Updated September 11, 2019
Various projects around town
Updates based on information from Brendie Vega, Assistant Planning Director, and from other sources.
*Abandoned partially built office building on Stadium Road is being torn down.
*Tru Hotel on Wake Union Church Road is in the construction drawing phase.
*Cube Smart storage space has opened.
*Friendship Chapel Road extension. There is a request to extend the deadend road by 500 feet. Vega said it is to “get to the landlocked parcel between Holding Village and Heritage, opening up development opportunities.”
Yes, and it also opens questions about how the street will be built through one of the last unbuilt tracts Holding Village owns. And how it will intersect with the extension of Franklin Street to the bypass. And, of course, how future developers will deal with the streams and ravines that cut the 93 acres remaining of the land the Dameron family of Raleigh still owns. The original owners, Dr. Thomas Barker Dameron and his son, Cristopher, have died leaving the land to his wife, Nancy, who later died. Two parcels, 24.35 acres on the west wide of Heritage Lake Road and 12.75 acres on the north side of the bypass, have been sold to outside interests. The Dameron heirs control three tracts that total 68 acres bounded by the bypass, the Holding Village subdivision, Heritage and the tract along Heritage Lake Road.
There is also an unconfirmed but probable rumor that the town and the state Department of Transportation are planning a traffic signal at the Friendship Chapel and South Main Street intersection to accommodate the traffic from the Friendship Chapel Road and the Franklin Street extensions. Someone with authority has been talking with the owners of Amalia’s restaurant, which is at that intersection, though not with other property owners.
Jonathan Jacobs, the transportation planner for the town, is on vacation this week, but Vega said Holding Village is close to the number of single-family home permits it can have before that number triggers the requirement to build the Franklin Street extension to the bypass. “The developer, the Town and NCDOT are discussing the roadway.”
*Fifth Third Bank has plans to build its first Wake Forest bank with an entrance on Capcom Avenue but with frontage on South Main Street. There is no plan yet to build a second bank on the lot facing Capital Boulevard the bank owns in the Wake Forest Crossing shopping center.
*The Seafood Exchange planned for 218 South Main Street is not a restaurant. Vega said the application said the business said it was an importer/exporter during the rezoning process. The house is now owned by Alhambra Holdings 2 LLC which purchased it in 2018 from Kevin Rivers, who had lived there since 2005.
The brick part of the house is said to be part of a house or a store built by Frederick Purefoy, a Wake Forest merchant and one of the sons of James Purefoy, longtime pastor and Wake Forest College trustee as well as the first mayor of the Town of Wake Forest College (1880-1909), and grandson of John Purefoy, one of the people who persuaded the Baptist State Convention to purchase Dr. Calvin Jones’ corn plantation for its manual institute that became the college.
Most Wake Forest oldtimers will remember Mable West, who taught seventh and eighth grade and later was the high school librarian. She lived in the house for years and reared her ward, Pat Dunham, there.
*The Char-Grill in Wake Forest has opened.
*Planet Fitness has purchased property next to the Harris Crossing shopping center, Vega said, “and are moving forward.” She had not heard anything about IHOP, which was mentioned in August 2016 as one of the tenants at 981 Crossing at the intersection of Retail Drive and the N.C. 98 Bypass. It was never mentioned again.
*Wegmans Grocery is moving forward with construction plans. It will be on the south side of the N.C. 98 Bypass between Corporate Chaplains and the town’s electric substation. There will also be an extension of Ligon Mill Road from its current end to the bypass.
Northern Wake Senior Center will be completed sometime in September, it now appears.
The reconstruction is adding 9,000 square feet plus renovations throughout the original center on East Holding Avenue. There will be a new entrance to the building, an expanded parking lot and a new parking lot entrance on the extension of Brooks Street which has finally connected Elm Avenue to East Holding. Among the new features will be an addition to the exercise room, a new roof and a new multipurpose room.
Focus Design Builders has the $3.9 million contract and the target date for completion is May 1, 2019. Focus Design won the contract because it promised to complete the work within 269 days – nine months – when the other bidders’ numbers were 300 to 365 days.
