$64M in investments in the Renaissance Area

In the July town manager’s report, a compilation of the activities of town department activities during the previous month, Downtown Development Director Lisa Hayes included a short statement about the current economic developments in the Renaissance Area, saying there is $64 million in current investment — $11 million public and $53 million private) – with 164 additional housing units under construction..

Hayes later expanded on that statement. “Some of the numbers are estimates on construction based on current market pricing and were not numbers provided by the developers. Numbers not included are figures from miscellaneous downtown projects that are still in progress such as Unwined on White, Tonic, dance studio, etc.”

The projects she listed are:

*Northern Wake Senior Center, a Wake Forest capital project using $3.1 in bond monies

*Wake Forest Community Library, a Wake County project, $2,607,800

*Upfits at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, a Wake Forest project with a Wake County grant, $995,800

*SunTrust bank purchase by the Town of Wake Forest, $1.5 million using a bank loan and a withdrawal from the Futures Fund

*PowerHouse Row, a private development estimated at $13 million

*The Retreat at Renaissance, a private development of 85 townhouses on Franklin and Brooks streets and construction of the missing link from Elm Avenue to East Holding Avenue, $23,800,000 estimated

*Franklin Street Townes, a private development of 61 townhouses on South Franklin Street at the intersection with the NC 98 Bypass, $15,860,000 estimated

*South White Streetscape Phase 3, a Town of Wake Forest project, $2.6 million

*Style House Designs, a private development by Jason McCoy and Kris Hill who have purchased the brick building on Roosevelt Avenue from Terry and Jerry Carter. The building began in 1942 as the Freezer Locker. It has been owned by the Carter family – Charles and Evelyn Carter and later their sons – since 1974 and was first Carter’s Auto Parts, later a paint store and other uses. The purchase price was $430,000. McCoy and Hill plan to operate an interior design business there.

There could be another project not on the list and not being reviewed by the Wake Forest Planning Department, the six or eight story apartment house on Wait Avenue at North Franklin Street on the site of the razed Powell house. It has been owned by an international investment firm, Grosvenor LLC, since 2015 and proposals with drawings have been made public but there has been no further action.