Again, these are primarily designed for people to drive to and park. Most people don’t bike places.
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Is there any pedestrain connectivity between the Fenton and WakeMed Soccer Park? Looks like there’s just some woods separating them. With Superica and soon-to-be PBR, it reminds me a lot of the Battery neighborhood in Atlanta. The Battery has its faults, but it is a really popular destination, and an awesome place to go before Braves games. Getting dinner and drinks before going to soccer game or whatever else is held there would be huge.
Also, are there any plans to connect Trinity through WakeMed? I know getting in and out has been a big problem, and drew some criticism nationally when the College Cup was held there, so a connection to Fenton could make sense.
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Yes, but apparently at the end of the various phases of construction. Not sure how many more years. Personally I want that connection now, which is kind of how it was presented, but obviously I’ll have to wait.
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I was just at the Paragon theater at the Fenton. The Fenton was dead today–on a Friday. I mean some of the restaurants seemed to be doing okay but compared Alamo Drafthouse the Paragon had barely any people inside. The seats are way better than the Alamo shame it’s all the way in Cary.
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From Fenton there is a footbridge over the creek to the WakeMed cross country trail that doubles as a greenway trail open to the public when there is not a race. Easy walk to the soccer stadium.
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I went last Saturday to exchange some stuff my mother-in-law bought me for Christmas at Williams and Sonoma after they moved out of Crabtree. I was looking for a reason to get out and drive for a while and test out some new tires, but after visiting Fenton I was pretty annoyed. It took me close to half an hour to find a parking spot and after circling their lots several times, I was going to valet my car, but after seeing the highschool kid who was working I decided not to risk him roasting the new clutch I installed. I parked all the way in the back in what appeared to be an area still under construction and walked a good ways.
Once into the actual development, it’s impressive what they were able to accomplish and the high end tenants they convinced to open there. The leasing agency and management need a raise just for the speed and quality of tenants they got. Putting an ice skating rink was smart too but I’m not sure that’s permanent and year round.
All in all, if I lived out there, this would be a nice addition to the neighborhood. But for me, I won’t be returning anytime soon, unless it’s to shop at one store specifically. The parking was that annoying.
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You have given us a perfect story about walkability that you have to drive to. In order to get the walkability, you have to first deal with the annoyances of finding a parking space.
As for your car, and as a driver of a manual car myself, that kid working valet probably couldn’t drive the car anyway. I had to once drive my car into and out of the bay for an inspection because nobody at Valvoline could drive a stick.
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So there’s nobody there but also no parking? Weird. Lol
There’s a whole deck by the non Wegmans that is never full and easily accessible. If that’s too far to walk, then…
Also, every time I’ve been, there’s been a wait at Dram and Draught and the restaurants don’t have available reservations until late. Just a counterpoint.
Full disclosure, the Fenton pays me to talk them up on downtown Raleigh message boards. (Kidding.)
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You can’t spell Cary without car.
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I was looking for a parking deck but never saw one, is it in the front? I was circling the surface parking spots on the left and back. People decided to sit and wait for people walking back to their car, so I wasn’t alone.
Well, I Could but Don’t and it’s the lack of infrastructure that tips the scale…
One day in 25 years when the Six Forks road reconfiguration is done and the Big Branch greenway gets its day in the sun, I’ll be able to pedal my octogenarian ass over to KaneVille without multiple near death experiences… 
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Parking deck immediately on left side as you enter Fenton. Surface parking and one underground level of parking. Never seen it anywhere close to full.
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Ok, that helps. I saw the immediate surface parking that was full and just kept driving, figured if I came back I would leave the property. I saw another parking deck to the left but I believe it said residents only. But thanks I’ll look for that when I come back.
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Nothing weird about Fenton. Just gradually opening up. Good lineup with National and local brands. Good walkability . Perfect .
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Only about 1/4 open. Long way to go still . Very successful so far according to my Hines real estate contact.
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Given the amount of land around it it looks like Cary’s path to car-orient urbanizism. Not great but fixable in the future. BRT not near this project yeah? Maybe future lines.
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This is true that most (almost all?) people are driving over there and then walking, which definitely gives it a “simulated urbanism” feel.
But…
As much as I wish we had more walkable neighborhoods developed organically, I’ll still take these, and here’s why:
(1) When there are lots of people living there, they should be able to replace many car trips with walk trips in the development, whereas a new SFH exurb would never have that benefit
(2) Sure most folks who visit are driving there now; I mean, it’s Cary. What else are you gonna do? But now we’ve got some good bones in a place where that was none before. The protected intersection they built? Awesome. Plentiful bike parking in the development? Awesome. The two-way cycle track leading into the development is a dead-end now, but in the future, hopefully it should connect up well to other destinations in the area.
This development will be standing for a long time. Parking lots can be redeveloped. This absolutely could become a place where plenty of people walk to, bike to, or even take transit to, rather than everybody driving and parking.
Just need to stay the course.
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I agree. I largely think the drive up urbanism developments like the Fenton are a sign that people want the walkable, dense feeling that good urban planning can provide. In fact, I find these to be proof that cars are unnecessary, and even harmful to good urban design.
The first thing most people do when they arrive at these places is ditch the car. Big parking decks concentrate and minimize volume in the center of these developments, but are ultimately still wastes of space.
I find it almost like a wannabe transit oriented development. So if we target these areas as transit nodes that’d go a long way in making a system people want.
West BRT corridor study has a Western Blvd extension, so I think we should see an alignment of that system where the Fenton is included.
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Cary’s thoroughfare plan shows the eventual road connections north and west of Fenton, namely Trinity north to Chatham/54 and Quinard northwest to Maynard:
These connections will be built with future phases; remember that only Phase 1 is only 40% of the total project.
Yes, the Western BRT project (click on the “Design” tab) will complete the long-planned Western Boulevard Extension between Buck Jones Road and Cary Towne Boulevard. The city owns pretty much all of the land, and I guess this way they can get some USDOT funds to actually build the road.
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I was looking over some of the documents from the Moore Square/Loden Properties development and saw in their ‘portfolio’ they shared a glimpse of the South Hills redevelopment. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these renderings before and was wondering if they had been shared to the public? Here’s the rendering below and I’ve linked the post in the Moore Square thread.
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