On Wednesday, Aug. 1, the PowerHouse Row partners, former Raleigh city manager Russell Allen and William Barker, hosted a ground-breaking ceremony for the first of what could be two multi-use buildings on South White Street. The town estimates its investment at $13 million, part of many public and private investments in the Renaissance Area in the heart of Wake Forest.
The first PowerHouse Row building will have five retail or restaurant spaces on the first floor with 18 to 20 apartments on the two upper floors, depending on the size and configuration of each apartment. The buildings will be brick with cornices and flat roofs, echoing the existing South White buildings but with some modern touches such as balconies. Construction will begin this month with completion in 2019.
It was exactly a year ago, Aug. 1, 2017, that the two-building project popped into public view at a town board work session. The Gazette reported: “The potential developers of Powerhouse Row, a mixed-use downtown development project slated to occupy the empty lot at the corner of Elm Avenue and South White Street immediately east of the CSX rail line, asked the Wake Forest Town Board Tuesday night to extend the White Street streetscape project south to include the project and to help with parking for the future retail, restaurant and apartment tenants.
“The mayor, commissioners and town manager, showing some knowledge of the project before Tuesday night’s work session, agreed to those requests and the third one, which is to be flexible about the police department’s lease of one of the three buildings which will be razed after the first building is complete.”
On Wednesday this week Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones was one of the speakers at the groundbreaking and gave the Gazette a preview of her speech because the editor could not attend.
“I plan to talk about the $25 million of investment the town has made in downtown since we developed the original Renaissance Plan in 2003 (over the past 15 years),” Jones wrote. “I will comment that the public investment and the private investment of businesses like Wake Forest Coffee Company, Over the Falls Deli, and White Street Brewing Company and the residential investment of Retreat at Renaissance and Franklin Street Towns has helped to create downtown as a destination for people in North Carolina and beyond. Now, Powerhouse Row will serve as an impetus for additional investment both public and private. I will also say that I am personally pleased they chose the name Powerhouse Row as an acknowledgement of the importance electricity has been to our growth and quality of life. And, their project sits on the original site of Electric Motor shop which is one of our major long-time businesses still operated by the Wright family.”
The PowerHouse Row developers plan to begin construction in August and have purchased 2.8 acres on the west side of South White Street. The four parcels, which have been recombined into one include three buildings, were owned by Wright Partners (Ricky Wright and his sister, Jenny Wright) and Ricky Wright and Jane Wright, his wife. The land and buildings are a heritage from the late Thomas and Thelma Wright, with Glen Royal Baptist Church owning a 5 percent share.
Thomas Wright began what became the Electric Motor a small building in his back yard in the Mill Village and in 1961 built the brick building which housed it for years until it was moved to North White Street and greatly expanded. The Electric Motor Shop was built next to and at the same time as the second home for The Wake Weekly, owned and operated by Bob and Peggy Allen. The newspaper began in a small building with a tin roof and walls on a dirt street which is now Brooks Street, and now is in a building on East Owen Avenue.
The Wake County website for real estate data list a value of $1,183,965 for the four parcels — $317,561 for each of three small parcels and $231,282 for the parcel with the old motor shop. The Wake Forest Police Department is leasing the building for a patrol squad and will be able to remain there until the lease expires.
That same website lists the amount of the sale from the Wrights and the church to Powerhouse Row at $690,000. The first lot has been vacant for decades if not longer except for the bus stop and park and ride parking lots for the past 10 years. All three buildings date from the 1960s.
See the Aug. 2, 2017 edition of The Wake Forest Gazette for the full article about Allen and Barker’s requests to the Wake Forest Town Board.
4 Responses
Sometime back, there was much discussion about the changes that will happen if or when the high speed rail is constructed through Wake Forest. How will the proposed railroad changes impact the Powerhouse Row buildings?
High speed rail requires an easement that cannot be acquired because of the historic buildings protected in Downtown Wake Forest on White Street.
Just saw another downtown business leaving.
It is very sad to see. With all the building proposals,
How does the Town plan to keep and attract new
Businesses?
Joanne the business that are leaving downtown are leaving because of their landlord. They all have the same landlord if you want to draw the conclusion…