Kane Realty unveils $1B ‘Innovation District’ addition to North Hills, with a food hall
Kane Realty unveiled on Monday an ambitious, $1-billion addition to its North Hills development in Raleigh, pitching it as a potential destination for tech-and-life-sciences companies.
Kane, one of the most influential developers in the Triangle, is calling the expansion the “North Hills Innovation District.” It will include an 18-story office tower, a 200-unit apartment complex and a 20,000-square-foot food hall.
Josie Reeves, director of design for Kane Realty, said that the project is a signal to the market that Raleigh will continue to be a destination for tech-focused companies following the pandemic.
“It is undeniable what tech and life sciences have done for our region,” Reeves said in an interview with The News & Observer. “It is exciting to think about what the impact they can continue to have, if we evolve with them, keep them here, and make sure they have a multitude of offerings that speak to them.”
Tech and life sciences companies, she added, want to be surrounded by like-minded companies. So Kane plans to be thoughtful about the types of companies it brings into the space.
Kane said it hopes to break ground on the planned apartments this summer and the office tower in the fall. The food hall is slated for summer 2024.
Reeves said her company has worked on plans for the Innovation District for several years. But thanks to the pandemic, a focus on outdoor spaces had become critical in the past year.
The 33-acre district was always going to be centered around four acres of open space, she said, but they’ve now designed the entire campus to incorporate outdoor spaces that can be used for work.
“We feel like there are elements of office life that are forever changed,” Reeves said, namely that people will want to incorporate the outdoors more into their daily work routines.
“There is going to be lots of outdoor space for all of the vertical projects,” she said. “Big terraces, outdoor rooms and furnishings, gathering spaces, all of them very open and flexible. You might see departments meeting outside for work but not inside.”
Dominating how the outdoor space will look is the Big Branch Creek, which bisects the district.
Kane will invest heavily in natural spaces around the creek, including the creation of dining and gathering areas next to it and several pedestrian bridges that will cross it. There will also be trails that connect to the Capital Area Greenway.
Reese said the company is taking seriously its ecological responsibilities when building around the creek and is working with several agencies to ensure it maintains the creeks health.
North Hills food hall
In addition to the natural space, the headline amenity for the project is the two-story food hall.
Reese said Kane wants to take its time finalizing how the food hall will look, adding it has to have a reason to exist.
“What is going to be different about this food hall?” she said. “It has to have a differentiator because there are already food halls in the city.”
Two food halls are located in downtown Raleigh — Transfer Co. Food Hall and Morgan Street Food Hall. Each have a series of stalls run by local restaurants and food purveyors.
So far, it’s the second floor of the food hall that is driving those conversations, with ideas of live music and event space being floated.
“We are being thoughtful about that,” she said.
Kane Realty plans for North Hills
The pandemic has not slowed down Kane Realty’s plans for Raleigh.
In addition to the Innovation District, the real estate company is forging ahead with a planned $350 million redevelopment of the JCPenney store in a different section of North Hills.
And late last year, the development company also won a critical rezoning of property it controls south of downtown where it hopes to build a soccer stadium and more office towers in the coming years.
It’s also yet another data point that shows companies aren’t losing complete confidence in the future of office spaces in the wake of a pandemic that has sent workers homes.
Several big name tech companies in the Triangle have reiterated their commitment to in-person work going forward.
Most notably, video game company Epic Games revealed earlier this month that it had bought the Cary Towne Center mall for $95 million, with plans to build a new headquarters there by 2024.
Reeves said that Kane doesn’t expect interest in the region to slow down because of the pandemic. In fact, it could potentially benefit from a migration that appears to be underway from high-cost cities, like San Francisco and New York, to other parts of the country.
But, the Triangle has to be ready to absorb that potential growth, she said.
“If we can have these plans ready to go, then we have, as a region, that much of a better chance to capture the big and small fish,” she said. “We have to be positioned to keep talent in our region.”
If you want a closed, suburban campus, she said, the Triangle can offer that. But the region can also offer a more urban environment as well.
“It is all about options and choice,” she added. “We are absolutely getting calls and interest form companies that are ... thinking about what is the right place for to be.
“We are on that list ... but we won’t get them if we don’t have compelling offers. (North Hills Innovation District) is about creating that.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
