by William Needham Finley IV™

Development Beat: Peace Out, Seaboard Station For Sale

in Development/ITBNN by

Brought to you by Rufty-Peedin Design Builders.


Week of March 19, 2018

Seaboard Station For Sale

Olde Towne to be developed again

Update on Capital Boulevard’s new park

Raleigh Rite Aids rebranding as Walgreens

Work begins on Publix at new Leesville Marketplace


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Peace Out, Seaboard Station For Sale

William Peace University is selling most of the Seaboard Station property that it acquired for $20.75 million back in 2013. On Tuesday, the university announced plans to put up 5.68 acres for sale in early April. That includes a parking lot, the lot where the university tennis courts are located, and three retail buildings that house J. Betski’s, Oak & Dagger, and O2 Fitness. TradeMark Properties has been managing the property for Peace University. Don’t worry, Peace doesn’t own Logan’s and Sunflower’s Cafe isn’t going anywhere.

What we all really care about is the status of the much anticipated Harris Teeter. In June of 2016, it was announced that Harris Teeter would be coming to Seaboard Station. This was before Publix was confirmed for the nearby Kane development on Peace Street, which is actually under construction.

According to this article from WRAL, Harris Teeter was supposed to open in Seaboard in 2017. In this article covering the 2017 Peace China lawsuit against William Peace University and TradeMark Properties, TradeMark indicated the Harris Teeter would be breaking ground in 2018.

We did some digging and discovered that it is currently March of 2018 and Harris Teeter has not broken ground. Notice in the aerial photo from Google that there are no Harris Teeters to be found. None.

This week, the N&O reported that “Harris-Teeter remains committed to Seaboard, TradeMark says, and delayed its opening to take into account future development of the property.” Some are skeptical.

Whoever buys the property will probably have to build up in order to make their money back, with or without the Harris Teeter. So expect some 3-5 story (or higher, depending on zoning) stick-built apartment buildings with retail on the first floor. Getting to Seaboard Station is already a nightmare due to the construction of the Capital Boulevard improvements and the demolition related to Kane’s Peace project.

Don’t forget that the City of Raleigh plans to tear up Peace Street between St. Mary’s and Glenwood to put in underground utilities and make other improvements. We imagine tenants will be dying to sign a lease in Seaboard Station with all these great improvements in progress in the area over the next five years. TradeMark Properties and Urban Investments are representing the university in the sale. They are not publicly stating the anticipated sales price, but if it sells for less than $40 million we’d say Peace really botched this whole real estate play. We’ll keep you posted.


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Everything Olde Is New Again

In 2007, Greystone Development announced it would begin work on a new golf course community known as Olde Towne on a 600-acre parcel of land in Southeast Raleigh near the intersection of Rock Quarry Road and New Hope Road. Two years later Greystone abandoned the project, having already cleared the land required for the golf course and the first 531 homes.

Olde Towne was to have housed 5,000 people, and included 500,000 square feet of retail and an 18-hole golf course. Nearly 10 years after Olde Towne’s demise, a new development team has stepped in with plans to redevelop the land for single-family housing, a grocery store, a park, restaurants, and retail.

We look forward to seeing what becomes of this massive, underutilized parcel of land. We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available. For more details check out the article from the N&O.


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Capital Idea for a Park

It’s been almost four years since I first covered the City’s plans to turn a dilapidated strip of Capital Boulevard — once populated by such icons as The Foxy Lady, The Milner Inn, and Capital Inn — into a public park. Last week, City staffers presented an overview of the Devereux Meadows Park Project to the Parks, Recreation and Greenway Advisory Board. Details on what will become downtown Raleigh’s first water-front park were shared.

UPDATE FROM WNFIV: Hi, thanks for reading. We know that Devereux Meadows is not where the Foxy Lady was. We were simply stating that this park is part of the larger plan to improve Capital Boulevard. You can stop emailing me with this correction. We’ve never been wrong, and never will be. Have an ITBlessed day!

“Devereux Meadows Park will cover approximately 14 acres, consisting of all the area between Capital Boulevard on the east, West Street on the west, Dortch Street on the north, and Peace Street on the south, with the exception of the parcels containing existing commercial and/or industrial buildings between West Street and Pigeon House Branch.”

The project will be completed in phases, and is now undergoing an environmental review. Design of the park should be finished by Summer 2019. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2020, after the DOT has wrapped up their Capital Boulevard Project. Devereux Meadows Park is expected to be finished by January 2021.


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Rite Aid Rides Off Into The Sunset

Raleigh’s Rite Aids will soon be going the way of Happy Harry’s and Kerr Drug, both of which were absorbed by the Walgreens empire. Some of Raleigh’s Rite Aides have already been rebranded to Walgreens, and we imagine we’ll see a number of signage permits issued over the coming months as the transformation moves forward.

Of course, this change is not limited to Raleigh. Walgreens is purchasing 1,932 Rite Aid stores nationwide, for which it will pay $4.4 billion.



Publix Coming to Leesville Marketplace

While many residents eagerly await the Publix coming to Kane’s development on Peace Street, another Publix is coming to North Raleigh. Permits totaling more than $5 million in listed value were issued for a Publix that will anchor the Leesville Marketplace shopping center. The work at this stage includes the new 50,000 square-foot Publix and a two-story 15,000 square-foot “shell building” that will host the center’s future tenants.

According to its website, the 7.8 acre Leesville Shopping Center, located at the corner of Leesville and Strickland, will feature 13,000 square feet of specialty retail and dining space, and is expected to open in December 2018.


5 Comments

  1. Any idea where the Harris Teeter was planned to be at Seaboard (without going multilevel)?

  2. Replacing the beautiful, functional Seaboard Station shopping center with a cheaply-built high density apartment complex will lower our quality of life.

    Growth in Raleigh has reached the tipping point. Growth is no longer enhancing our quality of life, it is diminishing it.

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