‘Live, work, play’ complex slated for fast-growing corridor in west Cary

A new mixed-use project is now part of the lineup for a fast-growing corridor of west Cary.

Heritage Capital Partners, a real estate private equity company with offices in Raleigh and Charleston, South Carolina, recently filed site plans with the town for a “live, work, play” complex on a vacant 46-acre site along N.C. Highway 55. It spans three parcels: 5101 and 5103 N.C. Highway 55 and an unaddressed lot on Green Level Church Road adjacent to Parkside Town Commons.

Plans include 600 apartments, 175 hotel rooms, 50,000 square feet of retail space, and 400,000 square feet of office space. The development will also run walking trails to Wake County’s greenway system and be “within walking distance” of Apple’s East Coast engineering hub in Research Triangle Park, according to the company’s website.

Heritage Capital Partners, an affiliate of Heritage Properties, is behind several other projects across the Triangle, including Cary Medical Pavilion and the Bloc83 development in downtown Raleigh.

The project’s price tag, along with its timeline, are still unclear. Heritage Capital Partners was not available for comment.

Site plans show there will be nine buildings in total. Among them: four mid-rise residential buildings, four office and commercial buildings and one hotel building. Two of the residential buildings will have parking decks. Additional parking structures and two surface parking lots will run along the campus.

The rezoning request comes with a few caveats.

Conditions attached require that 4% of the units within each apartment building be provided as “affordable units” — 80% or less of the area’s median income. The median household income in Cary is about $113,000, according to latest Census data. Developers must also provide at least 15 electric-vehicle charging stations and two public art installations.

“We’re still completing our first round of review,” Scot Berry, chief development officer for Cary’s inspections and permits division, the The N&O. “The [rezoning] process can take up to a year.”

It’s the latest in a string of projects proposed for this western corridor of Cary after Apple unveiled plans in 2021 for a campus in Research Triangle Park, just around the corner.

Most recently, Tri Pointe Homes submitted site plans for a 137-townhome community at Louis Stephens Drive. Celebree School, a childcare company based in Maryland, is also building its first day care center in the state on Green Level Church Road, the Triangle Business Journal has reported.

In 20 years, Cary has grown by 46%. It’s now a town of about 175,000 people, the second largest municipality in Wake County, and seventh largest in the state.