East Cary Gateway

[KJHburg]

Say goodbye to Cary Town Center as it will be demolished real soon.

""Take a last look – after decades at the corner of Cary Town Boulevard and SE Maynard Road, the Cary Towne Center Mall appears to be nearing its final days as the new owners have filed for permission to demolish nearly the entire structure. Cary-based Epic Games filed a request last week with the city for a permit to demolish the entire structure, which is around 1 million square feet, with the exception of the Belk department store.""

Epic Games gears up to demolish Cary Towne Center mall for new HQ - Triangle Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[KJHburg]

Visited Fenton in Cary for the first time today.  VERY impressed.  The look, the details, the retailers, office and retail space.  I do believe Wegmans made a mistake pulling out of this one as this is best suburban town center type projects I have seen.  Reminds me a lot of Avalon in Alpharetta outside Atlanta and some I have seen in Dallas.  Truly great work by Hines and Columbia development company.  This is the best new retail project in the Carolinas by far in the last few years.   

Fenton as I saw it today early this morning.   The pad site for Wegmans is there and even if they get a smaller in size  grocer they can build more specialty shop space.   if you live in the Triangle and have not been there you are missing out.  The Paragon theaters have $5 movies on Tuesday and there is an ice skating rink. 

[KJHburg]

This place was hopping last night and today midday: Fenton at Cary.   Had some local merchants on the main drag through the heart of Fenton.  The ice rink was packed. 

If you are local and have not been go it is really nice and will get bigger and bigger. 

last night ate at the Banana Leaf in Cary excellent Chinese food nearby.  

 

[KJHburg]

Fenton has scored some more office tenants.  it shows there is a flight to quality in office space that offers more than just office space.  

""Cary’s new Fenton development has signed three new office tenants as the huge development continues to fill up.

The $1 billion development has shifted focus to securing office tenants with residential and retail leasing well underway. American Tower (NYSE: AMT), HHHunt and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) have signed leases totaling approximately 75,000 square feet combined.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/02/28/cary-fenton-office-space-tenants-new-restaurants.html

""The new leases bring the office space in Fenton’s first phase (195,000 square feet) to nearly 50 percent leased. The development previously announced Compass Residential as its first office tenant leasing around 8,000 square feet of space."""

[KJHburg]

Fenton's next phase is to begin soon with more apartments, retail, hotel,  and office space.  But first up probably multifamily.  From the Triangle Biz Journal:

""The developer behind Fenton in Cary is preparing to advance the second phase of the massive project, which has become a destination center in the booming town.

Houston-based Hines is wrapping up its first phase of development at Fenton, the joint venture with Columbia development located off Cary Towne Boulevard. The last piece will be the announcement of a hotel partner, expected to happen in a few months, and adding more tenants. Managing Director at Hines Paul Zarian said they're looking to bring in quick service restaurants and coffee shops to close some retail gaps while taking the office and multifamily leasing from 80 to 95 percent.

The first phase opened in 2022 and was an instant hit. It includes a movie theater, multiple restaurants and bars, shops and the The Allison Apartments. A rezoning approved by the Town of Cary in 2022 shows the hotel is allowed to be between four and 12 stories.  

While the second phase will largely depend on what the financial market for commercial real estate looks like for the rest of this year, Zarian said it's likely the developers will move forward on a multifamily project. The office and retail component in the second phase will require some preleasing in order to move forward. Office in the first phase was all spec and had no preleasing requirements.

A big piece that remains an unknown is the grocery store for Fenton. Wegmans dropped its plans for a store there back in 2021, but was still paying its land lease. In 2022, the Town of Cary approved an alternate plan that would allow for a smaller grocery store to be built in Wegmans’ spot. But an official announcement about future plans has not been made.""

Fenton developer gets ready for phase two in Cary - Triangle Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

I still think Publix is the store that might be the grocery anchor given their area locations if not the Wegmans.  

[Richhamleigh, DC]

Is there room for one  of IKEA'S scaled down products? 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, Richhamleigh, DC said:

Is there room for one  of IKEA'S scaled down products? 

Oh yes, their new 2nd NC store which is going into south Charlotte is only 15,000 sq ft.   It is not a store though just showrooms and places to pick up orders and to plan and order kitchens, bathrooms.  However with the design and furnishing tenants at Fenton already it would make a great fit.  

""The Swedish furniture giant said today it will open a 15,000-square-foot store this summer at 10844 Providence Road in south Charlotte. It has signed a lease for that space, which is within the Promenade on Providence shopping center.

The new store is described as a "plan and order point" location. It will allow customers to meet with IKEA employees to help with more complex planning and ordering, such as items for the kitchen, bedroom and bathrooms. The concept's focus is on providing interior design planning, IKEA said in a news release.""  from the Charlotte Biz Journal in February.  

[Richhamleigh, DC]

Old but wirth reoeating.  The Raleigh-Durham area, always seemed lika perfect fit for IKEA. 

https://wraltechwire.com/2023/04/20/ikea-plans-8-more-large-stores-in-us-as-part-of-2b-expansion/

[KJHburg]

13 hours ago, Richhamleigh, DC said:

Old but wirth reoeating.  The Raleigh-Durham area, always seemed lika perfect fit for IKEA. 

https://wraltechwire.com/2023/04/20/ikea-plans-8-more-large-stores-in-us-as-part-of-2b-expansion/

Yes I think Cary or somewhere in Wake County is the perfect site for a full size IKEA store.