The town board learned on Feb. 5 that the record amount of rain in 2018 – 36 days of rain that prevented construction when the average is 13 – means the end date has had to be pushed back. Architect Matt Hale said construction will be complete on June 19 and the building will be handed over to the town on July 1, but that was premature.
It is one of the projects, with the Joyner Park Community Center, financed through the 2014 bond referendum.
Joyner Park Community Center is only the second community center in the Wake Forest park system. The completion date is listed as June 30, but it now appears that it will not be complete and ready for occupancy until sometime in September.
Barnhill Construction Company has guaranteed the cost will be $11.7 million. The 32,000-square-foot, two-story building will have a full size gym with an elevated walking track along with a multi-purpose room, restrooms, a classroom, a studio, offices and storage space.
Future projects–Technical Review Committee
The Technical Review Committee met on July 25, 2019 and reviewed the following:
Devon Square. Construction drawings submitted by Stewart proposing the 126 detached single-family residential lots and 152 townhouses on approximately 44 acres. This is on Capital Boulevard. The neighbors persuaded the planning and town boards that a mix of residential uses was a good transition between other uses.
Kitchin Farms had a legislative rezoning request submitted by Calyx to add 20 additional lots to the subdivision in phase 2B.
City of Raleigh Water Quality Lab is a minor site master plan submitted by Dewberry on behalf of the city of Raleigh to construct a 14,375-square-foot office and lab testing facility at 10700 Star Road.
Forbes Property Infrastructure Master Plan is a minor site master plan submitted by Ramey Kemp for the public roadway infrastructure associated with the Forbes PUD.
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The Technical Review Committee met on June 6 and June 27 and reviewed the following:
Sanctuary Oaks (the Soule property on Wall Road) Construction drawings submitted by FLM propose 18 detached single-family residential lots and 48 duplexes on 14.6 acres.
Wegmans Construction drawings submitted by ColeJenest & Stone for a 100,000 square foot building on the southwest quadrant of the Ligon Mill Road extension and the N.C. 98 Bypass on about 22 acres. It is part of Planned Unit Development.
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The Technical Review Committee met on May 30, 2019 and reviewed the following:
*Brewer Circle Affordable Housing Subdivision. A master plan submitted by Red Line Engineering for nine single-family detached lots on 2.05 acres off Brewer Circle and North Allen Road. This master plan will be a condition attached to a town-submitted rezoning request. A right-of-way abandonment of Brewer Circle will accompany this request, and the town has pledged to pave the affected streets.
*Wheat Field. A master plan submitted by Red Line Engineering for 48,335 square feet of nonresidential use in three buildings on 5.32 acres at 1009 Forestville Road.
*Ledgerock subdivision. Construction drawings submitted by caaEngineers for a 22-lot single-family detached subdivision on 12.76 acres at the end of Cardinal Crest Lane and Ledgerock Road. There was an earlier submission for a single-family subdivision that was denied. This land was part of the 300-plus acres owned by the Dameron family before the land was bisected by the N.C. 98 Bypass. The Damerons sold this tract to Ledgerock People LLC in 2018.
*Greenway Village. A master plan submitted by Site Collaborative for 188 multi-family units (apartments) and a 7,600-square-foot recreation facility on 10.08 acres at 1891 South Franklin Street. This master plan will be a condition attached to the submitted rezoning request. The apartments will be behind Sheetz on Rogers Road.
*Norse Brewing is a master plan submitted by Bobbitt Design Build to convert La Foresta restaurant at 203 South Brooks Street to a brewery and pub.
*Friendship Chapel Road Extension was submitted by Priest Craven to extend the deadend road by about 500 feet.
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The Technical Review Committee met on March 28, 2019 and discussed two projects.
*McAdams submitted a master plan for a 4,850-square-foot building with drive-thru – think fast food restaurant – on 0.95 acres on the south side of Rogers Road next to the Sam’s car wash. Case SP-19-09
*Priest Craven submitted a plan for a subdivision called Kinsley for 764 dwelling units on 203 acres along North Main Street in both Wake and Franklin counties, and an annexation request was also submitted along with the rezoning request and master plan. Case RZ-19-02.
