Streets, Roads, Greenways and Transportation
*Stadium Drive Complete Street is listed as in the construction phase. The December update says that the town board approved the $6,789,876 contract with the Fred Smith Company in December and construction is planned to begin in March. Utilities are being moved. Assistant Town Engineer Holly E. Miller said last week, “We anticipate construction beginning in March 2018 and completion in fall 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 this week 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
*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.”
*Northern Wake Senior Center work is underway but you cannot see it. As the Gazette reported in late January, architect Matt Hale was preparing the construction documents – site plans, building plans, specifications and bid package – to be ready for bidding on Monday, Feb. 5. “The bidding period takes about one month,” he said. “After contract negotiations and Town Commissioner approval, we will likely have a contractor selected by the end of March.”
At the same time, as Facilities Director Mickey Rochelle reported, the plans are being reviewed by several agencies – Wake Forest planning and engineering departments, Raleigh’s public utilities, the state Division of Environmental Quality, etc. Hale said, “Building plans will be submitted for permit review simultaneous with the public bidding period, so we should be close to having the approval we need about the same time the Contractor is selected. Again, this is done to help compress the schedule.
“Once the Contractor mobilizes, we estimate it will take 10 months to complete.”
The estimated cost is $3.1 million which will be paid from the general obligation bonds the voters approved in 2014.
*Renaissance Centre Renovations Phase 2 is underway. Rochelle said in January, “Demolition is complete and they are in the process of rebuilding.” 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 will be 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.
*Holding Park Aquatic Center will be the name for the three-pool center for children and adults. 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 is 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.
Private businesses opening
*Wake County ABC Store on Royal Cotton Road – the short access road on the east side of Capital between Caveness Farm Avenue and Wakepoint shopping center – will open in March if the rains allow the contractor to pave the parking lot, Joel Keith, general manager for the ABC Board, said in early February.
Commercial plans under review by the Planning Department/January
*Wake Union Place at the intersection of Wake Union Church Road and Capital Boulevard. All it says is commercial greater than 100,000 sf.
*Fairfield Inn is a hotel planned for 1251 Retail Drive.
*Heritage Professional Park West an office building planned at 3125 Rogers Road, a lot on the north side of the street which has stood vacant since its clearing several years ago. The property is owned by H&C Holdings LLC of Raleigh and they built and own the Wake Forest Drug and an office building next door.
*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.
*Heritage Junction at 1821 South Main Street will be a small commercial strip building.
*425 and 435 Wait Avenue is planned for mixed use.
*PHD Self Storage will be somewhere along Wake Union Church Road.
*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.
*Northern Wake Senior Center at 235 East Holding Avenue will be expanded and renovated after the plans are approved and the contract is let later this spring.
*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.
*Wake Forest Crossing Retail Addition at 12646 Capital Boulevard may be the retail store the shopping center owners wanted to build that was turned down by the town board in January.
*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. Also, Wake Forest has its own power system.
*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.
*Showmars Restaurant is part of the chain of Charlotte-based restaurants founded by Greek immigrant George Couchell, a Duke graduate and Navy officer. The restaurants feature a mixture of Greek and American cuisine, including gyros, souvlaki, pita burgers, fresh salads and the World’s Best Fresh Fish Fillet Sandwich, according to the website. It is planned for 1009 Stadium Drive on an outparcel for Wake Forest Crossing shopping center.
*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.
