Quick Hits: RTP Town Center

Quick hits are posts about development news as I hear about them! If you have feedback on the format, please share in the comments below!

P.S. Quick note - the Police HQ is holding its grand opening this weekend!

RTP Town Center

Neighborhood:
RTP (147/I-40 Interchange)

Size:
12 Acres (within the 100 acres of "Park Center")150,000 square feet of mixed use space

Estimated Cost:
Unknown - Durham County has provided $20 million towards the overall "Park Center" project

Expected Completion Date:
End of 2020

Details:
Includes a grocery store, health club, a mix of small shops and restaurants

Developer:
Research Triangle Foundation tapped Willard Retail to develop

The Research Triangle Foundation is moving forward with the core of its larger "Park Center" redevelopment in this "Town Center" project (the naming of these designations gets a little confusing. Everything seems to be the "center"). The idea is to make a little downtown area that has basics like shops, restaurants and grocery. This will lay the groundwork for later phases where they plan to add residential, more office space, and likely even more retail to the area.

It will be interesting to see how this works out. With the trends of businesses wanting more and more to be located in downtowns, you would think that this is an uphill battle. But that doesn't mean that EVERY business wants to be located downtown. Can RTP carve out a niche and attract new businesses, residents, and retail? I will be keeping up with this story.