Story by Mary Helen Moore, News Observer
New construction underway along Guess Road will bring a popular grocery chain to northern Durham County, as well as shops, restaurants and townhomes, helping give the region’s largely residential population a place to shop closer to home.
“We just feel like this area is regionally underserved,” said Austin Williams, a partner at the development firm Crosland Southeast. “We’re filling in some of those gaps.”
Latta Park is being built at the intersection of Guess and Latta roads, just inside the northern city limits. (Latta is pronounced like it rhymes with “Hey, batta batta!”)
Construction crews began clearing the 28-acre site in the fall after Crosland Southeast paid $1.2 million for it two years ago.
Soon, red dirt will give way to a Publix, shops and eateries, a sizable townhome development and a small art-filled park, with walking paths that extend into the woods near the road.
The intent is to create a “lively, walkable neighborhood,” according to promotional materials.
“Our goal is to give the the neighbors in the immediate community … what they asked us for, which is something that has strong pedestrian connections to what’s around it, something that is not overbuilt, that doesn’t feel like a strip center and feels more like a retail village,” Williams said.
Some townhomes will be affordable
The 176 townhomes, built by Tri Pointe Homes, are scheduled to go on the market in late 2025. Similar new builds by the company in Durham are listed for about $395,000 to $450,000.
Ten will be bought by Crosland Southeast to be rented out for the next 30 years at affordable prices for people making below 60% of the area median income.
Six spaces are being shopped to commercial tenants, starting at 1,700 square feet. Four will be restaurants, Williams said.
Outdoor patio seating is part of the design, as is a food truck terrace.
There are Food Lions and a Harris Teeter a couple of miles south and east, but commercial options are scant in the northern part of the county.
“We spoke to a lot of neighbors and what we heard from everybody was restaurants, restaurants, restaurants,” Williams said. “And while our project is really just making a small splash in that regard — I mean, we only have 13,000 square feet, and we feel like we could probably lease three or four times that — we’re just trying to do it right.”
Publix has long been interested
Publix has 55 stores and a distribution center in North Carolina, and this will be its second location in Durham. Another opened in 2023 in Research Triangle Park.
The Florida-based grocer has been interested in the Guess Road property for a long time and took “no educating or convincing,” Williams said.
A previous developer’s vision for the site never materialized after city leaders rejected a rezoning request in 2015.
Crosland Southeast began working on the current plan in 2018 and won a rezoning three years later, despite opposition from some residents concerned about traffic.
The developer is widening Guess and Latta roads, and building an internal road network. Road work was scheduled to begin in December.
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article296821534.html#storylink=cpy
Learn more about Latta Park at: https://www.lattapark.com/.
