BCR tends to focus on Durham's core -- from downtown/American Tobacco/Brightleaf, to the neighborhoods ringing the urban center, to the occasional development question over at Duke. There's actually been quite a few dribs and drabs of development news on the northern side in the last couple weeks that deserve some coverage, too. Here's a summary of some of the recent news:
Loehmann's Plaza renovations: Up at Hillandale Rd. and I-85, has been a bit quieter lately with the loss of several long-time tenants, including big & tall store Vickers Clothiers and, well, Loehmann's itself. Sue Stock, the well-connected retail reporter over at the N&O, reported last week that Loehmann's Plaza will be renovated and renamed Croasdaile Crossings. The nature of the renovation will depend on the nature of retail interest that Glenwood Development sees, but may include new outparcels for restaurants or banks. Given the lack of shopping serving the Hillandale/Cole Mill corridor, I wouldn't be surprised to see some positive developments come out of this.
One more hole for Loehmann's: Sal's Pizza & Italian, a popular local eatery in the plaza, is supposed to move across the street into the old Shoney's restaurant. It'll be nice not to have that restaurant vacant so close to 85. Sal's new name will be "Pomodoro Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria."
Welcome (?) Wal-Mart: The planned Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Glenn School Road/East Club Boulevard area is expected to get under construction in the next few months, again per Stock's column. The so-called "Glenn View Station" will be developed by Aiken, S.C.-based WRS Realty, a self-described "corporation created to pursue real estate investment strategies," where strategies appears to translate entirely to "building Wal-Marts." This developer put together Roxboro's Wal-Mart Supercenter, apparently. Based on the downscale design of the sign for another WRS-developed Wal-Mart (seen at right), I wouldn't expect this project to win any architectural awards...
Here's the rough area we're talking about as shown in Google Maps. Note the proximity of this location to the Starlite Drive-In. If history is any guide, the Wal-Mart plaza's arrival will likely cause a sharp increase in the value of the Starlite property (which includes acres of undeveloped land), which coupled with Starlite owner Bob Graves' untimely passing this past week, is another reason to be pessimistic about the drive-in's future.
Northern Shopping: The Durham News has reported two new shopping center developments that could impact the north end of the Bull City in the coming years. First, Charlotte developer Crosland, which is just starting to get a foothold in the Triangle with projects that include the Southpoint Village apartments across from the namesake mall, intends to build a retail-oriented center called "West Point Village" at North Roxboro and Infinity Roads (map). A couple of miles further north on Roxboro Rd. (map), another retail center named Treyburn Commons is planned with a grocery store and other strip businesses. Both projects will require local government approval before they proceed.
Groceries and Grandes: Further south, the Harris Teeter at Guess Rd. and Horton Rd. is (still) scheduled to be replaced with a new H.T. across the street at the site of the old Willowdaile movie theater. I say "still" because this has been reported in the papers every three months or so for about, oh, two years now. Apparently, construction is supposed to start "any day now" on the new store. Meanwhile, the Kroger near Costco at North Pointe has almost finished its long-ongoing (and overdue) renovation, which has added an external window for the SunTrust branch, expanded wine, organic, and olive-bar services, and much-improved lighting.
Starbucks continues to expand in the Bull City, and both of these grocery destinations are key parts of the picture. Not that we necessarily need more SBUX -- Broad Street Cafe continues to be the best place for a cup of joe in Durham, not to mention one of the best places to hang out and catch up with friends. Still, a Starbucks has opened at the renovated North Pointe Kroger for those who can't live without pithy sayings on their coffee cups. Interestingly, the papers have had more mixed information about Starbucks. Initial reports were that the new Harris Teeter would have a Starbucks within it; however, Equity One reported to Sue Stock that the old Burger King in HT's current strip center would become a Starbucks this summer (similar to the new location coming on NC 55 just south of I-40, also thanks to an outparcel conversion).
Wherever it ends up, I'm curious what impact a Starbucks that way will have on the old Dunkin' Donuts location, which has survived the apparent franchise-fight with Dunkin' corporate to sell non-branded coffee and ice cream along with trucked-in Krispy Kreme donuts.
Nothing on Northgate: I'd love to be able to say that all of this retail expansion in North Durham has meant good news for Northgate, but no. Northgate management has been chatty as usual about the forthcoming arrival of local retailer Ultimate Comics and teen-couture Charlotte Russe, but nary a word about the January closure of the mall's Ann Taylor. Or the fact that the newly-added outdoor shopping spaces in the old Belk's wing is still without any tenants (save for the theater and ice cream shop) and shows no signs of up-fit. Office Depot has opened at Northgate's strip center, though the choice of an office supply store to replace OfficeMax hardly qualifies as what Northgate's marketing director claimed last year was a mall-driven decision to seek out a more "exciting" retail concept for that space. More thoughts coming here soon on Northgate's challenges and chances.
All of North Durham development in one blog...that pretty much sums up the state of the North Durham community.
It is vastly under-retailed causing the majority of residents to make long treks to South Square/New Hope Commons/Southpointe for a variety of shopping, eating, etc. I don't include downtown to separate the urban vs. suburban shopping experience. I don't think we need a downtown experience in N. Durham at this point (and that wouldn't be good for Durham either).
More development should spur renovation of several centers that are years overdue. A lot of vacancies could be attrbituted to deferred maintenance and improvements. People/tenants are attracted to the better looking properties.
Posted by: KH | August 17, 2007 at 05:40 PM