February 21, 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.

We answer your questions

            Question: I have a question regarding the vacant building belonging to the seminary which is on the right as you go around the campus just before North Main Street. It is a beautiful building that is sadly lacking in upkeep. It would appear that with the new buildings proposed for the seminary that this building Is being ignored. It would make great parking if they are never going to use the building.

          Answer: “We have looked at various options for Simmons Hall,” Ryan Hutchinson, the senior vice president for administration at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in response. 

            “Most recently it was considered for renovation to become Patterson Hall prior to the decision to construct a new building.  More recently we have been discussing renovation possibilities to reuse it as student housing.

            “Regardless of its final use, we do have plans to do some work on the exterior in an effort to make it more presentable.  We hope to be able to address the exterior during this calendar year.”

            Simmons Dormitory was built in 1936 to house 100 students, all male because women were not regularly admitted to Wake Forest College until the early 1940s. (There were some irregular admissions, very few, for the daughters of faculty members.) During World War II, when many students were in military service, the building housed the Army Finance School. Later, after the war, it housed the college fraternities.

            Simmons was built on the site of the North Brick House, which was demolished to make way for it. The North and South Brick houses, almost identical, were built in 1838 by two college professors to house professors and their families. The houses, along with Wait Hall built in 1837, were the first college buildings built for that purpose. The Calvin Jones House, now the Wake Forest Museum, was moved to make room for Wait Hall, originally called the College Building. The North and South Brick houses were owned by the college for a time and then were sold into private hands. The South Brick House remains at the corner of South Main Street and South Avenue across from Wake Forest Baptist Church. It has had minimal changes through the years and still has its outbuildings. The house is for sale.

            Question: Will the town be able to save the mature oaks behind the Green & Wooten Insurance office on Brooks Street when it is time to build the new town hall? If not, will they have to plant several new trees?

            Answer: Based on the architects’ sketches of the plan for the building and the parking shown at the Feb. 13 informational meeting, it appears those trees and all the trees behind the building will have to be felled to make way for the two-level parking deck. Drivers will be able to enter the parking deck at street level from both Brooks and the proposed Taylor Street.

            However, the discussions Tuesday night by the town commissioners mean they have put their reputations squarely on the line to save as many trees as possible and to mitigate any removal by replacing them on a scale based on the size and age of the trees.            Question: Why is the town not requiring sidewalks so that students in Heritage can walk to Heritage High School? And why is the town not requiring more than a turn lane for the only entrance to the school?

            Answer: Planning Director Chip Russell said the decision about sidewalks along major streets in Heritage was taken back in 2000 when the then-commissioners and Andy Ammons entered an agreement about water availability for the development and style of development.

            Also, as planner Lisa Potts pointed out last week, the county school system does not own the land between its site and the corner of Forestville Road and Rogers Road and cannot be required to build a sidewalk there. Also, any sidewalk built now would have to be destroyed when the road is widened.

            In addition, Forestville Road is included in a cursory manner in the town’s transportation plan to become a four-lane road with a landscaped median. It was not included in the town’s street priority list, however, and is not in the 2003 Transportation Implementation Plan. There are no state or town monies now for the state-maintained road.

            Russell said the school system will build the turn lane and will dedicate the land needed when the road is widened to five lanes.

Future restaurants

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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. 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

• 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.

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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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            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.

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            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.

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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 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.