a life center, on the large part of the Stephenson tract on Wake Union Church Road. Planner Ann Ayers said she was not sure if the plan, once formally requested, will need planning board review. The land is zoned rural holding, and churches are a permitted use in that zoning district. Ayers said the preliminary site plan she has calls for a church with all the customary additions such as Sunday school rooms.