The secret is getting out about Apex, a western suburb of Raleigh that also lies 20 miles south of Chapel Hill. In 2018, Realtor.com ranked the city as the No. 1 fastest growing suburb in the United States. This was aided by the master planning of local homebuilder/developer ExperienceOne Homes, which debuted its large-scale Sweetwater residential development in 2016.
The allure of Apex didn’t stop there as the local schools within the Wake County Public School System have long been considered top-notch. As more and more families moved to the once-sleepy town, the need for community-serving retail became apparent. And not just any sprawling shopping center would suffice.
Retail Strategies of N.C. Inc., on behalf of development partner The Kalikow Group, a multifamily and mixed-use development firm based in Westbury, New York, and the aforementioned ExperienceOne, set out to create a sense of place that would resemble village towns in Northeast states such as Maine and Massachusetts. What all of these hamlets have in common is they are built up over decades around a town center, thus the idea of Sweetwater Town Center was established.
East Side
The “hard part” was essentially in the rearview mirror as ExperienceOne had already established the surrounding single-family neighborhood that would generate demand year-round. With Kalikow’s vast experience with multifamily, we also wanted to bring in a multifamily component, which takes the form of the 230 apartments on the east side of the 45-acre campus. These Class A apartments sit atop 66,000 square feet of retail space and border an active event lawn.
Recent openings on the east side of the site include Sweetwater Dental (2,011 square feet) and Fratelli’s Deli (3,597 square feet), which are performing well. We also have three fitness concepts (Club Pilates, Velvet Yoga and BFT Fitness) and a smoothie purveyor (SoBol) coming, among other uses such as Mi Cancun Mexican Restaurant, Southern Peak Brewery, Karma Modern Indian Bistro, Bless Your Heart Boutique, Danielle Marie Hair Co., Prepaze Academy and Master Kim Martial Arts.
Duke Health is also going to occupy a 13,033-square-foot space for both urgent care and primary care, with 25 office suites in total.
Also on that side of the campus is Lightbridge Academy, which has operated from its 11,200-square-foot pad site since 2021.
An important element of the design, led by Cline Design Associates, was to make the project feel lived-in. Northeast townships are generally built up across generations, so Cline and the development team have opted to build the four mixed-use buildings on the east side with different elevations and using different materials, from varying window shapes to unique cornices.
Also on the east end of Sweetwater Town Center are two two-story tabletop parking decks. It’s no secret that parking is always an enigma for mixed-use projects, and we wanted to create wayfinding that made the visiting process as frictionless as possible. All of the buildings at Sweetwater Town Center have pathways and breezeways that are accented by murals so that anywhere patrons park, they can cut through the event lawn to get to their car with ease.
West Side
On the west side of the site is a 65,000-square-foot Harris Teeter grocery store that opened this past fall, along with 11,200 square feet of satellite shops and three outparcels that have commitments from Starbucks Coffee, Fifth Third Bank and Taco Bell.
It can’t be overstated how well retail leasing at Sweetwater Town Center has fared the past few years. The project was 100 percent preleased, even though the retail offerings exceeded 100,000 square feet combined.
Thanks to some coordinated leasing strategies involving in-depth analysis of these tenants’ sales histories, we were able to set favorable rental rates and customize the tenant mix in a way that bracketed established national brands — such as The UPS Store — with local concepts, most of which are in the food service category.
One such use is Al’s Burger Shack, a mainstay burger joint serving University of North Carolina students at Chapel Hill for decades. We are excited to bring their lauded burgers to our corner of the Triangle market. Other concepts coming to the west side of the project include Papa John’s Pizza, Peace Love & Little Donuts, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Greek Kouzina, Radiant Brows & Beauty and a boba tea shop.
What’s Next?
And the vision is in no way complete. Coming soon to Sweetwater Town Center is a six-story hotel that will feature an open-air bar and much-needed meeting and event space in Apex.
For years, visitors would have to travel to Holly Springs or even further to host their weddings and bar mitzvahs. And we envision that due to the hotel’s location on the back end of the site, hotel guests will have walkable access to Sweetwater Town Center’s restaurants and shops.
Down the line, on the front end of the site nearest US Highway 64 we have four acres for future development. No deals are in place yet, but we feel that family-friendly entertainment will be a welcome addition to Sweetwater Town Center and Apex as a whole.
We as a society are going faster and faster, and employers are demanding more and more. Ultimately it’s not a great recipe for life.
What Kalikow, ExperienceOne and Retail Strategies ultimately want at Sweetwater Town Center is to be a place to exhale.
— By Marvin Waldo, president of Retail Strategies of N.C. Inc. This article originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Southeast Real Estate Business.