Did you know that the Factory ballfields along Grandmark Street have been sold by the company that now owns the Factory, The MacSydney Company II LLC? Maybe that should be rephrased since the Wake County website shows MacSydney as the owner. Perhaps the deal has not been concluded.
News to me until the recent Wake Forest Town Board retreat when Commissioner Jim Dyer said something. Later he shared this news.
“About six months ago, I was approached by members of the North Wake County Baseball Association about purchasing some farm land that Ruth Ann and I inherited from her parents.
Succinctly stated, they said the baseball fields behind the factory had been sold and office buildings or apartments were going to be built on that site sometime in the next two years.
The North Wake County Baseball Association approached Wake Forest Parks and Rec about leasing the ball fields owned by the town. The Wake Forest-owned ball fields are fully utilized by our community ball teams. Therefore, the North Wake Baseball Association is looking for ball fields to practice, play and hold tournaments.”
Seems like everyone is looking for land, including the Town of Wake Forest, which needs to build a fire station on the east side of town.
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We have an update on the town’s population, which Planning Director Courtney Tanner says is now an estimated 52,059.
She also said she does not know of any plans for the 50 acres of open space that was part of Wake County’s purchase of land for the Heritage schools, but there is a buzz about the land.
Something is being planned for the Holding family’s land along Jenkins Road that ends at the bridge over Horse Creek. Tanner said her department held a pre-application meeting in October – no mention of the parties to the meeting – but no plan has been submitted yet.
And she had an update about the bridge on Rogers Road over the CSX rail line. Together with the opening of South Franklin Street through the Holding Village development, the bridge will greatly improve the traffic in the area of Rogers Road.
Tanner wrote: “It is my understanding the current delay is related to securing all the easements and right-of-way. Not funding. Once those issues are resolved, the project will move forward. This project includes multiple bridges, and I did notice over the weekend that utilities at the Durant Road location were being relocated.”
There has not been information before that there are several bridges over the CSX line in a larger package than just the Rogers Road one.
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Wondering how Wake Forest measures up in terms of its residents’ access to a park? Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall answered the editor’s question.
“Our most recent needs assessment was conducted in 2014 for the 2015 Master Plan. The result showed that most of the core area of Wake Forest falls above the assumed threshold, meaning that most of Wake Forest has proximity to a “typical” set of parks amenities or some combination of amenities that equate to a typical park in value.
“The primary gaps in service appear around Wake Forest Middle School (which had a Wake County school/park at the time for public use) and the area west of Capital Boulevard, which has limited facilities located in Plummer Park.
“I think we need an updated assessment based on the existing population to determine our current need for more parks. Let me know if you have additional questions.”
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There is another plan for the 50 acres of the old Parker-Hannifin (Schrader) site on Wake Union Church Road at its intersection with Capital Boulevard. We are far from the days when Jim Adams was planning a shopping center there with a site for a fire station.
Today the land is owned by MKC Development Company LLC – Weatherspoon & Voltz LLP of Raleigh, but Senior Planner Patrick Reidy said, “MKC Development Company LLC bought the property on 8/30/19. It is my understanding that they are just flipping it to the developer that is proposing the rezoning.”
The developer, based in Charlotte, is Marett LLC, a firm advertising that it does brokerage, development, construction, and the contact person is Steven Whitworth, o: (980) 326-2246 and m: (704) 905-0215, or swhitworth@marettllc.com and www.marettllc.com.
Reidy said the map submitted is “incomplete,” lacking several specific items such as trees, delineation of the active brownfield site from contamination dating back to the Schrader operations and amenities. Along with the brownfield site there are two streams which are tributaries of Horse Creek.
The proposed development is on the Town of Wake Forest active development map, and Gazette readers can see that the proposed commercial area, 300 apartments and 89 townhouses with the streets and parking area almost totally fill the area. Go the town website, select Planning and on the Planning site see the button for the active developments map.
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Coda: Or the latest unwitting victims of growth. According to the latest report, two families, a mother and a daughter, are the last of the families who had lived at Wellington Mobile Home Park. They are expected to be able to move out within the next two weeks.
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5 Responses
Build baby build! Why stop now? Small town feel left years ago. Sickening.
Thinking about the almost empty area next to CVS on White St Heard that it was the first
” shopping mall” in Wake Forest. Would be a good area to considered for housing. On White St and Roosevelt.
bus stop along the street and CVS on the property. Any history on the property and ownership??
Joanne, This is what is in this week’s Gazette about that.
*White Street Village at 150 North White Street will tear down an existing building and tear up a large parking lot behind CVS to create 61 two-over-two condominium units. Planning Director Courtney Tanner said, “They look like townhomes, but are condos. 1st two floors are one owner and the 2nd two floors are a different owner.” The building and the parking lot were built by John Lyon in 1975 for his new grocery store, Lyon’s, which for a while featured two lions in a cage outside the door.
The first shopping center in town was built by Tommy Holding, who inherited Holding Drugstore which was then on South White Street at the corner of Jones. It is the two-story building which has been empty for 15-20 years because his widow wants to pass it on to his son. Tommy and a partner built what is now Renaissance Plaza with Over the Falls, the bowling alley, some stores and the town’s Renaissance Centre. Tommy moved the drugstore there in the middle 1970s and that anchor store is now the RenCen with additions.
John Lyon’s wife was the daughter of the man who built Hollowell’s Grocery Store which used to stand sort of where CVS is now. There were two groceries in Wake Forest in the mid 1970s, Hollowell’s and Keith’s. Keith’s is now The Forks Cafeteria with a lot of renovation. John Lyon bought the land behind Hollowell’s and built the large parking lot and the building you see which housed Lyon’s for a while. The building was for about three tenants but there were always problems with whatever went in there and John sold the grocery store to a small chain, which sold to some one else and then it was vacant until several other agencies and groups moved in.
Is Tommy Holding’s son still too young for his widow to pass the building to? I hate seeing that space empty for the past 12 years I’ve lived here. We have such a vibrant downtown now and it seems such a waste to let it sit in such a desirable location (along with a few other vacant buildings directly downtown).
He is probably in his 40s or 50s.