Creamery site to rise anew

Local restaurateur Lou Moshakos is making more plans.

The proprietor of The Carolina Ale House, Bentley's and Taverna Agora is finalizing a deal to purchase an office building at 500 Glenwood Ave.

The building at Glenwood Avenue and Tucker Street is one of two in that area that were once part of the Pine State Creamery. The one Moshakos is buying is the smaller, two-story brick office building on one side of Tucker Street. It is not the larger building with the fancy spire on the top that is still called the Creamery Building on the opposite side of Tucker.

After the deal is final -- likely in December -- Moshakos said he plans to build an additional story on top of his building to house a rooftop Carolina Ale House.

That restaurant will be followed by two others on the building's lower floors.

Moshakos shied away from saying exactly what the other two restaurants will be, but said one might be a new location for a restaurant that his LM Restaurants company already operates, and the third will be a brand new Mediterranean restaurant.

He's hoping to get all three open by 2010.

It's the latest in a series of moves by the restaurateur, who has been expanding his Ale House to other states by franchising. He opened his first full-service restaurant, the original Carolina Ale House, in 1999 after becoming a successful Miami Subs franchisee.

In Holly Springs, tenants are signing on for the under-construction Southpark Village at N.C. 55 and Avent Ferry Road. The center will be anchored by Harris Teeter, which is on schedule to open around Labor Day.

Smaller tenants opening next year will include Home Grown Pizza's second Holly Springs location, Jersey Mike's, China Uno and Il Forno Italian restaurant and bar. The center will also include Lee Spa Nails, South Park Cleaners, Great Clips, a dental practice, an optometrist and a credit union branch.

In Raleigh, the If It's Paper store at 5619 Hillsborough St. is closing as part of a companywide shut down of nearly half of its 22 stores. The final day for the store will be Dec. 20. The clearance sale is on now.

In Raleigh's Five Points area, a store called Posh is open, selling home furnishings, accessories and gifts. The store is not in any way related to the Posh antique shop that opened and closed in Five Points in 2007.

The new Posh has been operating in Raleigh's Oakwood neighborhood for two years and now occupies the former Regency Antiques spot at 2006 Fairview Road. It's open Tuesday through Saturday and will be open specially on three Sundays: Dec. 7, Dec. 14 and Dec. 21.

In Durham at the Streets at Southpoint, the lease for women's fashion store Anthropologie is now official. There's still no opening date projected, though it looks like it will probably be sometime in summer 2009.

OTHER ITEMS: In Garner, Walgreens is open at N.C. 42 and N.C. 1010. And in Raleigh, Smoothie King is open in Olde Raleigh Village at 3101-107 Edwards Mill Road.