And you all thought Walmart traffic was bad!!!!!!!!!!!

BY ANDREW KENNEY - Staff Writer
Tags: local | news

Johnston County's Board of Commissioners approved a special-use permit and rezoned 283 acres for a proposed development of residential, professional and commercial space that would be larger than almost every other commercial hub in the county.

River Oaks, the new project, proposes to bring more than 1 million square feet of retail and office space and hundreds of apartments and condominiums, and 350 hotel rooms to the intersection of I-40 and N.C. 42, where a Walmart opened just this year. The planned development would be big enough to rival hubs such as the White Oak shopping center in Garner and could draw shoppers and developers alike to Johnston, its planners say.

"There's a very clear indication that those cash registers are ringing in Wake County, not Johnston County," said Austin Williams of Crosland. By his account, Johnston is an untapped field for the national chains and upscale shopping centers that have spread from the heart of the Triangle.

The developers have not named an anchor store or any specific retail outlets, but the project's specs call for 650,000 square feet of retail space. By Crosland's research, that's more than a quarter of the current retail footage in Johnston County.

In general, the developer said, the county has less than half as much retail space per person as the average for the Triangle.

Wade Stewart, chairman of the board of commissioners, said the project is only matched in size -- and potential tax dollars -- by Carolina Premium Outlets, the outlet center in Smithfield.

The developers' choice of location, with entrances only a thousand feet from the intersection of Interstate 40 and N.C. 42, is not surprising. The area is nicknamed 40/42, and it has seen intense residential and commercial growth over the past decade.

"They always said that the commercial will follow the rooftops," Stewart said.

No opposition

The commissioner was surprised no residents spoke out against the development at the meeting. The area's recent growth has created traffic snarls that occasionally loom large in development debates.

Commissioner Cookie Pope said local business owners have already called her about the project.

"They said, 'Bring it on; it brings traffic by my store,'" she said. "Not a one of them has called me and said, 'Don't you dare do this.'"

Williams, the developer, argued a similar point in a presentation. He said the center would feature plazas, benches and open spaces meant to draw in customers and create a communal space.

Customers would come for coffee even if they didn't need a "50-pound bag of dog food," he said.

Construction for one of the project's major commercial spaces could start within three years, Williams said. The developer had been in talks with the county for about a year.

"It's a big project, guys," Stewart told the board as they prepared to approve a permit for River Oaks. "It's a mouthful."
andy.kenney@nando.com or 919-836-5758

 

So where exactly will this be located (on which side of the actual 40/42 interchange) near what other places?

 

my bet is across from walmart>behind andy's etc...

 

Wasn't something like this already in the works?

 

Article in N&O has a small image on the right you can enlarge. It seems the project IS behind Golden Corral and Ruby Tuesdays.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/johnston_county/story/128303.html

Personally, I have no problem with upscale commercial development as long as it is accompanied by the appropriate infrastructure (roads, bike paths, traffic abatement, etc.).

 

I have doubts they'll get an anchor store to sign on and this project will actually happen.

 

I don't know how the 40/42 interchange can even be fixed at this point. Seems that the lights are not timed to work with each other and there are too many lights too close together. The light where 40E dumps onto 42 seems to be where the problem starts and the next light stays red so the traffic backs up. I'm all for more shopping in our area but agree something has to be done about the roads or I won't want to deal with the added traffic issues.

 

......and next will come the inevitable annexation or incorporation! Get ready for more taxes.

 

If only that were true, I'm sure they will build everything and then it will be our tax dollars that need to build the infrastructure after the fact.

 

At this point, perhaps incorporation should be considered again -- it would at least take control of the area rather than allowing it to be handled at will by the planning board.

 

I would choose neither but if I had only those two choices I would say incorporation at that point. Keep the tax base of all those new business' out by us ant not sending it off to Clayton. With either we know taxes will go up. I would prefer it to fix roads and schools by us and not 8 miles away in down town Clayton.

 

...and all I ever wanted was a green lead arrow light for ALL of the stoplights in our area.....Purty Please!!!

 

which should have happened back in 2000 when we voted on a name

 

Agreed that incorporation by us, and on our own standards is long overdue. Many, including me, have argued that although none of us want to pay city taxes, it would be preferable for us to pay them to ourselves, on a tax basis that we decided, rather than becoing a cash cow to Garner or Clayton.

It doesn't strike me as strange that there were no opposition. The commissioners have ignored us for so long, I guess we got the message that it doesn't matter what we want, they're going to do as they please.

I say we begin the process, a Archer Lodge did, for the newest city n JoCo,

Cleveland Oaks, NC​

 

Okay, let the fight over the name begin...If Archer's LODGE is a place name for a lodge why can't we be called Cleveland SCHOOL. It is, after all, what gave this place an identity for so many years. I think it is unique. Similar towns such as Cox Crossroads, Blowing Rock, Roanoke Rapids, Wilson's Mills, Yadkin College, Old Fort, Wesley Chapel, Granite Quarry, etc. have all been named after the feature that defined them as a locale.

If that doesn't work, I'll go for Cleveland Oaks because there are far too many *Springs around.

 

The area in question is behind Son-Lan's office, Ruby Tuesday etc all the way to Swift Creek and then down 42 to Swift Creek.

But really...how many !!!!!'s do you need on a thread title?

 

Okay. I got a couple .pdf documents from a buddy that show planned road improvements to accommodate this development.

First comment I have is that it will definitely not do enough. You do not have to be a traffic engineer to figure out that 42 needs widening and by that I do not mean piddly little turn lanes at intersections. I mean WIDENING to four lanes from 40 to 70 bypass and probably to Hwy 50 in the other direction. From the sound of the project a lot of traffic would come from Clayton and Smithfield via 42, hence the WIDENING. It also seems as though the major intersection at the WalMart where they have stub-outs going into the woods is going to be the major entrance for this development

Second, I am not real sure about the project. It is intended to be mixed use so I am thinking something like a toned down North Hills redux. I am not real sure who they'll get to anchor it though. Best Buy, Target, WalMart, BJ's, etc. are all pretty close already. Perhaps Sam's club? Maybe a Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's? I dunno, but it would have to be something along those lines.

I'd like to share the files, but not sure the best way to do it.

 

I was in the Cleveland Springs group although I didn't care whether there were "springs" or not. I didn't and don't care now which name, I just wanted the area to incorporate for the same reasons as others. I'm sure we can find the list and vote again:

Cleveland Springs
Old Cleveland
New Cleveland
Cleveland Oaks
Cleveland School
Tombstone
4042

 

"4042" has my vote!

 

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there is something in the 'rules' somewhere that am incorporated name cannot consist of numerical characters. Can you imagine how confusing that would be on a map?