Publix announces Wake Forest location | News & Observer

Publix Super Markets plans to open its third Triangle store in a new shopping center in Wake Forest.

Publix will anchor The Shoppes at Heritage Village, a center that is to be built at the corner of Rogers and Forestville roads, according to details posted by the developer, Columbia Properties, on its website.

The 49,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016, according to the website.

Columbia’s plans also show 16 available suites and three outparcels at the site.

The development company paid $3.5 million last month for a 19-acre parcel adjacent to Heritage elementary, middle and high schools.

Town commissioners unanimously approved the rezoning for the project in November. The planning board voted six to one to approve the project and voiced concerns about the shopping center, which is across from the Heritage Station Shopping Center.

Heritage Station is anchored by a Harris Teeter grocery store.

Planning board member Steve DeRosa cast the sole vote against recommending the rezoning in November. He said he was worried about traffic.

“I can’t see that this is a viable project,” DeRosa said at the Nov. 4 meeting. “This doesn’t sit well with me.”

A traffic impact analysis estimated the project would add up to 650 vehicles traveling into the development between 5 and 6 p.m.

About 221 of those vehicles will come from the intersection of Forestville and Rogers roads, the analysis estimates. By 2016, more than half the vehicles could come from that intersection.

Earlier this week, Publix announced that it entered into an agreement to buy two closed Lowes Foods stores in North Carolina, including one in Cary.

Publix said opening dates for the stores will depend on the amount of remodeling required at each property. The Cary store being acquired is in the Millpond Village at 3480 Kildaire Farm Road.

Last year, Publix opened its first Triangle store in Cary in the Bradford shopping center at Davis Drive and High House Road.

In Wake Forest, residents have suspected for months that Publix would anchor The Shoppes at Heritage Village, said Mayor Vivian Jones.

“Publix is a good store, and I think that people will be very happy to have them here,” she said.