Tuesday evening Wake Forest residents got their first public look at a large development the town’s Wake Forest Business & Industry Partnership spearheaded by Jason Cannon, the economic developer, and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary have been planning since November of 2018.
The seminary owns 213 acres lying west of the campus between Durham Road (NC 98) to the south, Capital Boulevard to the west and Stadium Drive to the north, part of the legacy of land that came when the seminary purchased the former Wake Forest College campus. The town and the seminary have contracted with Development Finance Initiative, part of the UNC School of Government, to do an analysis of the potential for office, apartment and retail use on 170 of the tract’s acres. DFI is also analyzing future uses for the former SunTrust bank site in downtown. The site is also being certified by ElectriCities.
Sarah Odio with DFI said the group has been doing a site analysis, market analysis and trying to determine how to “create a vibrant office campus with a mix of integrated complementary uses” such as apartments and retail. Another goal is to determine how to get to the land and to make it visible from Capital Boulevard and Stadium Drive. The study will be completed in the third quarter of 2020.
The study has found that there is an unmet need in Wake County for class A and B office space. “Construction is not keeping up with demand on the level we expected to see.” She also said huge growth is expected in Wake County with 2.6 million square feet of office space needed by 2023. “We could capture a good chunk of that demand,” Odio said, or between 120,000 and 180,000 square feet of office space which she translated to a good-sized office building.
There is a problem with retail space, Odio said, because rents locally have been stagnant and not returned to pre-recession levels. But there is a pretty high demand for more retail in the area.
As for multifamily housing, rents are growing at a healthy 3 percent rate. The tract in question could supply between 440 and 720 units of multifamily housing.
Overall, the study shows the idea of a work-live-play development would be successful. Odio pointed out the study includes a public park in the middle of the tract with attractive streams and greenways.
When Commissioner Liz Simpers asked what size the first phase of development would be, Odio said they do not know at this point.
Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon said she wanted to see public engagement in the planning. “I want to get feedback on this development.”
Commissioner Brian Pate said he knows of people living in Wake Forest who drive to Fuquay-Varina for work. “I think they would love to live and work in Wake Forest.” He also said fiber networks are an absolute requirement for class A office space.
Mayor Vivian Jones wanted to know if all the housing is to be apartments, and Odio said, “Single-family is not on the table. There could be townhouses.”
During the rest of the town board’s work session, Victor McBride with Focus Design which is renovating the Northern Wake Senior Center owned by the town, said they will have all the inspections done by the end of next week. “It’s fairly ready to move in now.”
The commissioners also turned down a request last month by David Bland, who is active in politics, and state Rep. Terence Everitt to ask the General Assembly to pass a law allowing for a longer time period for states to vote on the Equal Rights Amendment.
“I am in favor of this,” Simpers said.
Commissioner Anne Reeve replied by saying, “I can’t quite see how another set of laws is going to make it any better.” There are laws about discrimination against women now, she said, “But they’re not enforced.”
Jones asked what she meant about not being enforced. “This is just asking for equal rights.” Reeve answered, “There are so many rules and regulations about what we have to do.”
She then said, “I was told once I was lucky to have a job because I was a woman in a man’s city. I have never been discriminated against.”
Pate’s position was that the ERA is something to be handled at the state or national level.
Commissioner Greg Harrington, reminding them he has female daughters and granddaughters, said he could support the ERA if it was just about equal pay for equal work, but “I can’t support it.”
The proposed amendment says, “Section 1: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3: This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”
North Carolina is one of 15 states which did not ratify the amendment by the 1982 deadline.
