With Epic Games buying Cary Towne Center, is proposed sports complex still possible?
The Town of Cary says it remains committed to building a $193 million sports complex that was planned on part of the Cary Towne Center property.
On Sunday, the struggling mall was purchased by video game maker Epic Games, which plans to build a headquarters there by 2024.
The sports complex was part of a planned redevelopment of the mall that was proposed last year. However, that proposed redevelopment is now dead because of the sale.
The complex’s indoor sports arena was envisioned as a way to attract more youth sports tournaments to the area and provide other amenities to residents.
The whole complex will receive $35 million of taxpayer money set aside to promote tourism in Wake County.
For its part, Epic Games said it promises to work with Cary on its plans.
“We are working closely with the Town of Cary in their efforts to build the Cary Community Recreation and Sports Center and hope to have more to share on this soon,” Epic Games spokeswoman Elka Looks said in an email to The News & Observer.
Sale happened quickly
Susan Moran, chief strategy officer for the town, added that Cary is working with the company to see how the community’s plans can be integrated into the overall project.
“Beyond the rec center,” Moran said in an email, “we haven’t talked specifically about other opportunities for recreational land uses.”
Epic’s move to buy the mall property happened rather quickly. In October, the site’s former ownership finalized plans for a mixed-use development that was approved by the town.
Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said in an interview that he didn’t even know the sale to Epic was a possibility until December.
“I was quite surprised they were interested in that specific location, but it is a great site,” he said, noting it’s just minutes away from the downtowns of Raleigh and Cary, as well as N.C. State University.
The plan proposed by the previous owners, Turnbridge Equities, had reserved 17 acres of the 87-acre property for the sports complex.
“We are dedicated to that,” Weinbrecht said. “Whether that is on the mall site or somewhere else nearby.”
Weinbrecht said that Epic Games’ expansion is a huge win for the town. He added that it could have as much of an impact on the Triangle as SAS.
SAS, an analytics company that was started at N.C. State University in the 1970s, is the town’s largest employer and was one of the early jewels of the Triangle’s tech ecosystem.
“I can’t imagine what Cary would’ve been like if SAS had not decided to have their HQ here,” the mayor, who works at SAS as a programmer, said. “The same could be said about Epic Games. The future will be drastically different because of them.”
Big change on the way
Not only will Epic Games attract a rich amount of talent to the area, he added, but other companies will follow to be close to that talent.
The entire Southeastern section of Cary will look drastically different in the coming years.
Epic’s headquarters will be close to the $850 million Fenton development that is set to add a Wegman’s grocery store, restaurants and apartments in the coming years.
While work will need to be done to the roads around Cary Towne Center and Fenton, Weinbrecht said the area will be transformed into a place where people could conceivably live and work within walking distance of each other.
“If I was younger and a programmer, I would be all over that,” he said.
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 4, 2021 at 4:39 PM.
