Cary Town Center / Triangle Town Center - slow death

Macy's closing 150 stores.
Macy's will close about 150 department stores, but open new locations of better performing chains (msn.com)
1 article stated getting rid of duplicate stores in same cities. I wonder how that will affect Triangle Town center. I'd think that would close before Crabtree.

 

latest update on Epic Games/ Cary Towne Center Mall From TBJ. I copied and pasted so links don't work. (no real update)


As the months go by with no word about the future of the former Cary Towne Center property, it seems apparent that Epic Games has no immediate plans to move forward with building a new headquarters on the prime site in a town that's attracting plenty of developers.

Epic Games, the video game developer based in Cary, said Friday through a spokesperson that there were no updates to share. A public records request shows no updated plans have been filed with the town regarding the site located between Cary Towne Boulevard and Walnut Street.

Real estate watchers in the Triangle are starting to wonder what the future of the former mall property will look like as the town continues its rapid development spree. Dennis Donovan, a site selection consultant with WDG Consulting, said it might be tough to attract another headquarters campus like the one Epic Games proposed back in 2021 after buying the property.

“First, there aren’t many HQ relocations,” he said, adding that a stronger possibility for the site, should Epic relinquish it, might be a tech company consolidating office operations, “some of which might already be based in the Raleigh, Durham area.”

Donovan said the real demand is happening with sites that are ready to go. Starting from scratch, which would be the case in Cary, “becomes very difficult.”

The struggling mall was purchased by Cary-based Epic Games for a global headquarters - but it has a long history of headlines. And the project still hasn't happened.

Epic Games purchased the formal mall in a $95 million deal in late 2020, stating at the time that the plan was to convert the property into a new headquarters campus by 2024. But its initial rezoning request was met with pushback from town officials and residents for its apparent lack of detail. The council passed the project onto the town’s Planning and Zoning Board for review in late 2021, but the board has yet to make a recommendation.

In fact, public records show zero recent communication at all between the town and Epic Games, not even when The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) came calling, as it appears town officials first learned about Epic’s $1.5 billion minority investment from Disney from news reports media.

 

Triangle Town Center Sold
from TBJ
An embattled mall in Raleigh is under new ownership.

Summit Properties USA announced this week it had acquired the Triangle Town Center, located at 5959 Triangle Town Blvd. in Raleigh, as part of a larger acquisition of malls around the country.


Summit Properties USA, a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Summit Properties Ltd., said it has paid $700 million for shopping centers across the country, including the Triangle Town Center. It now lists the Raleigh mall on its website. The series of mall acquisitions took place over several quarters.


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It’s unclear how much Summit Properties paid for the mall, as Wake County has not yet recorded a deed for the transaction.

Triangle Towne Center opened in 2002.

In September, Summit Chief Operating Officer Denis Nezaj filed preliminary subdivision plans for the property with the city of Raleigh.

The mall last sold in 2021 to Kohan Retail Investment Group out of Great Neck, New York. Kohan purchased the Triangle Town Center for $33.25 million, a fraction of the $174 million it sold for in 2016, according to previous reporting, following years of financial distress.

Its total assessed value is $70.9 million, per Wake County records. In 2022, Kohan sought a rezoning to allow for taller buildings on part of the property. The rezoning application was later withdrawn, according to Raleigh public records.

Neither Kohan nor Summit Properties immediately returned requests for comment.

The Asheville Mall in Asheville was also part of the recent acquisition by Summit Properties. The other malls that were part of the acquisition are located in New Mexico, New Jersey, Washington, Michigan and Minnesota.

A year ago, Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased a mall in Rocky Mount for $7.6 million, according to previous reporting.

Summit Properties USA is based in Manhattan in New York City. In addition to its retail centers, the firm also lists a portfolio of 90 residential buildings in New York City and two Manhattan hotels on its website. It will manage its mall properties in-house.


Zohar Levy, controlling shareholder and board chairman at Summit, said in a news release that the firm sees “immense potential in transforming our retail centers into flagship assets within their local communities.”

“Our aim is to attract anchor tenants, including leisure and entertainment, alongside leading national retail tenants,” he said.