Leesa L. Finley, REALTOR®/RE Strategist Wake Forest NC Real Estate and Area Info

The Factory is located on Main Street in Wake Forest and truely offers a little bit of everything for everybody.

This old factory was meticulously cared for and revamped to provide a place for shopping, dining and sports activites. Little by little the spaces have been filling up and The Factory is truely a destination spot.

The sculpture in the fountain stands in front of The Factory and during the warmer months you will always see people making wishes and tossing in pennies and kids running around playing tag. Two restaurants that are part of the complex but located seperate are Armadillo Grill which has great TexMex fare and The Village Deli and wow, they sure do know how to make an awesome sandwich and their soups are great. Also outside you will find GO-KARTS! Really!

Moving inside you can stop in for some ice cream at Carvel or visit Ziggy's which has great pizza. My personal favorite at Zippy's is the Italian Panini - in the words of Rachael Ray, delish......

In another blog I mentioned Jumpin' Beans....check out the blog to learn a little more about it!

They have a wonderful full-service salon called Cris Scot Hair Studio located on the first level. If you are interested in an appointment book well in advance! Lily Mae's Jewelry & Gifts is an awesome shop! Unique gifts, peronalized items available and one of the area's only vendors for Pandora Jewelry. I love it in there! Are you creative? Check out Works of Clay! It is a Paint Your Own Pottery shop and they offer private parties, specialty pieces and birthday parties for children. I have been there numerous times and come away with some beautiful pieces. I have even surprised myself! Wedding in the future? Check out Sweet Loralee Pastries.....Beautifully designed cakes make the day special. They also have a wide assortment of other pastries and dessert items. There is a myriad of other shops that welcome you and offer a great assortment of items to choose from. Everything from a health store to children's clothing - yes, it is here.

Now for the really big WOW is the Factory Ice House. This indoor ice skating arena is home to public skating, youth ice hockey camps, ice skating lessons, curling lessons, and they even just recently hosted the 2008 Eastern Sectional Championships. The onsite pro shop offer skate sharpening, custom skate fitting and logo work on jerseys.

The indoor soccer field is home to the Lil' Kickers which is a soccer program for kids from 18 months to 9 years old. There are also programs for youth and adult soccer.

Now, what's that behind The Factory? Well, thats for another blog post at another time......

If you live in Wakefield Plantation then you have seen the proposed re-zoning signs as well as the signs protesting it.

The City of Raleigh has proposed to rezone approximately 5,000 acres in North Raleigh which includes Wakefield Plantation, Bedford and Falls River. Why? To protect the water supply of the Neuse River at the old Burlington Mills textile plant off of Capital Blvd. The targeted area runs north-south between N.C. Highway 98 and Durant Road and east-west between Falls of Neuse Road and Capital Boulevard. It is in that area that you find some of the largest subdivision in the area. One could go so far as to say mega-subdivisions.

The impact of the propsed rezoning would include homeowners having to comply with the stormwater requirement if they wanted to add a deck or pave a driveway. Also, homeowners can capture stormwater by building rain gardens, sand filters and other devices to manage stormwater. They cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands, but on the lower end for individual homeowners. There are a few more restrictions and implications tied to this proposed rezoning. If you would like to lean more The City Council and Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposal 6:30 p.m. Jan. 22 at 222 W. Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh. For more information, go to www.raleighnc.gov/planning and click on Z-003-08 Richland Watershed.

From the Town of Wake Forest website:

Creative Explorations for the Heart and Mind
Begins Wednesday, January 23; 6:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Morning Glory Center for Creative Healing, 523 Wait Avenue, Wake Forest
This is a nine-week course of drawing and painting centered around a creative theme. Come investigate visual media and play! Held on Wednesday evenings from 6:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. the cost for the course is $210 and includes materials for in-class use. The instructor is Dawn Marie Rozzo. For more information, contact Dawn at (919) 217-4752 or visit http://www.dawnrozzo.com/.

