Women's Clothing Boutique Near Me Apex, NC

After years of legal wrangling and shelved plans, developers have offered the first glimpse of a massive mixed-use development coming to Apex.

New York-based real estate developer RXR this week released renderings for Veridea, a “live-work-play” community planned for roughly 1,100 acres between U.S. Highway 1 and N.C. 540, along N.C. 55.

The designs, seven in all, show a sprawling, amenity-rich “mini-city,” two miles south of downtown Apex, and about 20 minutes from RTP and neighbors Cary and Morrisville.

“We look to build in ‘superstar regions’ like Apex,” said RXR’s executive vice president Joseph Graziose, in a press release. “We’re excited to take this step.”

Veridea is RXR’s first project in North Carolina.

Phase one involves building 1,100 single-family houses and townhomes, and 550 out of 1,500 multifamily units with first-floor retail in the community’s East Village.

Veridea will offer “a range of pricing” with unit layouts at market rate, the company said.

An entertainment district — with 200,000 square feet for retail, restaurants and office — and a new elementary school are also in the works.

Amenities include green trails, dog parks and bicycle paths. Eventually, four softball fields, six tennis courts and a 22,500-square-foot community center will be added.

Separately, RXR has partnered with Wake Technical Community College to construct a new 340,000-square-foot campus.

RXR plans to break ground later this year with “new roadways, infrastructure and utilities.” Work is expected to begin on multifamily units in early 2025, the company said.

The site’s zoning allows for up to 8,000 residential units, 12 million square feet of commercial space, including life sciences, industrial and warehouse, and 3.5 million square feet of retail, hospitality and civic uses.

Veridea has been in the works since 2011.

The property’s previous owner, Hudson Realty Capital, began assembling the land 17 years ago. But it hit legal roadblocks and never got off the ground.

In March 2023, RXR bought the parcels for $91 million, according to Wake County deed records.

Apex Mayor Jacques K. Gilbert has called the project a “golden opportunity” for Apex.

As Apex’s population swells to over 62,000, demand for more housing remains at an all-time high. The town estimates that by 2030, there could be more than 120,000 people living in Apex.

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A massive master-planned community in Apex is getting ready to break ground.

RXR, the New York developers behind Veridea, a $3 billion mixed-use development, will start site and infrastructure work this fall with plans to go vertical with the first buildings in early 2025. But plans for phase one have changed slightly as the developer adjusts to the shifting commercial real estate market.

Rebecca D’Eloia, executive vice president and development project executive for RXR, said the first buildings to go up will be the multifamily with ground-floor retail. Following that will be the industrial space of which there will be 213,000 square feet in the first phase.

The Veridea development will be a multi-year, multi-phase project that will cover 1,200 acres along N.C. Highway 55. When complete, it will have 8,000 residential units; 3.5 million square feet of retail, hospitality and civic space; 12 million square feet of commercial space that includes life sciences and industrial; and public open space and walking trails.

View Slideshow 5 photos

Veridea will have 8,000 residential units.

The first phase will have 550 multifamily units in three 5-story buildings along with about 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and commercial space. Previously, the developer planned only about 130,000 square feet in phase one.

William Noyes, project executive, development services for RXR, said the company anticipates residents being able to move in by 2027.

The apartment vacancy rate for the south Cary/Apex area is 10.6 percent — a 4.1 percent change year-over-year, according to data from Costar.

When it comes to the retail, D’Eloia said the company is looking to bring in a mix of national and regional brands with an even split between food and beverage and dry goods. Noyes also said a national grocer will be part of the development.

Lee and Associates is handling the leasing for the retail component.

For the industrial space, which is currently going through the site review process with the town, the company is focusing on signing smaller biotech companies who need flex space between 30,000 and 40,000 square feet.

Cushman and Wakefield is handling the leasing for the industrial space.

In addition, the first phase will include 1,100 single-family homes and townhomes built by Lennar, a 340,000-square-foot campus for Wake Tech Community College and a new Wake County public school.

RXR opened its welcome center in downtown Apex on North Salem Street and will run operations from there as it moves through the development process.

