Epic’s plans for Cary Towne Center draws concerns from town for lack of detail
Cary Town Council members expressed serious concerns Thursday about Epic Games’ proposal to transform the former Cary Towne Center property into a headquarters for the fast-growing video game developer.
While the council said it was proud that Epic is committed to the town, members said the site proposal, which asks for permission to build more than 2 million square feet of office space, is sorely lacking in detail, particularly when it comes to parking and how the buildings will look.
“This is the first time that we, as a council, have seen this much detail — and it’s not a lot of detail,” council member Lori Bush said of the submitted plans.
Previous rezoning requests to the town had “so much more detail than what’s given to us right now, and that makes us pause,” she added.
Epic’s rezoning request comes nearly a year after it purchased the mall property for $95 million. Developers have eyed the Cary Towne Center property for years, and the council had already previously approved two different rezoning plans for the property for projects that ultimately fell through.
Epic has seen its fortunes grow significantly since it released the popular video game Fortnite in 2017. The company’s valuation is nearly $30 billion, and it has hired hundreds of new employees in recent years. The company told the council that its current headquarters, off Crossroads Boulevard, is no longer sufficient for its long-term needs.
The company’s rezoning request sketches rough details of how it could build on the mall property. The preliminary plans show that it would like to build up to 2.7 million square feet of office space on the property, as well as 75,000 square feet of retail and up to 200 hotel rooms.
Council member Jack Smith said that Cary needs to hold Epic to “high standards” when it came to completing this rezoning because of how important the property is to the future of Cary.
“I echo everyone’s comments about wanting to be a partner with (Epic),” he said. “But, once in a while, you have to look at someone and be the person that tells the emperor, ‘You have no clothes.’
“Epic right now with this proposal, you’re just plain naked. I mean, there’s nothing here that brings to the table what we would expect from someone with the international reputation you have. There is so much missing.”
Lack of specifics
In the company’s filings with Cary, Epic said it anticipates completing the first phase of construction — around 1 million square feet of space in the center portion of the property — in late 2024 or early 2025.
The parcels of land on the western perimeter of the property could be developed later but no timeline was given. Council members said they have reservations about making a decision now that could have long-term consequences for residents in the future.
“I’ll have a difficult time supporting something that doesn’t address the outside parcels,” Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said. “Whether you say, ‘We’ll knock them down, clean them up, plant grass and plant trees,’ that helps. But if you just say nothing, ‘That’s phase two,’ I have a problem with that.”
Weinbrecht stressed that this development is the center of the town’s eastern gateway, saying he was concerned that the council has no clear image of how this project will look from the street. He noted that the upscale Fenton development, which is under construction north of the mall property, gave the council many assurances over how its buildings would ultimately look.
“I can tell you (Fenton) jumped through hoops for three years trying to make this look nice to us,” he said. “That’s how important it was to us. This site is just as important. ... I need reassurance, hopefully, that it will look better on the outside.”
A gated office campus
Epic’s plans show it hopes to build several layers of security on its campus, including a private road that will circle its offices and several berms along the perimeter of the property.
The proposed berms will eliminate a greenway connection along the eastern perimeter of the property that the town had hoped to eventually create. Epic proposed re-routing the planned greenway along the western perimeter of the property, routing the trail via a sidewalk on Cary Towne Boulevard, SE Maynard Road and Walnut Street.
During the council meeting, several residents expressed concerns that this would cause pedestrians to interact with some of the busiest streets in all of Cary.
“I think if it was worked a little bit more,” Weinbrecht said. “I think we can allow you privacy, allow you security and at the same time keep that greenway where it was planned to be.”
Jason Barron, of the Morningstar Law Group, represents Epic Games and said the company had heard residents’ concerns and called the property’s future “an ongoing conversation.”
“I think that while this may not meet with the expectations of what folks have had with respect to what was going to happen to the mall,” Barron said, “I believe, at the end of the day, especially given what has been approved across the street at Fenton, these two uses side by side are going to work tremendously, and they’re going to be very, very compatible.”
Council member Ed Yerha said while he appreciated Epic’s need for security on its campus, he thought residents would struggle with the idea of the property becoming something akin to a gated community.
“SAS is a gated community, if you will, and I understand the need for something like that,” he said, referring to SAS Institute off Harrison Road, one of the town’s biggest employers.
“But the difference is this is right in the center of the busiest part of Cary,” Yerha said. “SAS is on the edge. ... This is a site that everybody is used to being so public for so many years.”
Other council members and members of the public recoiled at Epic’s promises to plant 240 trees as part of its efforts to reduce stormwater runoff.
“I was dumbfounded to see a plant minimum of 240 trees,” Smith said. “I figured it was a typo — figured it was at least 2,200.”
The property as it exists today is almost entirely paved over, which has created pressure on the nearby Walnut and Swift creeks. Those creeks carry water to some nearby communities, including in Raleigh.
Anne Franklin, of the group Partners for Environmental Justice, urged the council to make Epic go above and beyond in its efforts to reduce runoff on the property.
Weinbrecht and other council members said they’re optimistic that Cary and Epic can work together on its growing presence in the town.
“We’re not trying to pooh-pooh on your your proposal,” Weinbrecht said. “We just want to work with you to come up with the best possible proposal that you can possibly have.”
No action was taken on the rezoning request Thursday night. The town council asked Cary’s Planning and Zoning Board to weigh in on the rezoning. A vote on the rezoning will happen at a later date after the zoning board has given its opinion.
A vote from the council on the rezoning could take place in a few months, Weinbrecht said.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 10:34 PM with the headline "Epic’s plans for Cary Towne Center draws concerns from town for lack of detail."
