The last video I did about Cary was in June of 2020 and I covered a lot about our local parks,
events and activities that happen in Cary,
but since that time, only a year ago so much has changed and happened in Cary
Downtown Park Updates When Cary first began developing
the downtown park, they made this adorable little place where you could play a few games,
hang out and have some coffee by the fountain and just relax in the hustle and bustle of town
center. Since that time the town of Cary has solicited resident input to develop what will
arguably be one of the best parks in the Triangle. We have tons of parks in Cary and they are great
for spending time outdoors, hiking on the trails, but they really don’t have the kind of amenities
you often see in parks in larger cities. The new downtown Cary park is going to rectify that
problem. This park is going to be amazing. It’s not done yet but the town of Cary has this SIMS
style video of the park so you can get an idea of what it’s going to be like. It’s not huge,
it’s about 7 acres. But the design and functionality of the park are amazing.
First we get a big overview of the whole thing and then we’ll swoop down into the individual
parts of the park. I think this is where they’ll have a farmers market. There will be multiple
water features throughout the park. This spray grounds is one of them. There are going to be two
food and beverage facilities within the park so I’m guessing you can buy dinner or snacks
and hang out at the fire pit or whatever. There is also an amphitheater and a lawn for concerts
and the intention is to incorporate a large amount of planned activities like arts and craft classes,
fitness classes, book clubs, story time, remember this is right next to the beautiful new library,
which we’re going to talk about in a minute. There are several skybridge type things and
that bird is in the children’s natural play area. I love how they have incorporated a
reflection pond. There will be a dog park and a bar serving locally brewed beer will
be incorporated into the dog park so people can hang out with their best friend and have a beer.
Somehow the of beer, dogs and poop stations has me a little freaked out,
but i guess we’ll see how it goes. Tell me what you guys think of this place in the comments. I
cannot wait for it to open. And I will definitely get some updated video when that happens.
Cary Library The Cary library is pretty amazing. We used
to just have this little one story library. It was very 70’s and dated and there wasn’t really much
room for a lot of books, but being totally honest, I just loved it. It was so nostalgic and cozy. And
of course I have memories of taking my little kids to story time there and now they’re all grown up.
But I also do love the new Cary library. It’s absolutely beautiful. And there are views
through all the windows of downtown. The library is 23,000 square feet and holds 90,000 volumes.
***try to get some librarians to share what kinds of resources are available in
the library. Do they have story times or classes?
The one negative MacGregor Village
You know that one strip mall…. You’ve got one in pretty much every city. It’s that one that just
never does well and businesses can’t seem to stay in business in that shopping center? You know what
I’m talking about. Well MacGregor Village USED to be that place. Which is totally crazy because it’s
in a beautiful area right in the middle of Cary, across the street from one of the most popular
golf communities in the area, Macgregor Downs. And it has always had amazing shops and restaurants
in it. But the big problem with this shopping center is it is set waaay back off the road and
you can hardly see it when you drive by. But it would be a big mistake to pass it by. I didn’t
even realize this place had been redesigned, I thought it was still a half empty shopping center
until this summer I was looking for a place for my kids to do Virtual Reality. We found that as
well as a ton of other really cool shops and amenities and we’re going to go check it out.
The one thing that could make Macgregor next level, would be if the town of Cary made it
a little more accessible on foot by running a greenway by here. That’s just my opinion.
Fenton Okay the next
amazing space in Cary is Fenton. This has been in the works for gosh, forever, but it’s really
coming together and is currently scheduled to open in spring of 2022. So we’re *really* close!
they have a long list of businesses that have already signed on. Fenton is being built in
east Cary, right across the street from what used to be the Cary Towne Center mall, which is also
being redesigned, but we’ll talk about that in a minute. It’s right on the border of Raleigh and
sits about half a mile from I-40 which makes it really convenient. Fenton is going to be a
live work play community and will have plenty of commercial and office space. They are calling it
a next generation workspace with “superior access to connectivity, thoughtful design and intentional
amenities” “integrated into a dynamic mixed use environment like nothing else in the triangle.”
People shouldn’t use words like dynamic in their descriptors, it totally sounds like an oversell.
What is a dynamic space anyway? I happen to think it will be pretty cool despite the goofy web copy.
There will be shopping and dining and entertainment. They already have a ton of
really great options for vendors who have signed leases already. They will have luxury apartments
within Fenton. Right now I am not aware of any new residential single family homes being built
in or around Fenton, but there are a handful of neighborhoods that are pretty close… Walnut Hills,
Greenwood Forest and Pirates Cove are a few. These are older neighborhoods with smaller
homes but very walkable. Downtown Cary Housing
Speaking of housing, since my last video about Cary there has been a ton of new housing built,
particularly infill housing in the downtown corridor. And I have to say I think it has added a
level of really diverse architecture that has made downtown Cary feel really… We’re going to take a
little tour of some recently built homes and some homes that are in the works in downtown Cary.
Down in the comments section there is a link to homes currently for sale in downtown Cary.
Business Innovations Earlier I mentioned
the Cary Town Center Mall area across the street from fenton. This location has been an area of
hot debate for years and several different plans for how to use the space have been overturned.
The reason it is so valuable and controversial is because the Cary Town Center Mall,
like many malls in America, has been failing for years but it sits on a 65 acre piece of property
right in the middle of everything. It’s halfway between crossroads shopping center in Cary and
downtown Cary and both of these are close enough to walk to them. And of course Fenton going in
right across the street makes it even more valuable. But it’s also less than 15 minutes
from downtown Raleigh and the airport. You don’t find pieces of property this big for development
in the middle of one of the hottest real estate cities in the country very often. And somehow,
they couldn’t manage to find an appropriate use for it. It went through several hands
and I think it took so long because people had such high hopes for this center of town location
so there was lots of debate. In 2019 it was purchased by a developer that was going to
turn it into sports and recreation center, and most everyone was excited about that.
but then out of nowhere it was bought out by video game producer Epic Games for use as their national
headquarters. I think a lot of people were disappointed because people imagined it would
be developed for use by the town, not necessarily for a company. But it looks like Cary residents
may just get what they were hoping for. Epic paid 95 million dollars for the property, the previous
developer paid 40 million just two years earlier…. Talk about a return on investment!! Anyway,
Epic has promised that they are “committed to working with the town of Cary to explore ways SOME
of this property might be used by the community” How that will play out remains to be seen….
Maybe we’ll get a nice park bench. Who knows. That’s for a future video. If you liked this video
you might also like this one about why Forbes ranked Cary the best place to live in America.