The development is an ambitious one with new uses and increased density continuing to be added. The first phase, including site work, will cost an estimated $250 million. The company has all of the equity required for its infrastructure work and mixed-use plan, but it will be acquiring a construction loan from lenders later in the process for the first phase.

Master-planned communities can be hit and miss when it comes to actually fulfilling what the developer sets out to do. Wendell Falls is like a small town within a town that continues to grow, while 751 South in Durham has stalled out on the commercial side. Lowes Food was supposed to anchor a retail complex within 751 but that has yet to come to fruition.

The 100-year-old tree is in the spotlight as Apex officials assess potential areas for a sidewalk, including Hunter Street where the icon stands.

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- A large willow oak tree stands in front of Nancy Gutske's house with a Christmas bow wrapped around it for the holidays.

"That tree has been there for a long time," Gutske said.

The 100-year-old tree is in the spotlight as officials assess potential areas for a sidewalk, including Hunter Street where the icon stands.

Although no final decision has been made regarding this piece of sidewalk, the Town of Apex said construction of new sidewalks ranks consistently high among Apex residents' priorities for transportation funding.

There's just not a need for a sidewalk here- Mike Newell, Apex resident

As part of an infrastructure improvement project BL-0047, Hunter Street is just one of several areas being evaluated for safer routes to schools.

"There's just not a need for a sidewalk here," said Mike Newell, another resident.

Though the issue has not yet come before the Town Council, nor is it clear whether that sidewalk will be part of the decision-making process, residents such as Newell and Gutske oppose the idea of the Hunter Street icon being chopped down.

"I had a certified arborist come out here," Newell said. "He's declared that tree to be healthy. No need to cut it down of any disease concern. It has normal wear and tear, so to speak, for its age. It is a safe tree. It poses no danger."

Newell plans to bring this up in the Town Council meeting on Jan. 9 and noted that Mayor Jacques Gilbert was in favor of keeping the tree as is.

ALSO SEE: Apex building 100% affordable housing apartment complex; First in 25 years

Gilbert said historic preservation is a priority for him, and he anticipates and welcomes additional discussion with the community.

"We're always looking for an opportunity for more walkability," Gilbert said. "In this instance, I'm happy to see the engagement of the community."

While the 100-200 block of Hunter Street was included in the initial project (BL-0047) design, the placement of sidewalks in this block is still being evaluated, according to the town.

Boomtowns: Apex expects 'phenomenal' growth by end of decade

Today, Apex is known as the 'peak' of good living – but many people have no idea the historic downtown is built overtop a lost pond that holds secrets to the town's little-known origins.

Each time you sit down to eat in the alleyway between the Apex Fire Department and The Peak on Salem, you're sitting right on top of one of the most important sites in the town's history: The Log Pond.

Very little remains of that pond today; however, without that pond, Apex may not have ever existed at all.

"If you look at maps of Wake County prior to the Civil War, you will see places like Holly Springs and a number of communities all around modern day Apex, but you don't see Apex on the map at all," said Toby Holleman, a historian who specializes in the town's history.

That's because 'Apex' didn't exist. The little community had a different name: Log Pond.

Why was 'Log Pond' changed to 'Apex?'

It may seem hard to believe a little pond could have such an impact on a town's growth, but the small body of water served as a refueling station for the steam engines that came through on the Chatham Railroad. Without that pond, the railroad may never have come through the tiny community – and that railroad was a primary reason Apex exists today.

"The railroad was completed 1869," said Holleman. "Until then, there was no Apex."

Prior to 1869, Holleman says travelers who stopped to water their horses may have seen a little lumber business or a mill, as well as a country store and maybe a farm house or two.

"Very little there, not even enough to call a community," he said.

The 'log pond' was maybe 100 feet long or so, and was so named because railroad workers would toss the wooden railroad ties into the pond, giving it the appearance of being filled with logs.

Steam engine trains needed plenty of water, so the pond served as a replenishing reservoir. As the community became a prominent stop for trains, railroad workers began referring to Log Pond as the 'Apex of the Grade.'

The name 'Apex of the Grade' was critically important to railroad workers because it let everyone on the tracks know that this stop was the highest point, the apex or the peak, of the Chatham County Railroad.

