Apex and Holly Springs are seeing amazing growth. Here are five key projects.

Chantal Allam

Apex and neighboring Holly Springs, just a 10-minute drive south of downtown Raleigh, recently got dubbed a “superstar region” that is primed for more out-of-state investment dollars as its local economy surges.

A quick look at their development pipeline underscores this point. Over the last few years, developers have lined up to construct new buildings and offices as Apex’s population swells to over 62,000. In Holly Springs, it’s closer to 44,000.

“I’m excited about the future of possibilities at this moment,” Apex Mayor Jacques K. Gilbert recently told The N&O.

Here’s a look at some of those projects:

Overall conceptual plan for Veridea project in Apex, scheduled to break ground early next year.
Overall conceptual plan for Veridea project in Apex, scheduled to break ground early next year.

Veridea

Description: The long-awaited Veridea development is moving ahead. New York developer RXR recently purchased multiple parcels, roughly 1,100 acres in total, sandwiched between U.S. Highway 1 and N.C. 540, along N.C. 55, for $91 million.

Details: The project is a public-private partnership that is expected to cost around $3 billion over 10 years. It will include:

  • Over 1,000 multifamily units to be built by RXR and 1,100 single-family houses and townhomes to be developed by Lennar Corp. — as part of the project’s first phase.

  • Over 750,000 square feet for life sciences research.

  • 21 acres for the construction of a new elementary school.

  • A partnership with Wake Technical Community College to construct a new 340,000-square-foot campus on 34 acres that will include space for a new workforce development center.

Developers plan to break ground early next year. The first residents for multifamily units should be able to move in by late 2025.

A rendering of Catalyst BioCampus, which promises “up to 446,000 square feet” of additional biomanufacturing, lab, and office space at Oakview Innovation Park in Holly Springs.
A rendering of Catalyst BioCampus, which promises “up to 446,000 square feet” of additional biomanufacturing, lab, and office space at Oakview Innovation Park in Holly Springs.

Catalyst BioCampus

Description: New York-based global private equity firm Apollo Global Management and its development partner GeneSuites announced plans for Catalyst BioCampus in January. It promises “up to 446,000 square feet” of biomanufacturing, lab and office space in Holly Spring’s Oakview Innovation Park.

Details: The campus covers 25 acres at the intersection of Green Oaks Parkway and Holly Springs New Hill Road.

It includes the first phase of Charlotte developer Crescent Communities’ recently completed biomanufacturing complex, formerly called The Yield, purchased for $40.5 million in January. It includes two shell-ready buildings – each 105,000 square feet – and a seven-acre parcel for future development.

The project’s second phase entails building out mezzanines and installing primary mechanical, electrical and building infrastructure. It’s scheduled to be delivered this spring.

Plans also call for a third building for process development, lab and office space that will be up to 140,000 square feet and five stories.

A rendering of the proposed Amgen facility in Holly Springs, which will employ up to 355 people in the coming years.
A rendering of the proposed Amgen facility in Holly Springs, which will employ up to 355 people in the coming years.

Amgen

Description: California-based Amgen broke ground last March on a new 350,000-square-foot multi-product drug substance manufacturing plant in Holly Springs.

Details: Amgen said it plans to invest $550 million in the project. It’s expected to employ more than 355 people. The jobs will pay an average wage of $119,510.

Amgen received local incentives worth more than $35 million for the expansion, which is scheduled to open by 2025.

“This area — and North Carolina in general — attracted us due to the access to great and diverse talent,” said Amgen CEO Bob Kenyon. “We intend to take advantage of that.”

A rendering of Fujifilm Diosynth’s $2 billion manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C.
A rendering of Fujifilm Diosynth’s $2 billion manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C.

Fujifilm Diosynth

Description: Japanese contract drug manufacturer Fujifilm Diosynth is building a $1.5 billion manufacturing plant, announced in 2021, in Holly Springs’ Oakview Innovation Park.

Details: The 1 million-square-foot plant will be built on 150 acres off State Road 1152, near the intersection of Green Oaks Parkway. It’s about 1.5 miles west of Holly Springs Towne Center on N.C. 55.

It’s expected to bring up to 725 jobs to the area over five years. The jobs would pay an average annual wage of $99,848.

Fujifilm Diosynth received local incentives worth more than $90 million for the expansion.

The facility is expected to be operational by 2025.

Rendering of Broadstone Walk, a 164-unit affordable housing complex currently being buit on a 14-acre parcel along South Hughes Street in Apex.
Rendering of Broadstone Walk, a 164-unit affordable housing complex currently being buit on a 14-acre parcel along South Hughes Street in Apex.

Broadstone Walk

Description: DHIC Inc., a local affordable housing developer, has begun work on Broadstone Walk, a 164-unit affordable housing complex on a 14-acre parcel along South Hughes Street in Apex.

Details: DHIC said the total cost of the project is $47 million.

The complex will include eight buildings providing one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for households making 40% to 70% of the area’s median income — roughly $34,000 to $62,300, based on Wake County’s household median income of $88,471.

DHIC received close to $7 million in financing from Wake County and the town of Apex. It also received equity from the sale of roughly $14 million in low-income housing tax credits.

It’s expected to be complete by May 2024.

Advertisement