Update May 9, 2018 – See Senior Center
Future projects–Technical Review Committee
When the technical review committee met on March 8, 2018, the members reviewed the following plans:
*Powerhouse Row, two- and three-story buildings on the west side of South White Street next to Elm Avenue combining retail on the first floor with residential on the upper floors. The request was filed by JDavis Architects.
*A commercial building to be located at 907 Gateway Commons Circle. The request was filed by Gateway Forest LLC.
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When the technical review committee met on Feb. 15, the members reviewed the following plans:
*Capital Sportsplex: A major master site plan submitted by Calyx, a Raleigh engineering firm, for a sports complex on Star Road with a 250,000 square foot building, one multi-use field, five soccer fields, two outdoor tennis courts, six sand volleyball courts and four baseball fields. This will be a quasi-judicial hearing. This is still under review.
*Foundation Drive subdivision is a master plan submitted by WithersRavenel for a 34-lot single-family subdivision off Foundation Drive. There are three parcels included in the plan. One runs along Foundation Drive from Forestville Road to a deadend at a creek and an open space owned by the town. The other two are adjacent and tucked in behind the Shoppes at Heritage Village which is anchored by Publix. This is still under review.
*The Flynn Property subdivision was submitted by Priest Craven for a 69-lot single-family plan on three properties all in the same ownership with frontage on Averette Road. It is south of Oak Grove Church Road and next to Tryon subdivision but does not abut either. This is still under review.
*DataTek Building is a master plan submitted by FLM to construct a 14,800-square-foot building for office and retail and a 4,000-square-foot church, all at 112231 Wake Union Church Road. This is still under review.
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 also listed as being in construction but Director of Engineering Eric Keravuori said recently he needs to update the website and “. . . just been busy with getting the bid package together. We hope to put it out for bid this spring. Duke/Progress is still relocating some utilities.”
The project for the section of Ligon Mill Road west from South Main Street to a new section built for an apartment project 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 appeared to be stalled at times.
Public Facilities
*Bids for the Northern Wake Senior Center additions and renovations were opened Tuesday, April 26, and architect Matt Hale said this week his recommendation for a contractor will be on the town board’s agenda for May 15. “Construction should start within two weeks.”
Hale also provided a spreadsheet of the bid tabulation where there were five bidders. It appears Focus Design Builders in Youngsville could be the recommended contractor with a low bid of $4,053,463 and the shortest completion time of 269 days. The amounts of the other bidders ranged from $5,227,000 (J.M. Thompson of Raleigh) down to the next lowest, $4,115,000 (Daniels & Daniels of Goldsboro).
Since the estimated cost was $3.1 million before the bidding there may be some readjustment of the items in the bid. The cost will be paid from the general obligation bonds voters approved in 2014.
*Wake Forest Community Library is undergoing a major renovation as everyone can see along East Holding Avenue. The work will expand the library from 5,500 square feet to 9,000. Mark Forestieri, the director of Wake County Facilities Design & Construction, said in an email on Feb. 13, “Assuming all goes reasonably well, we anticipate opening the library in late September of this year.”
*Renaissance Centre Renovations Phase 2 is on schedule to open on June 1 and 2 for the grand reopening, Facilities Director Mickey Rochelle said on April 10. “I can’t wait for everyone to see the new and improved Renaissance Centre.”
The town has estimated the cost at $1.2 million, and Wake County has given the town a grant of $296,975 for the work.
The grand hall and the second story are being renovated by removing the ceiling, installing new audio equipment and theatrical lighting, extending the stage and adding a family restroom. A new canopy over the main entrance has already been added and there will be new signage.
*Operations Center Expansion is really going to be relocating the current center on Friendship Chapel Road to a site with between 22 and 31 acres. The feasibility study found that the present site is too small and cannot be expanded. The search for the land is underway. The estimated cost is $27.4 million.
