A tunnel would work well with the topography. But I’m sure that costs even more than a bridge. Otherwise, yes, a nice wide median would go a long way.
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I because I am tourist have walked across Six Forks Road from one side of North Hills to the other multiple times. I do think a tunnel would work near Cowfish on that side as it a full level below the street grade there. Just bore in from between the 2 office towers and then on the main retail side an elevator would have be built to bring someone to that grade level to cross underneath. I think it would be a boom to both sides as many people are intimidated to cross Six Forks there. Yes it would be expensive but actually it could be in line with the cost of pedestrian bridge but better looking. Anytime Kane wants to rezone something again around there this needs to be a condition. How far does the underground garage go towards Six Forks Road is it the under the theater? I usually park closer to Target or under the new office building on that side.
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The million dollar question is the location of public utilities, mostly sewer. Would not be surprised if that would be just at this depth.
Everything else can potentially be moved to go under or over a tunnel, sewer, not so much.
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Why? If anything, I would see this being a tool in order to prevent denser zoning. I blame the road engineering department for the Six Forks mess (as well as other poorly designed intersections).
Realistically I would say adding in a pedestrian/biking crossing only traffic cycle would be a good quick fix. No turn on right during the cycle. My biggest issues as a pedestrian is walking across the street while people are exiting Six Forks and taking the right turn too quick. There also needs to be a bigger sidewalk and/or biking lanes on both sides. Going east on the bike, I tend to pull in to the right turn lane and then end up on the sidewalk (depending on how heavy traffic is).
Not under the theater. That’s where Target is. The garage ends around the roundabout area. Based off Google maps, it looks like it would be just under 600 ft if going straight across.
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Somewhwere on this forum, I did some pretty extensive though far from professional analysis on this. There would have to be some demolition on the west side to connect in to the parking garage but not too much. Basically every utility is present except gravity sewer.
Very expensive, but not completely impossible.
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Here are the posts. Click over to that thread to see the images.
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The Macerich Company just purchased Crabtree for $290m. They plan to do $60m in renovations over the next few years.
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Macerich owns a couple big-hitters in terms of malls – Scottsdale Fashion Square, Tysons Corner Center, Broadway Plaza, Kierland Commons, and the Village at Corte Madera - all of which are mid-upper luxury centers. Not sure how this fits in overall, but Crabtree is well-placed to build off of the momentum of North Hills and not be bogged down by Southpoint. TTC is another story…
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With an estimated NOI of $32 million and a sales price of $290 million ($223/SF), the property traded at an 11% capitalization rate. That pricing appears to be below replacement cost, and the elevated cap rate despite today’s high interest environment suggests the asset can be conservatively leveraged while still generating meaningful cash flow.
Assuming the NOI figure is accurate and the $100 million (interest-only) loan at a ~6.5% rate, annual debt service would total $6.5 million. This implies that the remaining $190 million in equity could achieve a yield north of 13%.
If they can execute the planned $60 million renovation in a way that increases NOI to $40 million, this would further enhance returns and position the asset as a solid investment.
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Here is the press release and talks about their investment dollars that will flow into the mall to make it top notch.
https://investing.macerich.com/news-releases/news-release-details/macerich-acquires-market-dominant-crabtree-mall-raleigh-nc-290
““Crabtree currently generates $429 million in annual sales, $951 in sales per square foot and over 8.7 million annual visitors.””
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Good buy. For as sexy as places like North Hills and Fenton are Crabtree still stands atop as the markets primary retail sales hub.
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I don’t go there often, but I’m always surprised to see how well Crabtree Mall seems to be doing. With malls across the county failing by the dozens. And NH right up the road, it seems to be doing just fine. Always seems busy.
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@GucciLittlePig Your Raleigh Gucci store may be in the works sometime soon.
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Thank God! I wondered how much longer I could survive in this accursed city without one…
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Apple Store and location
Apple is a great tenant to have but it is not nearly enough to be the driving force behind an entire 1.3 million square foot mall. Not even by a long shot. That is an extremely over-the-top assertion.
Location is a bigger part of it, to be sure, but the retail mix (other than just Apple) and even the environment, Late 90s-riffic vibes and all, are part of it too.
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The fun part of me (former 1990s Mallrat) is that my teenaged twins are hanging out at the (Crabtree Valley) mall with their friends now. We’ve gone full circle in my family. haha
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I wasn’t aware that Macerich was buying; as Steven mentions, an 11% yield is a good buy. But I guess they’ve been “capital recycling,” as the phrase goes.
Macerich has a leadership position on the West Coast (it was pretty much formed from an LA company buying a Phoenix company), plus a few in the East like Tysons Corner Center. National landlords are generally better placed to get national retailers; their leasing teams can market multiple sites to interested tenants.
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You might be surprised. It is reported that they generate close to 15% of that total sales number in less than 1% of the space.
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…hopefully that $60million renovation/redevelopment money will go in part towards better/more permanent stormwater runoff management. Can’t have the place continue to be a flood trap whenever it sprinkles if they want to increase the amount of development (read: CARS) around the existing buildings.
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