There are five parcels on the west side of North Main Street formerly owned by Calvin Ray S. and his wife and now owned by Calvin Ray Jr. and Mary Ann Hughes. Together the parcels are about 65 acres.
On the east side of North Main Street the 58.74 acres were owned by Owen Wadford before his death and are now owned by Site Investments LLC from Knightdale. The rest of the affected acreage is in Franklin County and was also owned by Wadford before his death.
Future Projects – Design Review Board
The Design Review Board met on Jan. 10 and considered a request by McGahey Design Inc. for a major architectural design review for a proposed building for Moffat Pipe Inc. at 0 Burlington Mills Road.
Streets, Roads, Greenways and Transportation
*Preliminary work by the contractor, Fred Smith Company, began March 5 on the Stadium Drive Complete Street project. The town board approved the $6,789,876 contract with the Fred Smith Company in December. Utilities have been moved. The project should be complete in the fall of 2019.
The project includes resurfacing North Avenue. There will be a roundabout at the intersection of Stadium, North Avenue and Wingate Street. A center turn lane will be added to Stadium along with turn lanes at intersections and driveways and bump-outs for buses. From Glencoe Drive to the Richland Creek bridge there will be a 10-foot multi-use path on the south and a 5-foot sidewalk on the north. From the bridge to Wingate Street there will be sidewalks on both sides.
*Ligon Mill Road Operational Improvements is again at a standstill because there were no bidders when the project recently went to bid. The town is revising the bid proposal to make it more attractive to bidders.
The project for the section of Ligon Mill Road west from South Main Street to a new section built just past the Walmart driveway will provide a center turn lane and turn lanes for driveways and entrances. Acquiring the right-of-way from several owners has been one reason the project has stalled at times.
Commercial plans under review as of June 2019
*425 and 435 Wait Avenue is planned for mixed use.
*Datatek is a general commercial project at 12231 Wake Union Church Road which includes a large commercial building and a church.
*Tru Hotel will be built on Hampton Way Drive with frontage on Wake Union Church Road.
*Wegmans grocery store on Forbes Road and the N.C. 98 Bypass.
*Fifth Third Bank is finally planning a building at 100 Capcom Avenue that will face on South Main Street. The bank also has an unused lot in the Wake Forest Crossing shopping center.
*Rogers Road Retail at 2900 Rogers Road will have retail and a restaurant.
*Wheatfield Shopping Center (new) at 1009 Forestville Road will be retail.
*Norse Brewing (new) at 203 South Brooks Street will be a brewery/restaurant in the former LaForesta restaurant.
*Eagle Stop will be a gas station at 11670 Northpark Drive.
*Eagle Stop will be a gas station at 8824 Ligon Mill Road.
*Rudino’s Deck Expansion will add a deck to the restaurant at 1030 Forestville Road.
*Forbes Property Infrastructure Plans on Forbes Road for the planned unit development on both sides of NC 98 Bypass on land that was the Forbes family farm.
Residential plans under review in June 2019
*Kinsley on both sides of North Main Street and along Stephen Taylor Road in Franklin County, 203 acres in all with a new number of dwelling units – 401 single-family lots and 411 townhouse lots – 812 in all. This may not reach the planning board until mid-2020.
*Kitchin Farms Phase 2 on Burlington Mills and Ligon Mill roads for 123 single-family lots. The master plan has been approved.
*Austin Creek Phases 6 & 7 on Wait Avenue are for 67 single-family lots.
*Ledge Rock Green would be a 22-lot single-family home subdivision on NC 98.
*Averette Subdivision on Averette Road would have 687 single-family lots and 294 townhouses, 981 in all. This could be heard by the Wake Forest Planning Board in October.
*Rogers Branch Apartments on Rogers Branch Road is planned for 264 units. The Wake Forest Town Board has approved this project.
*Greenway Village at Heritage on South Franklin Street calls for 188 apartment units.
*Siena Drive Phase 1 & 2 Revisions is for a townhouse development with 96 units.
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