A $100M retail village is headed to Apex. Here’s what to expect.
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- Veridea Crossing is a $100 million retail village where site work has begun along N.C. 55.
- New renderings show 220,000 square feet of retail and office space.
- RXR expects Veridea Crossing to deliver in late 2027.
Apex may be pushing back on data centers, but it’s embracing the next phase of the massive mixed-use Veridea project: a $100 million retail village called Veridea Crossing.
Site work has begun on the retail district, New York-based RXR confirmed this week. It sits on the eastern side of the planned 1,110-acre development, along the N.C. 55 corridor. It’s expected to deliver in late 2027, but it’s already attracting strong interest from big-name retailers, the developer said.
“We can’t even keep up with the phone calls,” Joe Graziose, RXR’s vice president of development, told The N&O during an on-site interview Tuesday.
“From grocers to food-and-beverage to soft goods and fitness centers,” the firm is fielding a mix of potential retailers, but he declined say whether any leases had been signed.
“Within the next 60 days, we’ll start making some announcements,” he said, adding: “I like the regional players. Even some mom-and-pop players. I want to get the right mix because I want it to be something for everybody.”
Veridea Crossing is the first major commercial corridor inside Veridea, a $3 billion “mini city” that’s being built out over the next decade into a full mixed-use district with housing, retail, education, health care, industry and major infrastructure upgrades.
New renderings show 220,000 square feet of retail and office space across 14 to 16 one- and two-story buildings.
The developer’s tenant wish list runs from national grocers and fast‑casual eats to athleisure, fitness studios, personal services and local boutiques.
Graziose said the project remains on track even as the Mideast war has caused economic strain in recent weeks, spiking gas prices to near $4 per gallon and the diesel fuel used by most trucks to more than $5.60 per gallon, according to AAA.
“Sure, wouldn’t it be nice if this war thing was going away, right?” he conceded. “We see fuel prices going up. We see oil prices going up.” But the project budget included buffers for major external shocks, such as geopolitical events, he said.
“Everything is moving along really well.”
A long-awaited project
Veridea has been in the works since 2009. The property’s previous owner, Hudson Realty Capital, began assembling the land 17 years ago. But it hit legal roadblocks and never got its project off the ground. RXR started scouting land in 2022 and eventually purchased multiple parcels between U.S. 1 and N.C. 540 for $91 million in March 2023, according to property records. Then it revived the project — part of its push into what it calls “superstar regions.”
The first phase includes 1,500 multifamily units to be built by RXR and 1,100 single-family houses and townhomes to be developed by Lennar Corp.
So far, RXR has invested $166 million in infrastructure to create traffic and clean water and installed 1.88 miles of sewage piping. Meanwhile, it’s broken ground on Veridea’s first multifamily residences at Summit House, which will have 291 units at completion. (RXR has not yet disclosed prices.) Two new Class A industrial buildings are also under construction, designed for lab, research and distribution.
Also in the pipeline: a 34-acre Wake Technical Community College campus and a 230-acre North Carolina Children’s Hospital, which was announced last July, expected to create 8,000 jobs.
By 2035, Veridea is expected to bring up to 8,000 residential units; 3.5 million square feet of retail, hospitality and civic space; 12 million square feet of commercial space, and a new public elementary school. Other amenities include trails, dog parks and bicycle paths.
As Apex’s population swells to over 82,000, demand for housing remains at an all-time high. The town estimates that by 2030, it could have more than 100,000 residents.
On Tuesday, Apex Mayor Jacques K. Gilbert visited the construction site to track progress.
“This is one of the best things to ever happen to Apex,” he told the media scrum gathered.
“When you look at the ratio commercial density, we really need that right now with tax revenue.”
