The transforming area south of downtown Raleigh is getting a new retail development
A new mixed-use development is being planned for the South Park neighborhood in south Raleigh, where change is shown off by new homes popping up and listing for upwards of $400,000.
Raleigh-based real estate investor and developer Merge Capital released the first plans for a 67,000-square-foot development with restaurant, retail and 18,000 square feet of office space. The plan calls for open communal spaces, outside seating and a 485-space parking lot. The development was first reported by the Triangle Business Journal.
Merge Capital, which is also building a major development near Dorothea Dix Park, bought the land of around two acres in November 2019 for $1.5 million.
It’s the first development of its kind in that area, located a few blocks south of Shaw University and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at 1310 S. Person Street.
Phase one of the project will redevelop existing warehouses into the framework of a retail building. It is still being designed, but renderings offer an early vision of what it could be like. The project is currently unnamed.
Phase two would involve new construction, which is still in conceptual design stages.
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Chris Woody, managing principal at Merge Capital, said he hopes construction will begin by the end of the year, since rezoning isn’t required for the development.
In underprivileged and mostly black neighborhoods like South Park, where gentrification has been written about by The New York Times, building new projects calls for developers to take community concerns and feedback into account.
“We’ve done a lot of community engagement,” Woody said. “There has been a desire for a long time to have development in that area that will create jobs and will have a positive impact on the community. A lot of the land has been sitting dormant for quite a while and not doing anything good for anybody.”
Merge Capital attended meetings with the Central district of the Citizens Advisory Council where residents offered input on the project. In a December meeting attended by 19 area residents, people asked about a grocery store and affordable retail. Woody said that input will influence the project as it moves forward.
“I have not gotten much pushback from anyone on this project being a negative, which is exciting,” said Woody.
According to the CAC meeting minutes, people also asked about parking, and “many attendees expressed the need for neighborhood retail in this area.”
“It’s a good project so far as they are working with the community,” said city councilman Corey Branch, who represents the area.
According to The New York Times’ reporting on the neighborhood, from 2000 to 2012 whites went from being absent there to being 17% of the neighborhood population. Since then, the Times reported, whites have gotten nine of 10 new mortgages there.
Woody is aware of the reporting, and said Merge Capital does not want to change the original face of the neighborhood and will try to preserve its history.
“That neighborhood has an amazing history — very important to the African-American history in Raleigh. I think that’s a responsibility we have,” he said. “My feeling is that change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The important piece of that is we’re trying to listen to every angle, not simply check the boxes as a developer.”
In addition to the Merge Capital project, another builder is planning condos on a nearby vacant area off of South Blount Street and a Cary investor is preparing new retail on formerly abandoned property.
Further south near the Beltline, developers recently bought land for the Downtown South soccer stadium, which would also bring change and expand urban growth below downtown.
News & Observer staff writer Anna Johnson contributed to this story.