*If you were unhappy with the rain and cold weather, imagine how it affected the Holding Park Aquatic Center construction first planned to be opened on May 15.
“Although the rain has been troublesome, the string of days with temps below freezing has also impacted and delayed construction efforts,” Ruben Wall, the parks, recreation and cultural resources director, said Tuesday, April 10. “Taking the extreme weather conditions into consideration, construction will likely be completed in June and we should be open in late June/early July. Staff has been working on a plan to extend the pool season to accommodate the delay.”
The 1975 pool, which was deteriorated, was demolished and removed late last year. After the construction contract of $2,929,000 was awarded to Harrod & Associates, construction began on Dec. 4. The opening date for the pool center was first set as May 15.
The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department wants funding in the Capital Improvements Plan for 2019-2020 to improve the playground, make it more accessible and improve the drainage system.
*Joyner Park Community Center is in the design stage and the cost has gone from $11.1 million to $13.5 million. The 32,000 square foot, two-story building will have a full size gum with an elevated walking track along with a multi-purpose room, restrooms, a classroom, a studio, offices and storage space. Construction should take 13 months after its planned start on April 2 of this year.
Commercial plans under review by the Planning Department
*Forestville Development Building at 1704 South Main Street will replace the large gray house which has stood there for years which will be razed and replaced by an 8,000-square-foot building that could hold four businesses, including a small restaurant or catering service.
In the 1930s and 1940s the house was called Forest Heights with a gas station, hence the closeness to the road, and a small store and very small bar which sold beer to Wake Forest College students. The 1909 town charter banned the sale of beer, wine and liquor inside town limits and for a mile outside. Forest Heights to the south joined two other establishments – a store to the west that was demolished several years ago and what is now called Bud’s Tavern or something like that to the north, all just over the one-mile mark. The business to the west has disappeared or never existed.
The Forest Heights owner, R.L. Harris, paid to have a town electric line extended to his store during the 1940s and his neighbors repaid him as they connected to the line. The town eventually bought it back in 1950. He and some others were also responsible for extending a town water line down what was sometimes called Powell Road and also Raleigh Road, meaning that the Forestville area and sometime town had two essential Wake Forest town services well before annexation in the late 1980s.
*Wake Forest Crossing Outparcel 10 at 1005 Stadium Drive will be a Tru Hotel, part of the Hilton chain.
*Heritage Branch Daycare at 3200 Rogers Road, 1.5 acres in the southeast corner where Heritage Branch Road meets Rogers Road, is owned by R E D P LLC, a Wake Forest. It will sit in front of another daycare.
*425 and 435 Wait Avenue is planned for mixed use.
*Tryon Amenity Center on Copper Beech Lane will service the subdivision under construction.
*Lily’s Garden at 9606 Ligon Mill Road will be a recreation facility.
*Char-Grill Restaurant will be on 2.43 acres at the intersection of Harris Road and Capital Boulevard. It is one of the outparcels for the Harris Crossing shopping center and will be just south of the new SunTrust Bank due to open April 13. The land is now owned by Ricky and Jane Wright of Wake Forest.
*Kitchin Farms Amenity Center on Sir William Way (new street) will service the subdivision under construction.
*Joyner Park Community Center is at 701 Harris Road. For information about its construction see another section of The Growth Rate.
*Power House Row stretching along South White Street from its intersection with Elm Avenue is planned to have two buildings, each with retail on the first floor and living – apartments and lofts – above. Its name reflects the town’s original power house – electricity provided by a Westinghouse generator sometimes fueled by sawdust from a lumber yard on the east side of the railroad. You can still see, very faintly, the words POWER and LIGHT on the small brick building that is now a crematorium associated with Bright Funeral Home. The dentist’s office across Elm was originally the water plant, treated water from Smith Creek.
*Heritage Veterinary Clinic will be built at 3240 Rogers Road, a 2.11-acre lot north of Capital Creek Apartments and near the new daycare listed above.
