At its final regular meeting of the year last week, the Apex Town Council made some modifications to the plans for the Veridea community that will be home to the new N.C. Children’s Hospital.
Among the zoning and transportation-related changes came a big reveal: RXR, the real estate developer behind Veridea, is proposing to build an indoor public recreation facility and greenway on the 1,100 acre property located at the intersection of US-1 and NC-54.
While Veridea will pay for the buildout of the 25,000-square-foot rec center, the town will design and manage it; Veridea will be responsible for maintaining the new greenway, which will have a path for public access.
“This is a good development for the town considering [Apex’s master plan calls] for about 100,000 square feet of indoor recreational space by 2030,” said newly seated town council member Shane Reese. “So this gets us a quarter of the way there.”
Other changes the council approved included adjusting traffic alignment, plans for pedestrians and cyclists, and swapping outdated plans for rail and light rail stops in favor of bus stops and a bus transit center.
The council also passed amendments related to environmental sustainability and design standards. The changes are aimed at modernizing longstanding plans for the property and giving more flexibility to the children’s hospital to design and build out its campus.
A version of this story originally appeared in the of December 16 edition of The Line. Sign up here for The Line, a newsletter for Cary and Western Wake from The Assembly Network.
