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If you have questions about what is
being built where, please call 556-3409
or send a note to
cwpelosi@aol.com and we will try to
answer it. For large residential
subdivisions,http://www.wakeforestnc.gov/residents/
planningzoning_subdivisions.aspx?rld=308
at “plan review information” will tell
you the status.
We will update information
as we get it.
NEW
What was – very briefly – Bennigan’s in
the Wake Pointe Shopping Center on South
Main Street will become an Old Chicago
pizza and beer restaurant, we hear. The
chain’s only other North Carolina
location is in Wilmington. It is famed
in Chicago and the Midwest for its
deep-dish pizza and 110 beers from
around the world. You can read all about
its offerings at
www.oldchicago.com.
We answer your questions
Elizabeth:
What is planned for the land on the
northern part of Wake Union Church Road?
I heard it was going to be a mini-Brier
Creek-like shopping center.
Answer:
You may be exactly correct about the
future of the site, but for now you have
to wait on Jim Adams’ plans.
Adams’ company, St. Ives 220
Commercial LLC, purchased the 30.5 acres
and the dilapidated building for $2.9
million on June 1 of the past year after
a two-year quest. He will spend another
$600,000 to demolish the building.
He has said he plans an
upscale shopping center, but it will be
12 to 18 months before the plans are
complete and ready to be unveiled.
The building was the sign of
a bright future for the town back in
1964 when the town formed the
independent Industrial Development
Corporation, which sold bonds to
purchase the former Jenkins farm, build
the hydraulic-systems manufacturing
plant and lease it to Schrader Brothers.
It was the first industry in town after
the college left. By that time, Royall
Cotton Mill was no longer in the hands
of the Royall and Holding families and
employing fewer and fewer people.
Schrader sparked more
industrial development with Athey
Products (street-cleaners) and Weavexx
(fabrics for paper manufacturing)
following soon after.
Athey closed in 2000 and its
building, once owned by Adams, is now
The Factory. Weavexx still has an office
in town but its manufacturing plant at
the corner of South Main Street and
Capital Boulevard has been razed to make
way for Glenn Boyd’s future Nissan
dealership.
Schrader went through
several name and ownership changes while
the products remained the same, and the
final owner, Parker-Hannifin, closed the
doors in 2002.
Gene:
Have you any information about the YMCA
opening at The Factory?
Answer:
Not anything definite except that the
Triangle YMCA will open its branch there
this spring. Jeff Ammons’ assistant – he
owns The Factory – said a date has not
been set for the opening although the
Triangle YMCA is working very hard to
fit up the space. “It’s going to be
very, very nice,” she said.
Kurt:
We were wondering if you knew what’s
going on at the intersection of Harris
Road and North Main Street just north of
the historic district. There's been a
mass clearing of trees making two houses
visible from the road now. Is this part
of the northern loop project connecting
Harris Road to North White Street?
Answer:
Such optimism. The north loop is related
to the N.C. 98 bypass in that everyone
says it is needed. In the case of the
bypass, they said it for 40 years before
a grader blade hit the dirt. The north
loop still has to age a bit, although
the 2005 bond issue did include $3.3
million to build part of it.
Elvis Medlin, who used to
work for the town’s water and sewer
department and transferred to Raleigh’s,
was able to provide a lot of
information, passed along by Ron Horton,
who is now the construction project
coordinator for Raleigh’s Public
Utilities Department.
The clearing is being done
by a private contractor, and no one
mentioned his name or the project.
North Main Street just north
of the Harris Road intersection was
lined with four City of Raleigh Water &
Sewer Department trucks today,
Wednesday, because one of the trees fell
on a fire hydrant and the crews were out
there replacing it.
Future restaurants
-
There may be a Texas Roadhouse, a
Chili’s and a Red Robin at the
Shoppes at Caveness Farm. The
shopping center is on Capital
between the entrance to Wal-Mart and
Caveness Farm Apartments.
-
A Steak and Shake is possible at
Wake Pointe Shopping Center
(Wal-Mart) next to O’Charley’s.
-
There will be a Wendy’s on Capital
Boulevard just south of Wake Forest
Crossing Shopping Center (Lowe’s
Foods).
The restaurant is being constructed
on land belonging to Southeastern
Baptist Theological Center along
Agora Drive, the name for the new
street that runs east from where
Wake Union Church Road meets Capital
Boulevard.
Ryan Hutchinson,
the senior vice president for business
administration at the seminary,
said, “SEBTS still owns the new tract,
but this particular parcel will
be taxable. SEBTS is doing a ground
lease on the Wendy’s site as well as a
yet-to-be- determined second
tenant to the south of Wendy’s.”
-
There will be a Hooters, we hear,
but it will be somewhere in
Wakefield.
-
Lone Star is constructing a new
building in the southwest corner of
N.C. 98 (Durham Road) and Retail
Drive.
-
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.
-
There may be a Japanese Steakhouse
coming as a second tenant in the new
building on Retail Drive.
New stores
-
There may be a Steinmart at the
Shoppes at Caveness Farm, and some
of the other national stores looking
at Wake Forest are Kohls, J.C.
Penney, Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx.
-
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
A new flex building is being
constructed on Retail Drive across from
Chick-Fil-A. One tenant is expected to
be a Radio Shack. Caribou Coffee, which
was named as a tenant at one time, has
apparently backed out.
* * * *
At the end of South Main,
between it and Capital Boulevard, the
former Weavexx tract will be transformed
in 2007 into Glenn Boyd’s Nissan
dealership. He also owns Crossroads Ford
in Cary and Wakefield Ford in Wake
Forest.
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.
* * * *
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 the proposed
change to the town’s zoning ordinance to
allow for a traditional neighborhood was
recommended by the planning board last
week and is on the town board’s agenda
for Jan. 16.
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. |
