The Growth Rate
Based on the January, 2024 Monthly Development Report, WF Planning
Updated February 14, 2024
The updated Wake Forest population as of July 1, 2023 was 56,681. That figure included the new homes which were approved for occupancy. When all the current approved apartments, townhouses and single-family homes are built the population will rise to 69,956. The town keeps a running tally of approved projects with counts of those completed. The best inspections current estimate is that between seven and eight people move to town each day.
Plans NOT on the list
There are a number of plans, large and small, that have been on this list and have now disappeared. Some of the plans have before the planning and the town board, and large subdivisions such as the Reserve at Dunn Creek require detailed plans after approval by the town board, detailed plans the planning department staff have to examine, along with other town and state groups, before construction can begin.
Here is the list of missing plans, though I may have missed one or two more. On Tuesday Wake Forest Planning Department Courtney Tanner responded as shown below.
*The Reserve at Dunn Creek — 230 townhouses and 70 single-family lots on a new section of Friendship Chapel Road. Tanner said it was approved.
*Morris Subdivision — 76 single family lots on North Main Street. Approved and under construction.
*Char Grill — restaurant in Crenshaw Corners at Durham Road, the bypass and Old Falls of Neuse Road. Building permit.
*ReFuel — gas station near or on South Franklin Street and the bypass. Approved and under construction.
*Lightbridge Academy — a daycare on South Franklin Street. Approved.
*Marshall Station — 186 townhouse lots on 44 acres at Walkers Crossroads. Withdrawn.
*Ligon Park on Ligon Mill Road — 10 single-family lots. Approved.
Projects under review
1. 418 Jones Dairy Road SP-23-11 is a request by David Williams Sr. to rezone 5.61 acres on the south side of Jones Dairy Road from RH rural holding and LI light industrial to NB-CD conditional neighborhood business to allow construction of two 24,502 square foot buildings side by side, one restaurant and one an office. The plans call for space for a public art statue and seven handicapped parking spaces.
2. Hawthorne Wake Forest Phase 2 RZ-21-09 SP-21-41 is a request for 48 (or 56 depending on the medium (electronic or written) units on Star Road next to the approved Hawthorn Wake Forest Star Road which will have 248 apartments on 29 acres. The current request will be on 6 acres, a triangle with a tail that wraps around the City of Raleigh Water office.
3. Wake Union Church Road SP-22-02 was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board in July of 2022. The plan submitted by Kimley-Horn is for 193,000 square feet of commercial space, 300 apartments and 89 townhouses along with streets and parking areas which cover almost all of the 64 acres. There is no indication where the contamination remediation is underway. Construction has not begun.
This plan is on the site of the former Parker-Hannifin (Schrader) site with a federal brownfield designation because of the trichloroethene (TCE) and other chemical and petroleum contamination in the groundwater, a contamination which has spread. Parker-Hannifin has committed to remedy the problem.
4. North White Street/Roosevelt Avenue Streetscape Improvements is an infrastructure project by the Town of Wake Forest. Formerly it was the Morris Subdivision, RZ-22-02, which was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board in November of 2022. It will be a 76-lot subdivision of single-family homes on both sides of North Main Street just south of the several parcels planned for the Kinsley subdivision.
5. Rosedale Phase 3 on Averette Road is a plan to build 71 single-family lots. Formerly it was the Joyner Property SU-99-02-01 the former Wake Forest
Country Club. At the Nov. 9 work session, the town board voted three to two to deny the Joyner request with Commissioners Keith Shackleton, Nick Sliwiniski and Adam Wright voting to deny and Jim Dyer and Chad Sary voting no.
This large project has been the cause of argument for two years with a group protesting the McAdams plan at every opportunity.
It is not clear what action the owner, E. Carroll Joyner, and the developer, McAdams Engineering, will take. If they want to develop with GR3 zoning they can do so at any time. If they want GR10 zoning they have to wait six months before applying.
6. 306 S. Allen Road RZ-23-10 is a new request to build an apartment building with 32 units on the property where the former Wake Forest Rest Home still stands empty. It was owned by Larry Lindsey, the Wake Forest-Rolesville High School basketball coach, and his wife, Cherie, and Donald Stroud and his wife, Guylene. The two wives operated the rest home until it was sold in 1996. It was purchased by Robinhouse LLC and Hurt LLC in Macon, NC last year for $950,000. Before that a proposition for a taller and larger apartment building was forestalled by negative comments and opposition from neighbors in the Cardinal Hills area.
