North Hills East

[Gard]

^

Problem is HT has a non-compete clause in their contract with Kane, which essentially means that no other grocery stores can open in North Hills. Its the typical way of keeping competitors out and everyone from Wal-Mart to Walgreens to Food Lion includes them, which is why you rarely see more than one grocery store, drugstore, discount chain and so forth in a shopping center. I remember an incident where I lived during college where Target was going to open a store that was once a Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart turned around and file lawsuit against the owner citing breech of contract. The owner lost and had to turn away Target because Wal-Mart had a non-compete clause on the property (even though they didn't even have a store there anymore) for the next 35 years. Sad, but thats the reality of it and why you don't see shopping centers get filled with replacements for something sometimes.

[dmccall]

Target sells a LOT of groceries. It could easily be argued that:

• Trader Joe's is not a full-service grocer

• Harris Teeter, by moving out of their location, nullifies the contract.

• It's also possible that North Hills East is considered a separate shopping center from what currently exists. Perhaps North Hills is considered a separate shopping center from The Lassiter (which may be why the former "North Hills Plaza" carried an entirely different name now.

[Rufus]

Isn't the Trader Joe's at Holly Park on hold right now? I thought I read/heard that a few months back. Either way, and I hate to do this to Holly Park, but IMO Trader Joe's should go to the old Harris Teeter. I don't know...I just felt that Holly Park was such an odd location, especially with the Kroger right at the Six Forks intersection and Aldi up the road past the I-440 intersection. North Hills could really be a place that generates visibility and profits...but wherever it goes, I will def be a regular since I live between the two shopping centers.

In other news, has anyone seen the backside of NHE? It is awful...the parking deck of the apts. creates a gigantic gray wall against the road. I hope something can be done about this.

[orulz]

In other news, has anyone seen the backside of NHE? It is awful...the parking deck of the apts. creates a gigantic gray wall against the road. I hope something can be done about this.

[dmccall]

So far I am really disappointed with the entire NHE project.

[Gard]

Target sells a LOT of groceries. It could easily be argued that:

• Trader Joe's is not a full-service grocer

• Harris Teeter, by moving out of their location, nullifies the contract.

• It's also possible that North Hills East is considered a separate shopping center from what currently exists. Perhaps North Hills is considered a separate shopping center from The Lassiter (which may be why the former "North Hills Plaza" carried an entirely different name now.

[ChiefJoJo]

In other news, has anyone seen the backside of NHE? It is awful...the parking deck of the apts. creates a gigantic gray wall against the road. I hope something can be done about this.

[Subway Scoundrel]

HT will close and Trader Joe's is signed for Holly Park, BUT...until they start laying bricks there, it is hard to believe anything is final. It would be the perfect size for Trader Joe's, and might compel me to actually shop there.

[Subway Scoundrel]

HT will close and Trader Joe's is signed for Holly Park, BUT...until they start laying bricks there, it is hard to believe anything is final. It would be the perfect size for Trader Joe's, and might compel me to actually shop there.

[dmccall]

TD's is going to go into a new building that will be where Wake Paint and Decorating was. I know, I know, it seemed like that former grocery store spot that later became the fitness place would have been an easy, cheap fit.

http://www.gogoraleigh.com/2008/08/17/holl...ings-available/

I've thought that a Barnes & Noble or a Borders would have made NH complete, and certainly NHE offers a great location for one. Given the way that that industry is going (brick and mortar book retail), I'll be shocked if we ever see another bookstore open again. I think that NH's only chance is to convince Borders to move up Six Forks when their lease runs out next to the SuperKroger. They would get much more foot traffic in NH.

[ncwebguy]

I think some early North Hills sketches posted in the old mall showed "bookstore" in REI's location, but it may have been wishful thinking, being too close to Crabtree and then-under construction Triangle Town Center

I don't know how well the Borders at Six Forks/Strickland does, but the Six Forks/Wake Forest location has seemed slow every time I've been there compared to the Crabtree, Southpoint, and TTC B&Ns. The Lassiter space could add visibility, and rent would probably be cheaper there than in the "heart" of North Hills/NHE.

Trader Joe's and Aldi have/had some common corporate interest, and Holly Park probably is more desperate to cut them a sweeter deal than North Hills would be.

Other than a trip to Sport Clips and 5 Guys, I haven't been up that way since the holiday shopping season. I still think Six Forks is too "pinched" by the Cap Trust and Cardinal Bank pair, though that may help reduce traffic somewhat and make non-auto trips between the Lassiter, NH, and NHE a little easier. Once the Cardinal, etc. are built out, a trolley bus circulator running through NHE to the Lassiter to JC Penny's to Main at North Hills" to the Rennisance and back across Six Forks could make "park once, go everywhere" easier for visitors and residents.

