Arena Wakes Up West Raleigh, by Ned Glascock, The News a& Observer, 10/20/99

Developers are drooling over economic prospects in sleepy West Raleigh.  Some fear unplanned growth around new arena.

    The N.C. State Fair is about to lose its West Raleigh monopoly on generating big crowds, traffic snarls and money-making side shows.

    The Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, which opens Oct. 29, has real estate developers and deal makers salivating like fairgoers over funnel cakes about prospects for a mini boom town in the once-sleepy western gateway to Raleigh.

    In the place of pine trees and agricultural land, they envision a bustling entertainment district brimming with restaurants, hotels and stores, along with new office buildings and townhouses to accompany a smattering of developments already there.

    Just beyond the arena's parking lot, earth movers have cleared large tracts of land, steel and brick office buildings and shops are rising from the red clay, and "for sales" signs have sprouted like wild mushrooms on front lawns and at strategic intersections.

    The catalyst clearly is the arena, which several nights a week is expected to draw thousands of people for Carolina Hurricanes hockey, starting Oct. 29, N.C. State University basketball, starting Nov. 19, and a slate of concerts and other events throughout the year.  Business interests looking to open hotels, restaurants and shops are angling for a slice of arena patrons; spending money.  Along the way, they're hoping to establish profitable niches in what could become a vibrant commercial district and office setting on Cary's doorstep.

    Within a few years, some predict the area - bounded by the Wade Avenue Extension, Interstate 40, Hillsborough Street and Blue Ridge Road - will be hard to recognize.

    "I think it's going to be one of the most sought after addresses in the Triangle," said Bob Griffin, a real estate broker with Thomas Commercial Inc., which is marketing land near the arena.  "It really is a hot area, and the arena is what's driving it."

    While the opportunity to remake West Raleigh is fostering enthusiasm, it is spawning concern that wise decisions be made about the area's future, including which companies - or other sports ventures - to try to lure.

    "I'm fairly well convinced there may be a considerable revolution in that part of town in the next several years," said Vernon Malone, a Wake County commissioner.  "The visionaries need to get busy and determine what's next.  I think we'd be missing a window of opportunity if somebody didn't get busy trying to figure out what our next coup should be."

    Some local leaders insist that a new comprehensive plan be developed to govern growth within several miles of the arena.  They fear that approving projects piecemeal could bring strip malls and congestion to a part of the Triangle that has largely escaped the grasp of suburban sprawl.

    "There needs to be a master plan for this area, or else it's going to be unbridled growth, and ultimately that will be detrimental to the area," said Thomas Crowder, a member of the Raleigh planning commission. 

    A strong road network is helping spur development: Edwards Mill Road links Trinity Road with Wade Avenue, a short drive from I-40, and someday Edwards Mill will be extended north of Wade, connecting with Duraleigh Road.  Also, the Triangle Transit Authority has proposed a pair of stations on the railroad line running beside N.C.54 south of the fairgrounds.

    But if growth goes unchecked, said Raleigh City Council member Julie Shea Graw, not even good roads can defeat congestion.

    "We need to do proactive planning and not develop willy-nilly without regard to long-term consequences," she said. "Otherwise, we are just facilitating gridlock."

    Visions of revamped West Raleigh are nothing new.  Over the years, as plans for building the arena gradually came together, a variety of master plans have emerged, but most have simply gathered dust.

    They're now getting closer attention.  One of the more intriguing prospects is what will become of the 159-acre parcel of state-owned land now being used by N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

    NCSU leaders are proposing that the site - just west of the arena, inside I-40 - be put up for bids from private developers.  The sale could net more than $15 million, with at least some of the proceeds used to buy a new site for NCSU.

    Joe Henderson, director of the state Property Office, said he doesn't expect a decision on whether to sell for several months.  Already, however, his office has received inquiries from companies interested in building restaurants, hotels, shops and townhouses.

    "A half-dozen national real estate concerns have caught wind of this through the grapevine and have gotten in contact with us," Henderson said.  "There aren't many secrets in real estate."

    State officials have declined to identify interested companies.  But one has emerged:  the Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va.  The company is considering several spots in Raleigh for a retail and entertainment complex called The Block, after ruling out a downtown site.

    "If they do decide to sell [the NCSU property], Mills would take a look at it," said Ramsay Walker, a company vice president.

    In the meantime, development is racing ahead near the arena.

    On Trinity Avenue, just outside the arena's parking lot, a Hawthorne Suites hotel is planned, possibly with at restaurant or convenience store.  Just to the west, at the corner of Edwards Mill Road, a handful of builders are getting busy on a web of new offices, restaurants, apartments and shops. 

    But private developers aren't the only ones eyeing West Raleigh.

    State government, which owns the land north of Wade Avenue, across from the arena, has long had plans of its own.  Sketches of the so-called Blue Ridge Road Employment Center show research laboratories, office buildings and perhaps a hotel and convention center.

    South of the arena, fairgrounds officials are pursuing several new buildings on their property and perhaps a county park someday, said Wesley Wyatt, State Fair manager.

    The fairgrounds' collection of facilities  - from race tracks to exhibition halls - has drawn the attention of some members of the Centennial Authority, the board in charge of the arena.

    Several want to coordinate operations with the fairgrounds, a proposition that has drawn a lukewarm response.

    Still, authority chairman Steve Stroud remained undaunted.  He has made comparisons between the area and the New Jersey Meadowlands, the home to a fistful of professional teams, including the NFL's New York Giants and Jets.  Stroud says West Raleigh has greater potential.

    Next door to the arena, NCSU is planning an $84 million facelift and expansion of Carter-Finley Stadium.  And once arena construction is complete, the authority will turn its attention to other proposals for the 80 acres under its control.

    The Hurricanes hope to a practice hockey rink, and the authority is interested in leasing land for a four-star hotel. 

    Authority member Brent Barringer, chairman of the board's long-range planning committee, is bullish on West Raleigh.

    "This has been a very sleepy corner of Raleigh for decades," Barringer said.  "If you look out another two to four years, it will be a very vibrant, dynamic sports and entertainment complex, with office and residential development.  There'll be activities going on from 7 o'clock in the morning until midnight."

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