Free Home Buyers Seminar
Saturday, January 26; 2:00 p.m.
Moore Choice Realty & Homes-By-Holmes, 500-02 Wait Ave., Wake Forest
Lunch provided! Call (919) 426-3196 for reservations.

Koinonia Dinner
Saturday, January 26; 6:30 p.m.
The Forks Cafeteria
The annual Koinonia dinner, auction and silent auction will be held Saturday, January 26, at The Forks Cafeteria. The event gets underway at 6:30 p.m. The dinner raises funds for the Koinonia Foundation's work, which is to provide help for local people in need and funds for the work of other local charities and organizations. Tickets are $30/each and are available by calling Donna Marshall at (919) 556-5418.

Is the weather outside not cooperating? A little too cold? Rainy? Kids bouncing off the walls! Jumpin' Beans is the PERFECT place to go! You can find TWO 40' x 25' inflatable, indoor playgrounds that have slides, see-saws, and much more. It is only $7.00 per child for an unlimited amount of time. What a great way to let them burn off some of that energy!

What can you do? The have free wi-fi! Bring your laptop and get some work done while the kids play their hearts out. They also serve Seattle's Best Coffee, soft drinks and they have a few snacks available.

We were invited to a birthday party recently at Jumpin' Beans and my son had a fantastic time. For parties you can rent the private room (which has one of the playgrounds), unlimited soft drinks and fruit punch, invitation cards, napinks plates and cups and more. There are a few packages to choose from so you can personalize your party how you wish.

I have spent many a mornings there while my son was tracked-out. He got to play and I got to work. Pretty good deal if you ask me!

Wow - Wake Forest is really coming along! As I have mentioned in previous posts though, it is all measured and well planned! Yes, I am proud to live in a small town that realizes the importance and impact of these future developments as nessecary for economic growth yet also realize that in order for Wake Forest to retain is historic value and charm as a small southern town we must take measured steps. Here are a few of the upcoming residential developments and commercial project on the horizone for Wake Forest:

• Rapid Strikes Family Entertainment Center - which was first called Wake Forest Family Entertainment Center - are under review. It would be built on 4.5 acres along Rogers Road between the entrance to The Factory and its ball fields and the CSX railroad line. Mark Wallace of Wake Forest wants to build 32 bowling lanes, a laser tag room, a game room and a party room. The land is zoned for highway business.
• The Mellow Mushroom will be built at the corner of Wake Drive and South Main Street (U.S. 1-A) between the American Pride carwash and Taco Bell. The master plan was approved by the town board at its May meeting, and construction plans are under review.
• Cinelli's, a pizza restaurant, will open next year in Heritage Station at the intersection of Rogers and Forestville roads. This is a local chain, an offshoot of the original Cinelli's restaurant in New York City that is owned and operated by Joseph Cinelli. His Tar Heel brothers - Gaitano (Guy), Gianni and Peter - own the other local Cinelli's in Durham, Cary and Raleigh, and two of them own the restaurant with their names in the Wakefield Commons Shopping Center on New Falls of the Neuse Road.
• Kohl's will be the second anchor for Wake Forest Crossing shopping center on Capital Boulevard. The first anchor is Lowes Foods. The next series of shops will be built north of the present buildings, and there will be a second entrance/exit for the shopping center on Stadium Drive west of the seminary cemetery.
• The Registry at Bennett Park will be 31 single-family lots along an extension of West Holding Avenue, bounded on the west by Richland Creek. The master plan was approved in June of this year. (2007)
• Holding Village will have about 1,350 homes - apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes - on 256 acres between the N.C. 98 bypass to the north, the CSX rail line and South Main Street to the west and Heritage to the south. The town commissioners approved it on May 15. (2007)
• The Lodge at Wake Forest will be a three-story, 118-unit apartment building for active seniors on the east side of South Main Street just south of the N.C. 98 bypass. The apartments will not have kitchens. The residents, who are expected to be single people in their 80s who do not need assistance, will eat meals in the communal dining room.

Those are just a FEW of the planned developments for Wake Forest. If you would like to learn more please visit the Town of Wake Forest website. It is easy to navigate, continually updated and full of information.