It is better than the "strip mall" promised during the TIF tiff, though I'd rather not pass any final judgment till things start opening up.

[unique1rdu]

Not much, just a little article on the Captrust Tower Here

[RALNATIVE]

The CapTrust Logo has recently been placed on the bldg, so it appears that construction is near completion. Does anyone think that this tower will facilitate other tower development in the midtown area, and hence the emergence of a 2nd skyline?

[Jones_]

I think North Hills cache is strong. I don't know what sites make the most sense for continued height though other than Kane's original office site on the west side that was shot down during site plan approval because the set-back wasn't enough from Six Forks. BB&T and another bank have sites north of First Citizens and I think at least one of them announced a new building on the order of 10ish stories but I don't remember exactly.

[dmccall]

BB&T's will be only two stories, and it will, for no reason, sit back from the sidewalk on Six Forks.

[Gard]

BB&T's will be only two stories, and it will, for no reason, sit back from the sidewalk on Six Forks.

[orulz]

The set back from the sidewalk is because of city zoning rules. You can blame the city for that one.

[orulz]

Nope. The City requires a 30 foot setback. That's about what Captrust Tower has. The BB&T building looks to be set back about an extra 20 feet past that, with a row of parking thrown in in front. There will also be a humongous 5-lane drive through off to the side.

[dmccall]

They'll probably only use those 5 lanes on the Friday before Christmas. I wonder if they are going 5-wide because they can only go 4-deep. If they only had 3 lanes, they'd spill out to Six Forks after 12 cars.

On a different topic, today is the last day for the temporary site of Aldert Root Elementary at North Hills East. The real school, on Lassiter Mill, is complete and they will move tomorrow. This frees up John Kane to begin The Cardinal construction once the WCPSS moves their 5 MCUs away. I'll tell you what, this has been a VERY smooth 15 months in the temporary site. The trailers were really nice, and the only real drawback to the site was the lack of a gym and field. Otherwise we all would have been just fine staying there. Kudos to John Kane, his accountant, and the WCPSS for making it happen!

[orulz]

So it looks like the Captrust tower and most of the "Park and Market" apartments buildings are done. "Park and Market" is pretty monolithic and not the most attractive building, but there are a huge number of retail spaces and those do look nice.

Captrust looks to have loads of retail space on the ground floor as well. Right next to Six Forks Road, its ground level is about one story below grade, It looks to me like they might be planning a tunnel under Six Forks Road there, instead of a bridge over it. I guess I'd ought to take a photo of it sometime so you know what I'm talking about...

[Pack52]

So it looks like the Captrust tower and most of the "Park and Market" apartments buildings are done. "Park and Market" is pretty monolithic and not the most attractive building, but there are a huge number of retail spaces and those do look nice.

Captrust looks to have loads of retail space on the ground floor as well. Right next to Six Forks Road, its ground level is about one story below grade, It looks to me like they might be planning a tunnel under Six Forks Road there, instead of a bridge over it. I guess I'd ought to take a photo of it sometime so you know what I'm talking about...

[ChiefJoJo]

Man, It looks ok now, but I can't beleive they made the apartments of Park and Market out of wood. I am not sure I have seen such a massive development be made out of it. Are they better at this now or will the floors be squeeking in 5 years?

[Euphorius]

Maybe this was a result of his not getting the TIF he wanted. I do hope that The Cardinal will hide some of Park and Market. That building is so huge, and not very attractive. At any rate it is better than the Bennigan's that was there before.

[orulz]

It's not that unusual to have a building with 5 floors of wood frame construction. This one just happens to have an extra floor of concrete construction beneath (for the retail.)

There will be plenty more buildings in front of this one, though there's certainly no guarantee that they will look better. Cardinal will be further south.

Here is the latest (Dec 2008) master plan for NHE:

Based on the master plan above, it looks like they might have abandoned the bridge idea.

As I mentioned before, it looks like they might be planning a tunnel under Six Forks instead. The spot for this is marked in purple. Note I say "looks" and "might." That's a great place for a tunnel for NHE, but it wouldn't tie in well with the original North Hills without reconfiguring it. Besides, they'd have to convince NCDOT to let them build a tunnel in the first place (A messy process no doubt, with lane closings and such.)

[ChiefJoJo]

In looking at the master plan, I think the city and or/Kane made a mistake by not connecting "Market at North Hills St" with Rockdale Drive in the adjacent neighborhood. I know, I know, new street connections into SF neighborhoods bring out the NIMBYs, but there are ways to do this and not jeopardize safety, while helping improve traffic/bike/ped accessibility to NHE.

The new UDO should most definitely require new (complete) street connections such as this to be made, along with appropriate traffic calming measures.