Sometime this fall, ground is supposed to break on Fuquay-Varina’s innovative response to 21st century living. Details of the final form are still being worked out, but ultimately 4 acres on the northeast corner of Main and Academy streets in the old Fuquay portion of our town will lose the shuttered, dilapidated buildings it now holds. In their place will be a 4-or 5-story building with 240 apartments, 20,000 square feet of retail space, and a parking garage. Change can be good or bad, so what does this one mean for you?
Let’s say you live in the outskirts of Fuquay-Varina and have only been to downtown Fuquay to renew your driver’s license a few years ago. You might think that the development means little to you but more traffic. You might add that bringing more people to downtown will help the businesses there. Both are true, but there’s more to the story. As people sent their purchase dollars to far off retailers, local opportunities diminished. Salaries, supplies, raw materials, and operating expenses went out of town. But this new building will bring some of them back. Families are being ever more dispersed by jobs and living opportunities. The mixed-use development means that more young adults can afford to stay in town and more older adults can downsize without leaving. Walkers will become more apparent and as this happens the town’s infrastructure for walkers will improve.
Alternatively, some of you have explored downtown several times over the last few years. You like some of the restaurants, have found a salon or barber and a clothing, jewelry, or antiques store with outstanding service, and eagerly await the plays, performances, studios, and meeting spaces of the new arts center. You imagine that there might be more places to eat and shop. New retail services could also be available on the first floor of the new mixed-use building. You wonder if you will be able to park, but don’t realize that there is only one small change that people need to make in order to have enough parking in the Fuquay portion of downtown. A major parking study commissioned by the town a few years ago found that all people must do to park is be willing to walk a city block. Strip malls have made us used to entrance-side parking. Walking the block is good for our health, good for taxes, and helps us keep up with the national trend to decrease our dependence on cars.
For you explorers also, the new building is part of a downtown shuffle of renovations. City offices will move from Judd Parkway to renovations of the old Bob Barker headquarters this spring (early May for sure). Renovations of their current city office building will create much needed new housing for the police department. The current dilapidated police department building will give way to space for the new mixed-use development. For you, a stroll around town will find a bustling community with more opportunities to interact with those who love our town.
What if you are a long-time resident who works in town? You know what makes downtown attractive—the historical aspects as well as the current opportunities. You’re looking forward to the foot traffic to help with your work. You know who owns possible property and maybe even who is willing to sell. But you’re worried about the size of the project. The Fuquay downtown will look different. Erik Hardy, a men’s clothing salesperson, expressed that the project would be a great boost to the town. He also mentioned how the new building would complement the $400,000 condos now under construction a few blocks down from the mixed-use project. Jewel Ryals, an antiques expert, expressed fear of the large building casting too much of a shadow. But she also reasoned that people would get used to it—after all, the Bob Barker headquarters seemed big when it was built, and people got used to that. Kim Dempsey, a cosmetics salesperson, reasoned that five hundred new people will need more daily services, like groceries, a dry cleaner, and a card store. Retail stores attract retail stores and walkers attract walkers. All of us had plenty of opportunity to have input to the project. The town held 8-10 public meetings over what to do with the land before deciding on the current project.
Few of us have an inspiring perspective on development. We haven’t worked in it for a decade or more. We don’t have the knowledge of how to make discoveries or innovations that are likely to be copied across the nation. In our own town, Economic Development Director Jim Seymour has an inspiring perspective. He quickly compared the development challenges in northwestern New York with what is going on in Fuquay-Varina. There, the task is to retain or expand businesses in the “rust belt” region. Here, the state is primed for new business—international and national, as well as home grown. North Carolina has a good working situation from both the employees’ and employers’ points of view. And nearly all of us take advantage of the wonderful quality of life, safely situated within 2-3 hours of both beach and mountains. Above all, we are blessed with a diverse population which has a great sense of community entitlement – we love our community.
Director Seymour has the insight to know that mixed-use developments on four acres of land are found almost exclusively in big cities. People who locate in such developments love them for the cool urban life. But they must pay big city prices for it. In Fuquay-Varina, that same life-style can be had for a fraction of the big city cost. Old, young, and middle-aged residents will all be able walk to theater and other performances, to eat down the block at any of several locations, to talk to street venders, to take their children or grandchildren to lessons, to take lessons themselves, and to have a conversation, knit, or play a game of chess at their favorite coffee spot. Seymour envisions that Fuquay-Varina residents will see increased property values but more important, also be able to protect their well-being. When you live and work in the same place, he observed, “people guard their family and their work. They want to protect it. We must respect that.”
Our Fuquay-Varina elected officials are the ones who first committed to and provided resources for the mixed-use project. They knew that because of our size, it would require the town to do much of the legwork that is often done by developers. They commissioned the market analyses, found the land, arranged for purchase rights, advertised public meetings, and listened during the meetings. Their national call for proposals resulted in four major developers and the one selected has done extensive work in much larger cities, like Durham and Virginia Beach.
Development must and will happen. The shape can be adapted through regulation. Fuquay-Varina has done a dash more and that “more” is likely to be a model for other towns and small cities across the nation. Our togetherness is our greatest strength for guarding and protecting our community. We must build on its historical foundations and at the same time create opportunities for as many citizens as we can. Those have been the watchwords for the people behind the mixed-use development. It will be fascinating to see those details come to life.
