The intersection of Glascock Street and Brookside Drive in Raleigh is right in the middle of a neighborhood, but one of the four corners there will soon make a return to retail activity.

Already, there looms the shell of a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building that will house six or seven retail stores downstairs, collectively called the Shoppes at Brookside. Upstairs on the second floor will be seven residential condominiums in the Landings at Brookside.

The $2 million development may seem a bit out of place amid the established residential neighborhood that surrounds it.

But developer Steve Fitzpatrick said the Brookside center will help the area continue to reinvent itself. Several surrounding houses are being renovated, and a dog park is being created at nearby Oakwood Park.

"I just had a feeling that we might be pushing the curve a little bit, but that the neighborhood would catch up," said Fitzpatrick, owner of Genford Development Co. in Raleigh. "It will kind of help pull the neighborhood along."

On the bottom floor, the center will have 16,000 square feet of retail space, plus an outdoor patio. So far, he has signed leases for a deli, coffee shop and 3,800-square-foot independent grocery store.

"It's not huge, but it's large enough to carry fresh meat, fresh produce, bread and things like that," said Fitzpatrick. "It's a lot of things that the neighbors have told us they don't like driving to get."

Fitzpatrick also said he's working on deals with service-oriented businesses, including a real estate agent and a financial planner.

Upstairs, there will be seven condominiums, ranging from 1,250 to 1,280 square feet each. They will sell for about $170,000, he said.

"We wanted those units to be for sale rather than for rent," he said. The neighborhood is looking for people with a vested interest."

The center will take the place of another small center that burned down on the site in the late 1990s, said Octavia Rainey, chairwoman of the North Central Citizens Advisory Council, one of several groups of residents that give feedback to the Raleigh City Council. Fitzpatrick's project falls within the North Central CAC's territory.

Rainey said the old shopping center that burned down attracted people who loitered, were disruptive and sometimes were violent. So, when a new project was proposed several years ago, neighbors wanted to add their input.

"There was a huge discussion that the neighbors didn't want to bring back a store that would sell malt liquor and things that would not be good for the neighborhood," she said. "The neighbors are strongly concerned. What you bring back must be suitable and must be a fit for the neighborhood. They don't want people loitering; they don't want any violence."

Residents aren't opposed to retail stores or development, Rainey said, but the council has not been briefed on the center since 2000, when it was first proposed. Fitzpatrick blamed the delay on permitting and construction delays but said things are finally moving forward. He anticipates the first stores, including the grocery, will open this summer, with the entire project being completed by the end of the year.

"I feel the whole intersection will be improved," he said. "It's really going to be beautiful."

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