What’s happening with Epic Games’ plans for former Cary Towne Center site?
Piles of rubble and the Belk building are all that remain on the site where Cary Towne Center once stood. But exactly what will take its place — and when — is still up in the air.
Cary-based Epic Games demolished the mall earlier this year to make way for a sprawling campus. But a year after pitching its rezoning request to town officials, its application is at a standstill.
“The next step is for the applicant to request a hearing in front of the planning and zoning board,” said Scot Berry, chief development officer for Cary’s inspections and permits division. “Epic has not requested that.”
Demolition is complete on the 87-acre site at the corner of Cary Towne Boulevard and SE Maynard Road, he confirmed. But crews are still removing the debris and a final inspection has yet to be scheduled. “We occasionally talk to Epic, but I don’t keep a log,” Berry said.
Last week, Epic got slapped with more than half a billion dollars in fines by the Federal Trade Commission for a series of violations involving its most popular game, Fortnite. The fines are a result of allegations about the game’s privacy settings and company tactics to trick Fortnite players into making in-game purchases.
Epic Games declined to comment for this story.
Jason Barron, the lawyer who represented Epic Games at the rezoning request, also did not return calls seeking comment.
A gated office campus
Two years ago, the fast-growing video game developer — valued at nearly $31.5 billion — snapped up the mall property for $95 million. It said its current headquarters, off Crossroads Boulevard, is no longer sufficient for its needs. Since 2017, it has hired hundreds of new employees thanks to the success of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, the company’s 3-D animated graphics production software now being used to create visual effects for movies and TV shows.
In December 2021, Epic presented rough details of how it could build on the property. The preliminary plans showed up to 2.7 million square feet of office space, a motion-capture studio and a central utility plant, as well as 75,000 square feet of retail, and up to 200 hotel rooms. It also mentioned a private road that would circle its offices and several berms along the perimeter of the property for security.
Members of the town council expressed serious concerns. Among them: a lack of detail, particularly when it came to parking and how the buildings would look.
Several residents also took issue with the proposed berms because they would disrupt a potential greenway path for connections along the eastern perimeter of the property.
“My comments, along with the rest of the council’s comments, were made at the public hearing,” Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht told The News & Observer on Wednesday.
It’s common for applicants to update plans based on feedback before heading to the planning and zoning board, he noted.
“I haven’t any additional knowledge and haven’t heard anything since then,” he said.
The mall has been in the sights of developers for years as it continued to lose tenants with the decline of big-box retail stores. Turnbridge, a development firm that bought the mall for $31 million in 2019, was previously granted a mixed-use rezoning for the property before selling the land to Epic.
In Epic’s filings with Cary, the company said it had anticipated completing the first phase of construction — around 1 million square feet of space in the center portion of the property — in late 2024 or early 2025.
Elka Looks, a spokesperson for Epic Games, said in April they’re taking pains to recycle the concrete crushed onsite for use in future development.
In the meantime, the company is bulking up its other real estate assets. This September, the company filed for permission for a $1.2 million building alteration at nearby 5520 Dillard Drive. In March 2021, it also filed for a $1.5 million building alteration at its Dillard Drive location.
This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
