Curious about something and don't know who to ask? Send questions to NRNews@newsobserver.com or visit the "What's up with that?" forum on share.triangle.com where you can see the questions we're working on -- and help us answer them.

Q.The buildings under construction at the corner of Lake Boone Trail and Nancy Ann Drive are of unique design. Can you tell me what these buildings are to be used for?

-- Charles Goodno, Raleigh

A.The buildings are part of a mixed-use project that will include retail and office space, according to Mark Coats, chief estimator for Oaks Construction, the company in charge of the project.

The development will be called The Market Place at Lake Boone. It consists of four buildings: two that sit on Lake Boone Trail and two larger buildings behind those.

Of the two on Lake Boone, one is a one-story building that will be entirely retail space; the other building will have retail stores on the first floor and office space above.

One of the other two buildings is four-stories and owned by Gateway bank, which is moving its corporate office there. The other building is a three-story office complex.

Coats said some space has been sold and some is still available. Although he's not sure of specifics, he knows there will be FedEx and LASIK eye surgery businesses. He thinks a restaurant may go there as well.

The architect of the project is Chris Grimes of Cline Design, who was not available for comment. Coats thinks Grimes modeled the buildings after a Charleston-type look.

The Market Place project started about a year ago. The Gateway building is complete, Coats said, and the other three are expected to be completed by February or March.

Although Oaks Construction has built other office buildings in the Cary/Apex area (the company is based in Cary), the Market Place project is the company's biggest project so far in Raleigh.