The First Supermarket in Downtown Raleigh – Maybe.
John Kane is at it again. Our skyline and our conveniences in Raleigh, NC continue to change and improve. While the latest venture into developing Raleigh into a hip modern city will still need site plan approval – the city of Raleigh is expected to be favorable to this development. By March of 2017 site work and demolition could begin assuming all goes well. What am I talking about? The joint venture project announced by Borth Hills developer John Kane with Williams Realty & Building Co. The plan is to build a $100M Million multifamily and mixed use building project right in downtown Raleigh NC!
Would a grocery store also get you excited? There is nothing confirmed but the word is that Kane and his team are deep into talks with Florida based Publix Supermarkets to anchor the site. Publix has been aggressively looking to expand into the Carolina market with an eye towards the urban areas in particular. One store is open, another is well under way in the Heritage Wake Forest market and a 3rd is set to open in Cary on May 25. Publix has yet to confirm these talks and Kane is not speaking about it either. This would be the first grocery store in the downtown district. The location? A fabulous spot at the corner of West and Peace streets, right near the intersection of Capital Boulevard…which by the way is scheduling to have multiple bridge replacements. The project is intended to include covered parking and retail to serve the 400+ new residential units for rent. At this time we will have to wait a little longer for both Williams and Kane to give more details regarding the retail strategy.
The prominent North Hills developer along with Williams Realty had acquired the Southland Ballroom and ThemeWorks buildings in February. Williams already owned other parcels that are needed to put this deal together.
It’s going to be fun and interesting to watch Raleigh continue to grow in a manner which suits and matches it’s sister city of Durham NC. Hip is a word that is being thrown around a lot lately and certainly that attracts a certain clientele to the region along with the high paying jobs we are seeing the next generation of Triangle buyers entering the market.
“We continue to look for ways to work with buyers, developers and the city of Raleigh to improve the lifestyle of it’s residents.” says Paul Eitel, CEO of Focus Design Builders. More builders and developers are looking at land and older structures and creating a vision for a modern city that will attract the brightest minds.