"Trains would come up the hill from Haywood. That climb is 15 miles, and for a little steam engine pulling a long train of cars, it needed water by the time it reached the top of the hill. That's where the log pond was," he said. "It would refill at the 'apex' of the grade then proceed on to Cary, and downhill to Raleigh."

Holleman says it was common for communities at the 'peak' of a railroad line to be named in recognition of that:

Engineers named the community Apex, and within a year the first post office was established.

"The United States Postal Service called it the Apex post office," he said.

What happened to the critically important log pond?

Train tracks still carry trains right past the historic Depot in downtown Apex.

But no one knows exactly what happened to the original log pond, according to Holleman.

" We surmise that it vanished as the town began to grow," he said. "Probably by 1900 it could no longer be seen."

Main Street and Old US-1 Hwy ran through right where the pond sat, so a flooding pond could have created a mess. The town inserted culverts to drain it – possibly represented today in the name Culvert Street just behind the train depot.

"Those drains still work today. I can remember as a kid seeing the drain on the east side. So much water tends to accumulate in that spot. It’s a tiny little valley on the ridge, and you can see how the water could come down and settle in that little spot where the Log Pond was," he said.

A map of Log Pond drawn by Staley Smith shows the outline of the pond's old site, as well as the flow of the culvert and direction the water drained. From the drawing, you can see the pond sat directly next to the train tracks along Seaboard St., just a stone's throw away from the historic depot building still sitting by the tracks today.

Smith created that map in 2009.

Precious few photos actually show the Log Pond – and there may only be one in existence.

Holleman's brother Warren, also an Apex historian, shared one of these photos in the book Pluck, Perseverance, and Paint: Apex, North Carolina: Beginnings to 1941. Below is a close-up of that image, restored by Marty Allen and provided by the Apex Volunteer Fire Department collection.

Today, visitors can sit on top of the former site of the log pond and eat lunch – in a little alleyway running alongside the fire station.

Where is the 'apex' of Apex?

Atop a slight hill, just behind the old railroad tracks, sits a historic home known as the Tunstall house – right on the peak of the very highest point in Apex, according to Kerrin Cox, communications coordinator for the Town of Apex.

The historic home sits on the Apex Town Campus, which also includes the town hall, senior center and community center.

As the town prepares to celebrate 150 years of history at their Party in the Peak event on Sept. 23, they're highlighting some of these incredible lost stories as part of an exhibit right there on the town campus – allowing visitors to learn about the town's hidden history while walking around on the very peak of Apex itself.

On September 23 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the campus will become an interactive museum showcasing Apex’s past, present, and future.

“We have interviewed nearly 100 community members so far, and their stories will be part of the celebration in our Present exhibit,” said Cox. “We’ve covered topics like Black history, women’s history, indigenous history, and more - all of which have been curated by community champions.”

The event has more than just history. There will be 10 food trucks with special Apex 150th menu items. They're also hosting live music, Apex youth performances, kids activities, and storytellers on stage sharing tales from Apex's past.

For those who love Apex history, many historic photos and stories are collected in the Holleman brothers' history book, which is available at ELK Local Foods and Sixpence Accents in downtown. Toby Holleman is also providing a virtual tour of Apex history on October 15 at Eva Perry Library.

For those who love exploring hidden history themselves, the town has worked with historians from several Apex communities – Green Level, Friendship, New Hill, Olive Chapel and more – to create interactive maps to 'lost places' that once played a critical role in making the town what it is today.

Podcast: Explore hidden history from towns all across the Triangle

Hidden History reporter Heather Leah is a seventh-generation North Carolinian who loves sharing all the history hiding just beneath your feet. Scroll to listen to her podcast series about everything from enchanted castles to secret underwater ghost towns to abandoned tunnels leading to forgotten history.

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Missing Apex 13-year-old found in Durham

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

ABC11 24/7 Streaming ChannelWatch Eyewitness News, First Alert Weather, and original programming.

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- A missing Apex 13-year-old was found safe in Durham.

The teen boy reportedly ran away from home. It's unclear why, but he was found hours later in Durham.

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