A Virginia-based developer is aiming to bring a new 400-acre data center to North Carolina in a county southwest of downtown Raleigh.

PointOne Data Centers submitted an application to the Sanford/Lee County/Broadway Technical Review Committee to build a 90-megawatt center at 4079 Lower Moncure Road in Lee County, the Triangle Business Journal reported.

The first phase of the project would entail the build-out of the 300K SF facility. Construction would begin this fall, with completion in 2028, TBJ reported.

The proposed project would be a $900M investment, according to TBJ. Texas-based CyrusOne, a global data center developer, would own and operate the site. CyrusOne has built more than 60 data centers globally, including one near Research Triangle Park in Durham that it acquired in 2017. Since then, the company has sought to expand its presence in North Carolina. The state currently houses at least 93 data centers, according to Data Center Map.

Data centers have been a controversial issue in the Carolinas over the past year, with several counties and cities imposing moratoriums on new development. Earlier this week, the city of Charlotte approved a 150-day pause on new projects following public outcry. Lee County does not have a moratorium, but in April, it amended its Unified Development Ordinance to clarify where data centers can be located and what standards they must adhere to.

Data center opponents argue that data center development requires intensive water and power usage and can cause noise pollution and neighborhood displacement. In Raleigh, many residents say water usage is critical as the area faces extreme drought conditions.

But a PointeOne executive told TBJ its data center would use very little water due to its closed-loop cooling system. The executive said it would need an initial fill of 200K gallons and that other water usage for things like restrooms would utilize 1,100 gallons per day. 

If the review committee approves the plan, the next step would be applying for a building permit.

The Raleigh skyline

Retail space is becoming such a hot commodity in North Carolina’s urban markets that developers are changing their plans to include more of it.

New York-based Tidal Real Estate Partners has altered plans for its proposed 20-story mixed-use tower in downtown Raleigh to add retail space, the Triangle Business Journal reported. The project’s ground-floor retail space will now span 20,601 SF instead of the originally planned 18,650 SF.

A Colliers Raleigh-Durham Q1 2026 retail market report noted that this is “the fourth consecutive year the market has maintained sub-3% vacancy, highlighting the ongoing scarcity of available space.” Raleigh’s Village District even has a waitlist for retailers looking to lease space, TBJ reported. 

A Marcus & Millichap retail forecast published in March ranked Raleigh and Charlotte as the top two retail markets in the U.S. Throughout last year, the report found, Raleigh withstood the departures of many big-box retailers through increased leasing demand from small-business owners.

Andrew Margulies, Marcus & Millichap’s senior managing director of investments for the Carolinas, previously told Bisnow that there is an almost unlimited appetite for well-located retail centers in both Charlotte and Raleigh. 

Several of Raleigh’s incoming high-rises will include ground-level retail, among them the 20-story The Strand, a predominantly residential building with nearly 9K SF of retail, and the 37-story Highline Glenwood, another residential building that will include 7,500 SF of retail.

With Tidal’s revamped plans for its tower, which sits on a 1.4-acre lot at 521 and 529 S. Wilmington St. and 108 Stronachs Alley, the developer has also added parking space and taken away some apartment units. There will now be 368 parking spaces in a 153,812 SF parking deck instead of 313 spaces in a 166,400 SF deck, as well as 13 fewer apartment units.

These changes — part of Tidal’s application to extend the approved site plans, which had been set to expire in February — have increased the size of the proposed tower from about 583K SF to just under 591K SF. 

The developer reportedly originally paid $12M for the site in 2021. 

Tidal’s extension was permitted, and the revised plans are good until January 2028, according to TBJ. While the developer has not yet submitted an application for a building permit, the site review process is already complete. 

Tidal’s other Raleigh projects in the works include the renovation and rebranding of its Holiday Inn on Hillsborough Street and the construction of a 13-story luxury hotel next to it.

Charlotte and Raleigh have emerged as the top two retail markets in the country, according to Marcus & Millichap’s 2026 Retail Investment Forecast Report published March 12.

The report weighs a mixture of forward-looking economic indicators and supply-and-demand variables over a 12-month period. 

Nationwide, the retail sector exhibited resiliency in 2025, with a rise in vacancy in the first half of the year followed by surging demand to finish the year strong, the report stated. 

