Cary, NC – We are in the heart of the Summer right now, with Downtown Cary’s food truck rodeo this weekend, as well as multiple performances by the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Courage return home and much more.
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Cary, NC – This week was a holiday week so there was not a lot going on.
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We usually write about new store openings or construction taking place around town. Fo this month’s column we thought we would take a look at what no one is talking about: The Empty Places.
Believe it or not, despite having a “low vacancy rate” in Cary, we do have some glaringly empty large parcels scattered around town, where lone chain restaurants, drugstores, and grocery stores used to do a booming business. Where are they? Let’s take a look.
The mall obviously has a few of its own large empty spaces, but in the surrounding out parcels several spots have been tough to fill. La Madeleine– french bakery and cafe was only in its building about a year after taking over for a similar chain franchise operation. No buisness has ever seemed to stay here long..
Across the street, adjacent to the Barnes and Noble shopping plaza are two other empty buildings, formerly chain restaurants as well. Five Guys occupied one for several years and Macaroni Grill was in the other.
Not far from the mall on Cary Towne Blvd is the large former Performance Bicycle store that closed at the beginning of 2019.
Everyone is familiar with the empty Carrabba’s about dead center on Kildaire Farm Road,. Its the building with the “green roof” which is slowing dying from neglect on the building that housed this chain. Carrabba’s as a chain is thriving elsewhere in the country, and even in the Triangle, but could not make it in Cary, where everyone is trying to open a restaurant these days. Up the road from this spot is the empty Newk’s which was previously one of Niall Handy’s Hibernian Pubs for many years and was something before that. A former Ruby Tuesdays sits empty near the Walmart in Crescent Green off of Kildaire.
In this area is also one of the many empty former Rite Aid drugstores, which closed at least 4 stores in Cary when they were bought out by Walgreens.
A former Ruby Tuesdays sits empty near the Walmart in Crescent Green off of Kildaire.
One of the out-parcels of Waverly Place was T Mac which remodelled and opened in the former Red, Hot and Blue. That is the only restaurant empty over at Waverly, as they are ready to open a brand new space with The Shack Shack later this year.
In the Centrum Plaza (the development where BJ’s Warehouse is located, along with Joann’s Fabrics and World Market) there are a few large restaurant buildings sitting vacant so long the weeds are growing tall in the medians and in the shrubbery adjacent to the building. We used to take our kids to Sweet Tomatoes when they were young. I also remember hating buffet dining with children as no one ever sat down long enough to have a healthy conversation. The food wasn’t great either. Sweet Tomatoes and its neighbor Wild Wing Cafe have been empty for ages.
Also in Crossroads is the huge hulk of the empty Toy R Us big box store which average about 23,000 square feet. According to the Triangle Business Journal two of the four vacant Triangle Toys R Us stores are being repurposed.no Official word on the Crossroads location.
Mostly its all-new west of NC 55 in Cary, but there are occasional closing that results in a large empty space. Nothing stays empty for long out there. Even Field and Stream became Hobby Lobby eventually. But while the Learning Express still does gangbusters over next to Walmart and Harris Teeter in Crescent Commons off Kildaire, they recently closed the new store in Parkside Town Commons. I expect its low foot traffic and high use of internet shopping spelled its demise.
Off of Cary Parkway in Preston Walk (near James Jackson Road) we recently learned that Eighty-8 Asian Bistro closed on June 23. This location started as a Mexican concept over 15 years ago, changed to a hibachi place, and was the home of Eighty-8 for the last two years. It’s a big space, and hard to fill. We are sad to see this one go, the food was great. For those looking to follow Chef Dai Nguyen, they started a food truck with the same name back in March.
Park West doesn’t have many closures and has mostly leased out the space in the former Gander Mountain store. That big box store was well over 50,000 square feet and is the new home of a Michael’s and a Home Goods with one empty storefront in between. There is also a small empty space that was a former Starbuck’s which closed this past winter. How can a Starbuck’s not make it in Morrisville/Cary?
