Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Crabtree plans still on hold

Crabtree Place, Soleil Center are vacant lots, while Circuit City sits empty.

When developers imploded the old Sheraton Hotel across from Crabtree Valley Mall on May 7, 2006, they chose a 3-year-old boy to push the ceremonial plunger.

The child symbolized that the day was about the city's future, developers said. Plans called for the 29-year-old hotel to be replaced by Soleil Center - a 43-story hotel, condo and commercial complex.

Soleil Center was supposed to be Raleigh's tallest building. Instead, it's one of the city's biggest disappointments.

The national economic recession put a chokehold on the project, and the construction site is a big hole in the ground surrounded by a tarp-covered chain-link fence. Beyond the fence are rusted wires, tall weeds, puddles of dirty water and jutting beams that were supposed to be part of the project's foundation.

Crabtree Place, another commercial, retail and residential project planned for just west of the mall, is a wasteland of weeds, dirt and debris.

And the economic hits keep on coming:

The Circuit City store catercorner to the mall closed in March, leaving an empty big box store.

During the Halloween season, it was a huge haunted house, which may be fitting because the long-term prospects for a huge, vacant property is scary. Recently, a mattress appeared in an alleyway behind the store - someone apparently figured it would be a good dumpsite.

If all had gone as planned back in May 2006, the land around Crabtree Valley Mall would be undergoing a commercial, residential and retail renaissance by now, with Soleil Center as the crown jewel. The future, so far, has been a lot dimmer than anyone imagined. Now what?

Valley of the undead

Officially, the projects are still alive.

"We put in a foundation there, and now we have to build on it," said Dicky Walia, founder and president of the Soleil Group, developer of Soleil Center.

Walia said the difficulty in getting financing has hampered the project. He could not say when construction will resume nor whether the scope of the project will change yet again. Plans already had been scaled back from the project envisioned in 2006.

"We're waiting for market conditions to improve," he said. "We don't know when this will thaw out."

When market conditions improve, Walia said, "we'll make a decision as to how to move forward."

The same market conditions have put Crabtree Place on hold, said Ken Hocker, development director for Weingarten Realty Investments, the developer for Crabtree Place.

Construction was supposed to begin this year on the project, which sits across Crabtree Valley Avenue from the mall. Weingarten has approval to build offices, retail space, restaurants and 300 housing units. But tenants have pulled back on their commitments, Hocker said.

Hocker said the development will be scaled back, though he said that plans will change not just because of the economy but also to make the development more efficient. He could not say when Weingarten would submit new plans to the city, but he said the company hopes to have the project "under way or open" by 2012.

Averting an eyesore?

Both developers said they're keeping an eye on the condition of the unfinished projects.

"We have a maintenance group out there almost every week making sure there's no trash and the grounds are kept clean and secure," Hocker said.

Owners of the Circuit City store say they are trying to make sure it does not become part of the problem.

People have used the property as a dumping ground only once or twice, said Jenny Petri, vice president of the Frederick Investment Corp., general partner in the company that owns the store. The company has a service that regularly cleans the property, she said.

The land in front of Circuit City has been used as an open-air flea market lately, with vendors hawking pumpkins and shrimp. It's hardly the sort of activity city planners had in mind when they envisioned the transformation of the land surrounding the mall.

Petri said the store is under contract with a buyer. She would not disclose the buyer but said an announcement will be made in 30 to 60 days.

Recession begets reprieve

The vacant fields, chain-link fences and jutting beams surrounding the mall could be there for years, though - even for Soleil Center, where work had begun.

Normally, construction projects would violate municipal ordinances if construction stopped for more than one year, said Raleigh Inspections Director Larry Strickland. But under a law the state General Assembly passed in response to the recession, construction in the state can lapse without penalty until the end of 2010.

"As long as they have active [building] permits and the site is secured, they have no code violations," Strickland said.

City Planning Director Mitchell Silver said he hasn't lost hope for the land surrounding the mall.

"We still think it's a vital center," Silver said. "It's at the intersection of various transportation routes. It's still one of the most desirable malls in the region."

Oddly enough, none of this seems to affect the mall itself. Crabtree Valley Mall continues to expand, adding three new restaurants last year and landing excusive clients, such as North Carolina's first LEGO store and the state's first H&M, a Swedish fashion retailer.

"The mall is doing great," said Sandra Geist, marketing manager for the mall.

She declined to comment, however, on how she feels about the unfinished projects surrounding the mall.

"We're just going to concentrate on this [mall]," Geist said. "I think in the surrounding area something will change in the future, and I'm looking forward to that."

The downslide's upside

It may be a blessing, in a way, that the mall area has not developed more quickly. The delay has given the city a breather to ponder the area's future.

Silver said the city soon will begin a study of how to improve traffic mobility in the Crabtree Valley Mall area. One of the prime tasks, he said, is to make the area a more walkable community.

The study is expected to take about a year and will render guidelines for continued growth.

And Silver does believe the area will continue to grow.

"It's still a popular area," he said. "It's still one of the most successful malls in the region. Over time, you will see other parts fill in."