This number in the list has been held by Marshall Station RZ-21-10 on Forestville Road and Burlington Mills Road at Walkers Crossroads, and the request is to build 186 townhouse lots on 44 acres. The engineer is Priest, Craven & Associates, their client is DR Horton-Terramor and the requested rezoning is conditional use general residential 10. The owner is the Marshall Family Trust.
7. Chick-Fil-A Off-Site Roadway Improvements is a Town of Wake Forest infrastructure project.
8. Foundation Drive Apartments SP-21-02 is at least the second proposal to build on the drive that also leads to Heritage High School.
9. Forestville Road Townhomes RZ-22-11, SD-22-15 is new to this list but almost a duplicate of the plan Robert Schaar submitted in 2022 for 63 townhouse lots on what is now a pond. This plan calls for 62 lots. It is in Wake County, and the Wake Forest Town Board refused to approve his request for annexation earlier this year, 2023.
During the week of October 16-22, 2023 Schaar had the pond drained in preparation for filling it with dirt.
The number 9 was Grove Commercial Lot 4, another part of the Wegmans complex calling for a commercial area of 24,550 square feet and 36,046 square feet of indoor recreation.
10. Capcom Lot 5 is an office or commercial building with 22,510 square feet on Capcom Avenue.
11. Carolina Chimney is a request for a 1,925 square-foot building on North White Street.
12. Wait Avenue Medical Office is a request for a building containing offices, commercial uses and a restaurant near where Wait joins the NC 98 Bypass.
13. Traditions Grande Care Facility has been approved and is under construction for a 119-bed care facility on Gilcrest Farm Road.
14. Averette Road Assemblage was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on January 17, 2023. The plan for 66 single-family lots on 30 acres was formerly known as Rosedale Subdivision. It is associated with Tryon subdivision. Former Pearce family land, Priest Craven & Associates is the engineer for this.
15. L&W Building Addition & Parking Lot Expansion for a building on North White Street.
16. Franklin Academy Vocation Building replaces Ligon Park on Ligon Mill Road which was a request for 10 single-family lots. The academy is on Chalk Road, and the new building would have 3,535 square feet.
17. Highland Reserve of Wake Forest SP-21-35 is a request for a 161-bed care facility wrapping around Lidl on South Main Street with acreage on both South Main and the NC 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway). The plan shows several small buildings.
18. Star Road Tech Center is being planned for five buildings providing 119,040 square feet in flex use, 20,150 in retail use and 25,600 in office use. It may be on the planning board agenda for Feb. 13, 2024 as it was on the agenda in January when the meeting was cancelled because of forecasted bad weather. Senior Planner Patrick Reidy had several objections to the plan.
19. 706 N. White Street is a plan for an office building with 1,436 square feet.
20. Hyundai Automotive Dealership on Burlington Mills Road has a plan for 46,400 square feet without explaining whether that is a building or the parking lot. Formerly it was the Reserve at Dunn Creek RZ-22-05 which was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on January 17, 2023. Construction will complete the extension of Friendship Chapel Road from South Main Street to Jones Dairy Road by building a subdivision of 230 townhouse lots and 70 single-family lots on the 68 acres between Holding Village and the Legacy Heritage Apartments. The land is separated from its neighbors by two deep ravines and also fronts on the NC 98 Bypass. The owner is Nancy Dameron of Raleigh and the engineer is the Timmons Group in Raleigh.
21. Food Lion RZ-93-9-2 wants to build a 6,000-square-foot building for a restaurant, a 12,640-square-foot building for a daycare and a 35,926-square-foot building for a grocery store on 1.93 acres where the NC 98 Bypass meets Jones Dairy Road. The company has owned the land since 2012 when it planned to put a new concept grocery store, Bloom, there. Construction was underway when it was halted.
22. Rosedale Greenway on Averette Road is a Town of Wake Forest infrastructure project. Formerly it was Char-Grill, a request to build a 3,054-square-foot restaurant at Crenshaw Corners Drive.
23. Friendship Chapel Road Western Extension is a Town of Wake Forest infrastructure project. It was formerly the request for a ReFuel station, which is not on the current list, and 535 South White Street, SP-22-05, one of the former Holding Cotton Company warehouses that was later owned by a paper company and now seems about to be a restaurant with 11,193 square feet, office space of 4,797 square feet and commercial use of 4,797 square feet. Construction is underway.
24. Powerhouse Row Phase 2 SP-17-28 is a continuation of the first building at the intersection of South White Street and Elm Avenue. Snugged up to the east of the CSX Railroad line with a parking lot between the three- and five-story building and the tracks, there will be 65 apartments and 22,356 square feet of commercial use. The Nau Company from Rolesville is the engineer and Powerhouse Row LLC is the developer and owner of the 1.89 acres. Former Raleigh city manager Russell Allen and William Barker are the LLC owners.