*Harris Teeter Fuel Center will be at 3638 Rogers Road.
*Richland Creek Community Church Parking Lot at 3329 Burlington Mills Road.
*LIDL’s Parking Lot Expansion is at 1120 South Main Street.
*Texas Roadhouse Addition at 11440 Capital Boulevard.
*Gateway Commons Lot 11 where an office building is planned. 907 Gateway Commons Circle.
*Chick-Fil-A Order Canopy at 11730 Retail Drive.
*Capital Sportsplex is a major master site plan submitted by Calyx, a Raleigh engineering firm, for a sports complex on Star Road with a 250,000 square foot building, one multi-use field, five soccer fields, two outdoor tennis courts, six sand volleyball courts and four baseball fields. This will be a quasijudicial hearing.
*SunTrust ATM is a drive-through ATM for the bank at 12520 Capital Boulevard.
*Datatek is a general commercial project at 12231 Wake Union Church Road which includes a large commercial building and a church.
*Capital Powersports at 10920 Star Road will be vehicle sales.
*Hideout at the Factory will be a restaurant.
March Residential projects under review by the Planning Department
*Stonemill Falls Phases 2-3 on Rogers Road for 71 single-family house lots. The master plan has been approved.
*Kitchin Farms Phase 2 on Burlington Mills and Ligon Mill roads for 123 single-family lots. The master plan has been approved.
*Willows at Traditions for 97 townhouses on Royal Mill Avenue and Traditions Grande Boulevard. The master plan has been approved.
*Holding Corners for 95 townhouses on East Holding Avenue and South White Street. There has not been a public hearing for this.
*Glen Oaks is on the planning board agenda on May 1 for 68 townhouses and 228 single-family homes on land along US 1 (Capital Boulevard) just north of Wall Road and the Richland Hills subdivision and south of the Rolling Acres subdivision. The Holden family will retain the road frontage on Capital for other uses.
*Wake Union Place Phase 3 for 84 townhouses and 288 apartments on Wake Union Church Road, Kearney Road and Capital Boulevard. This was not recommended by the planning board but it is now being “substantially” changed and would need another public hearing and planning board and town board approval.
*Townes at Gateway Commons for 70 townhouses on Gateway Commons Circle was approved in October of 2017.
*Forestville Towns for 95 units on the deadend section of Forestville Road behind the Real McCoys sports bar was approved by the town board in March.
*Radford Glen is on the May 1 planning board agenda for 177 single-family lots on 47 acres. There have been other proposals. It was first proposed for 176 single-family lots on about 100 acres owned by former mayor George Mackie and Mackie family trusts, and was reviewed by the technical review board last December. The January monthly report by the planning department said the plan is for 72 single-family lots on Wait Avenue. The plan and variations have been proposed and then have quietly disappeared since August of 2014.
*Wake Forest Goldston is for 76 single-family lots along Traditions Grande Boulevard.
*Austin Creek Phase 5B is for 13 single-family lots. The master plan has been approved.
*Del Webb at Traditions Phase 3 along Gilcrest Farm Road is for four single-family lots.
*Caddell Street Subdivison on Caddell Street for six single-family lots was approved in January 2018 and is now named Hargrove’s Corner. The town has sold the lots to Habitat for Humanity of Wake County.
*Regency at Heritage is for 67 single-family lots on Forestville Road. It was approved in January 2014. It will be linked to Heritage South by a bridge over Sanford Creek that will extend Marshall Farm Road.
*Austin Creek Phases 6 and 7 on Wait Avenue are for 67 single-family lots. The master plan has been approved.
*Foundation Drive subdivision would be 34 lots along Foundation Drive between Heritage High School and the shopping center anchored by Publix.
*Flynn Property is a plan for a single-family house subdivision of 69 lots on Averette Road.
*Townes at Gateway Commons Amendment is a change in six lots for the townhouse plan on Gateway Commons Circle.
