Upscale retail, housing planned for plaza

Two Raleigh developers have an option to purchase Wake Forest Plaza and its associated land along Brooks, Franklin, White and Holding streets in the center of town.

Nothing has been designed yet, Eric Tillett of Tillett Development said Monday, but the current vision is to build townhouses and condominiums on the 10 acres or so of vacant land while developing the old shopping center into a retail center "as upscale as we can."

Tillett said he and his partners, Craig Briner and Thomas Beebe, have not talked to the current tenants, but "We're hoping they (CVS) will stay."

They plan to extend the street. "Brooks will be punched through to Holding," Tillett said.

Tillett said they had been talking to potential new tenants and with some town officials and businessmen.They will discuss their plans with the Downtown Revitalization Corporation at its June 5 meeting.

"We want to bring it into the downtown in some shape or form," Tillett said, suggesting the land between Brooks and White could become a town square, "a focal point of the town. We're actually the center of the ... area.

Tillett said Bob Johnson had "done a terrific job" renovating The Cotton Company. "We want to continue that look and feel."

Johnson said the project "can help amplify historic downtown Wake Forest as a destination point for travel and tourism. We need someone with vision, like Andy and Jan Ammons are doing for the surrounding area, to help finance downtown for the greater good of the entire Wake Forest community."

Briner, who renovated the Highland Park shopping center in Charlotte, turning a grocery store into office space, said they are looking at all the various angles, evaluating different uses and tenants, which may be different from what is envisioned now. "I think I'll be surprised by a potential user," he said.

Briner and Tillett said all plans are preliminary at this time.

Sherrill Brinkley, chairman of the planning board, said the plans, what he knows of them, "are exactly what needs to happen" in downtown.

"They may be a little bit ahead of the curve," he said, but once the N.C. 98 bypass is built and Franklin Street is connected to it, easier access to downtown will help everyone. The new upscale homes in Heritage Wake Forest and Wakefield will provide customers for the upscale retail Tillett and Briner are planning, Brinkley said.

"They're very capable people," former mayor and land developer Dick Monteith said. "Eric Tillett is the most creative land planner I've ever seen."

Monteith said that if he could have hand-picked a developer, it would have been Tillett. Together, he said, Tillett and Briner have a combination of financial stability, vision and creativity.

Monteith said the discussions between Tillett and Briner on one hand and plaza owners Charles Bass and Sue Holding had been going on for at least a year. Bass, he said, "does all of Eric's appraisals."

Bass and Sue Holding's husband, the late T.E. Holding III, built Wake Forest Plaza, the town's first shopping center, 25 years ago. The three anchor stores were Holding Drugs (which has been sold and resold and is now CVS), Winn-Dixie and Maxway. Winn-Dixie closed the store in the plaza in May of 2000 at the same time the new Winn-Dixie opened on Durham Road.

Bass said he had negotiated with five different grocery chains since Winn-Dixie left. "I don't know of a grocery chain that hasn't looked at it." Tuesday he remained cautious, saying he was not sure the deal with Tillett, Briner and Beebe would go through.

The other plaza tenants are Jerry's Lounge, Oriental Jade restaurant, Next to New, Pretty Nails and InFlight Hair Salon.

The only outparcel sold at the plaza has been for Dollar General, which owns both the building and the land on which it stands.

Richland Hills

Tillett is also the developer for the Richland Hills subdivision on Wall Road. The 180-acre tract, which will hold about 380 homes, stretches into Franklin County.

Grading is now underway, Tillett said, and they hope houses in the $150,000 to $200,000 range will be ready for sale in September or October.

Tillett Development will do the grading and install the streets and utilities, then sell the lots to Westminster Homes, the builder. "I'm just the dirt guy," Tillett said.

Tillett Development is also creating Amberly near Cary, a mixed-use development on 1,100 acres that could have up to 5,700 homes.