While we know the mall will be redeveloped and The Fenton is coming. The Cary area still has plenty of vacant space to lease at Waverly Place and Park West Village. The freestanding out-parcel empties mentioned in this article are going to take a while to absorb, or may simply meet the wrecking ball one day soon.
If you know of additional spots we missed, please feel free to add them to the comments, and we will update this article.
Story and photos by Lindsey Chester
Cary, NC – Five years ago, Claire Holley performed at the Cary Theater’s first concert. Now, she’s back on the anniversary of that performance, promoting a new album of hymns.
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Cary, NC – For people who cannot afford dental care or have been too fearful to see a dentist, Preston Dental Loft is holding a day of free cleanings, fillings and extractions this July.
Cary, NC – This weekend, it’s Independence Day, with a full day of events and celebrations all over town. Also, both of Cary’s professional soccer teams have home games this weekend, the North Carolina Symphony performs the music of the great Russian composers and much more.
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I am pleased to announce that Cary has contracted with Verville Interiors and Preservation, LLC to repair, restore, and preserve cemetery monuments in our local historic landmark, Hillcrest Cemetery. Work by expert craftsman, Michael Verville, also includes leveling leaning stones and stabilizing loose stones. Rest assured that the work will be completed in accordance with the US Secretary of the Interior Standards for Historic Preservation and Conservation and Cary’s Historic Preservation Commission will be involved as well.
What? You’ve never heard of Hillcrest Cemetery? Well, with burials dating back to the 1700s, Hillcrest Cemetery is a special place of great historic significance to our community. It is the final resting place of a number of men and women who made considerable contributions to the Town of Cary’s social, economic, political and religious growth, and development. Interred at the cemetery are fifteen former mayors, educators, and business leaders to include members of the Jones, Page, Templeton and Guess families, and Cary High principal Marcus Baxter Dry, Esther Ivey, Russell O. Heater, Alfred “Buck” Jones, and R. S. “Dad” Dunham. Hillcrest Cemetery was designated a historic landmark in 2014 and is Cary’s only municipal cemetery.
Restoring these monuments to their original glory is the least we can do for those who gave so much of themselves for Cary.
So where is Hillcrest Cemetery? I’m glad you asked! The cemetery is located at 608 Page Street just south of downtown. The Town of Cary acquired most of the cemetery in the 1960s and 1970s, making it the Town’s only active municipal cemetery.
Cary’s American Legion Post 67 hosts an annual Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony at Hillcrest Cemetery and The Friends of the Page-Walker also promotes walking tours through the cemetery to better educate visitors about Cary’s history. You can learn more about Hillcrest Cemetery from the Friends by clicking here.
In partnership with the Town’s Spruce Program, the Town will also hold one clean-up day in the Cemetery on September 7 from 9 – 11 a.m. Volunteers can perform light cleaning of headstones/markers and/or just help with a little landscaping maintenance. Sign-up will be available through the Town’s website here.
Spruce volunteers donate their time and energy to help keep Cary clean and green by working in our parks, streets, streams, and other public spaces. From trail maintenance to litter cleanups and many other projects in between, the Spruce Program supports our citizens’ efforts to have a direct positive impact on both the beauty and the environmental health of our community.
I look forward to seeing everyone at Hillcrest Cemetery on September 7th and thanks in advance for coming out to help. If you have any questions about the monument repair and/or the scheduled clean-up day, please shoot me an email at don.frantz@townofcary.org or contact the Town Clerk’s office at virginia.johnson@townofcary.org .
From the blog of Cary Councilmember Don Frantz. Photos courtesy of Don Frantz.
Story originally appeared on FoodCary.
Morrisville, NC – Hickory Tavern now has its third location in Wake County, opening up in Morrisville’s Park West Village this month.
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This was a slow week which is typical for this time of year.
Monday I attempted to contact all council members to hear concerns or questions about the upcoming meeting that I could discuss with staff. I contacted each of them except one. There were no concerns but based on my conversations it seemed that support for the Roberts Road rezoning was doubtful.
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