It will be built in two phases with the first phase having three stories and 18 apartments, the second stage will be five stories with 47 apartments. Powerhouse Row, named for the building immediately behind it over the tracks, the small brick building that was built in 1909 to house a little GE generator, fueled sometimes by sawdust from the planing mill that then was about where Powerhouse House Row is and will be in 2023. The generator was the sole power source for the town’s first electric street lights and lighting in homes and businesses.
25. Stadium Drive Mixed Use RZ-23-02 was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board three to two on Nov. 22, 2023. It is located on the only undeveloped area on that street – the wooded triangle created when Stadium Drive was curved southward to connect to Jenkins Road. The developers plan 19,300 square feet of commercial use, 307 multifamily (apartments) units and 20,000 square feet of medical use.
26. Kinsley Subdivision Phase 10-20B has replaced the Darch Property/Rogers Road Townhouses which has been withdrawn from any consideration. The new request for Kinsley is for 135 single-family lots and 88 townhouse lots on the north side of Wake Forest along North Main Street.
27. Amavi was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on June 20, 2023. It is the name for 211 multifamily units that are different sized small houses with one, two or three bedrooms in the southeast corner where Jenkins Road meets Capital Boulevard.
The Holding family land now has three houses and a long field of kudzu leading down to Horse Creek, which is a protected watershed for Falls Lake. The plan calls for a water-retention pond adjacent to the floodplain for the creek. The land fronting on Capital Boulevard with its two houses would be sold for commercial use. McAdams of Durham is the engineer and NCRT SFR Investments is the developer.
28. Grove 98 Northeast on the NC 98 Bypass is a plan for 112 dwelling units. It was formerly a plan for one single family house on Averette Road. Before that it was a plan for the ReFuel Market a 4,769-square-foot-convenience store with eight gas pumps on South Franklin Street and the bypass. It is now not on the current list.
29. Star Mart is a request by the new owner of the gas/convenience store to a 2,000-square-foot restaurant on the south side of the existing store.
30. Burlington Mills Road Mixed Use was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on June 20, 2023. It is a plan for 144 apartments and 5,300 square feet of commercial on 9.55 acres in the northwest corner at the Burlington Mills Road/Ligon Mill intersection. The land is owned by the heirs of Eunice Rogers. The Site Group is the engineering firm and the request was to rezone the land to mixed use residential and neighborhood business.
31. Burlington Mills Multifamily was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board on June 20, 2023. The plans are for 346 apartments in three- and four-floor apartment buildings on the south side of Burlington Mills near its intersection with Capital Boulevard. The apartment buildings will be behind (east of) the commercial buildings that flank the highway south of the intersection. The zoning requested is for conditional use mixed residential and conditional use highway business, which will be to the east of the apartments. Bateman Civil Survey Company is the engineer.
32. Christ Our Hope Church would be built at the intersection of North White Street and Royal Mill Avenue if this plan is approved.
33. Elm Avenue Townhouses, three townhouses on Elm Avenue is the new listing. It was Alpaca, a 3,400-square-foot restaurant on Mangum Avenue, which is a short street east of South Main Street.
34. Grove 98 Parcel 6 is a plan to build a restaurant in the Grove 98 complex on the NC 98 Bypass. This number previously was for the Black Rifle Coffee Shop, a 3,684-square-foot restaurant on the north side of the NC 98 Bypass.
35. 4Rivers (formerly Jones Dairy) Self-Storage is a request to build a 110,300-square-foot building at the corner of Jones Dairy Road and Friendship Chapel Road. Despite recommendations not to approve from the planning staff and the planning board, the Wake Forest Town Board approved the plan 3-2 on September 19, 2023 with Commissioners Nick Sliwinski and Adam Wright voting no.
36. White Street Mixed Use is a request to build 30,000 square feet for commercial use and 65 multifamily (apartment units) at the intersection of North White Street and Royal Mill Avenue.
37. Wheatfield Phase II on Forestville Road is a request to build 27,415 square feet of an addition to the existing Wheatfield shopping/restaurant center on Forestville Road.
38. Heritage Lake Road Improvements is an infrastructure project by the Town of Wake Forest.
39. Crenshaw Stormwater Improvements infrastructure project by the Town of Wake Forest.
40. Dunn Creek Culvert Replacement is an infrastructure project by the Town of Wake Forest. 40 was previously the Juniper Avenue Resurfacing, the first project in the three-year, $18-million road rehabilitation by the Town of Wake Forest.
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