Hillandale Rd. Harris Teeter, plaza renovations reported still on track

Though it's still not official, a BCR source suggests that plans for the renovation of the old Loehmann's Plaza on Hillandale Rd. just north of I-85 are continuing to move forward, with grocer Harris Teeter still planning to build a grocery store on site.

The linchpin to the whole project is the widening of Hillandale, and whether NCDOT would agree to provide a traffic signal for entry/exit to the shopping center. Reportedly a public meeting will be forthcoming to review final plans for the Hillandale project, and these are believed to include the signalization.

As we've discussed here before, the plan for the center renovations include building new outparcel buildings closer to Hillandale Rd., then redeveloping the bulk of the strip center as parking and the Harris Teeter, with the grocer situated further back on the western side of the plaza. The outparcels would house many of the smaller businesses today located in the center.

Both access improvements and a strong anchor tenant are key to reviving the shopping center's fortunes, as the older facility has suffered a number of business departures despite strong local demographics. Most recently, the new arrival BookDabbler announced it would close up shop soon due to slow traffic.

Comments

[Derek]

Thanks for the update. There was negative discussion of the road widening a couple months ago on some local bike/ped email lists. As a cyclist, I'll hope for the best. As an HT fan, I hope this happens. That shopping center needs some life. It would sort of replace the gap in HT coverage after the Northgate HT (which was pretty basic) closed a few years back.

[Patrick]

Isn't HT building a new building at Guess & Horton Roads???

[Jeremy]

I emailed NCDOT about the upcoming hearing on Hillandale widening and got a very quick response. The latest plan has cut-outs in the median which will allow for left turn entry into the Loehmann's plaza strip-mall.

Jamille from NCDOT also gave me this useful link to the plans:

http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/highway/roadway/hearingmaps_by_county/resource/u3804_rdy_phm.pdf

I am really, really looking forward to having a proper super-teeter less than a mile from my house.

[Kevin Davis]

Thanks, Jeremy! I'll post a full-post shortly with the update.