French charm to ooze from Falls of Neuse

Developer hopes to buck hard times and convention to create a European village in North Raleigh

RALEIGH -- The music of construction rises from a seven-acre lump of dirt and concrete at Falls of Neuse and Honeycutt roads.

Trucks beep. Hammers bang. Walkie-talkies crackle.

The sound is rare these days. Across the country, development plans are being stalled or canceled as cash-strapped lenders tighten standards.

Yet the investors behind Lafayette Village managed to secure financing for the $20 million North Raleigh shopping center.

T.D. Bank agreed to lend the investors up to $15.9 million.

The loan is a lifeline for Lafayette, which stalled after a previous lender fell out of the picture.

That's the news, but not the story behind this ambitious -- some say risky -- project.

Financing is a mere chapter in a two-year epic whose main characters include inexperienced retailers and unproven retail developers with unwavering vision and the drive to finish an expensive project despite tight lending and slowing consumer spending.

If all goes according to plan, the tale will end with mimes and balloon twisters.

The idea is akin to open air centers such as North Hills in Raleigh. But this center has its own character, Paul Bronson, a partner, explains in his home office on Gresham Lake Road: "We're building a French village."

He leans back in a leather swivel chair, gazes at a rendering hung above a futon on a cantaloupe-colored wall and elaborates:

Stores in the 73,000-square-foot center will face inward, separated by narrow roads. No cars will be able to drive through the center. Rather, shoppers will park on the perimeter and walk in, or they park in an underground deck and take the elevator.

French villagers "came out from the field and into the village through various points," he says. "We've done the same thing here."

There will be bocce courts, classical music, puppet shows.

Mimes and other minstrels would rove the grounds, surrounding a collection of small, independent shops that fit the European-village theme.

Half the space is to shops including a gourmet market, a gelato vendor, a coffee shop, a spa, salon and a few restaurants.

"The answer here isn't who we've leased to," Bronson says. "It's who we have not leased to."

He "accepts applications" from tenants. A hamburger restaurant, for instance, was rejected.

"It's kind of like when you have a cashmere jacket and a cheap tie," Bronson says. "It just doesn't look right. I can't have burger smell wafting through my plaza."

That kind of discipline is crucial, says Antonio Saladino, a chef who is opening a gourmet market and restaurant at Lafayette. A carefully plucked mix of tenants will give Lafayette the complementary cohesion that will make it a destination for high-end clientele who crave personal service.

But when it comes to tenants, it's hard to be picky these days.

As consumer spending has dropped, so too have expansion plans by many retailers.

"If this was just a regular strip mall, like you see all around, it would worry me," says Andrew Cash, who plans to open Jubala Village Coffee at Lafayette. "But it's not that. This is extremely unique for North Raleigh."

Small, unique

The location is solid. The project is near Interstate 540 and a growing core of offices and fancy homes.

But will uniqueness be enough to lease the rest of the space?

"The good news is that we're only 73,000 square feet," Bronson says.

But filling the rest could prove challenging. For starters, the inward design could be a challenge.

Retailers often seek high visibility and an anchor tenant, such as a grocery, that draw shoppers.

Indeed, the boutiques Bronson is chasing are destination tenants that thrive on word of mouth.