Charlotte ended the year with accelerating net absorption while holding one of the 10 lowest vacancy rates among major markets, according to the report. Momentum in the city was driven by big-box, single-tenant move-ins. Those included new leases by supermarkets such as Publix, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods.

Andrew Margulies, Marcus & Millichap’s senior managing director of investments for the Carolinas, told Bisnow that soft goods discount chains like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Burlington were also key drivers of positive retail activity in Charlotte, reflecting the budget-consciousness of many consumers.

“That category has really excelled over the past five to seven years in terms of new store accounts, fewer store closures, actually just adding more stores and absorbing more space,” Margulies said. 

The metro area experienced slowing construction and growing net absorption, combining for a 3.5% vacancy rate. That’s 40 basis points under the city’s trailing 10-year average, according to the report.

Raleigh-Durham actually weathered the departures of several notable big-box retailers, and its positive retail fundamentals were driven by small-shop demand. A rise in completed projects in Raleigh-Durham helped vacancy to tick up slightly to 3.0%, but that still ranked second-lowest among major U.S. markets. 

Marcus & Millichap’s report noted that years of “robust in-migration and household formation” have supported significant demand for retail space throughout the Southeast. Margulies said there is almost unlimited appetite right now for well-located retail centers in both Charlotte and Raleigh, putting upward pressure on pricing. 

“In some cases for the same asset that may have sold 12 months ago at one price, today actually could be worth more just from cap rate compression,” he said.

As office vacancy remains high after boom years in the state and the region still working off a glut of multifamily overbuilding, retail has become the coveted asset class in the area, Margulies said. 

“From a financing perspective, it is one of the most coveted asset classes for investing and commercial real estate,” he said. “If you lose a tenant in a building, you sometimes have two, three, four, five, six options of other tenants you could backfill the space with.”

A 24-story office building in Charlotte has changed hands. 

Highwoods Properties Inc. acquired 6Hundred at Legacy Union, a 411K SF office tower in Charlotte, from Lincoln Property Co. for $230M, according to Charlotte Business Journal, citing Mecklenburg County property records. 

This acquisition, which closed Wednesday, boosts the Raleigh-based REIT’s portfolio at Legacy Union — a multibuilding development — to 1.6M SF of trophy office space. 

Earlier this year, Highwoods acquired Legacy Union’s 14-story, 1.1M SF parking garage at 720 S. Church St. for $110M. The garage encompasses 3,057 parking spaces.

Highwoods now has three buildings at Legacy Union and eight overall across Charlotte.

Currently, 6Hundred is 84 percent leased with an average lease term of over 12 years. Tenants include American Express, law firm Robinson Bradshaw and Pike Corp.

With the sale, Highwoods plans to invest $8.5M for both near-term building improvements and leasing capital expenditures to stabilize the property’s occupancy rate. 

Under the agreement, Dallas-based Lincoln was reportedly scheduled to receive some $15.7M credited for free rent and other leasing-related expenses it provided before the building shifted ownership.

Highwoods projects to stabilize occupancy at the tower by 2027 and will realize $17.5M to $18.5M in net operating income annually at that point.

The 6Hundred property is connected to the Highwoods-owned Bank of America Tower and SIX50 South Tryon.

Highwoods is a publicly traded REIT that owns, leases and manages properties in several business districts across the Southeast. 

Charlotte’s office building market has been “entering a new phase of stability,” according to a recent Colliers market report, with long-term tenant demand rising. As reported by Savills Research, Charlotte leased 1.3M SF of office space in Q3, marking its strongest quarter of leasing volume in five years.

Timberline Real Estate Ventures bought The Wilde student apartments in Raleigh for $44.35 million. The seller, Cardinal Group, acquired the property in 2018 for $42.45 million. 

Located on nearly 16 acres at 3333 Melrose Club Blvd. on the south side of Interstate 40, the property, not far from North Carolina State, has 210 units in 16 3-story buildings.

Built in 1996 and renovated in 2011 and 2022, the apartments rent from $775 to $905 a month for a bedroom in either a two-, three—or four-bedroom plan. The fully furnished apartments feature quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and an in-unit washer and dryer. Residents have access to a swimming pool, fitness center, clubhouse, private study rooms, game and recreation room, basketball and volleyball courts, dog park, grilling stations and free shuttle service to campus.

The Triangle Business Journal reports renovations will start soon, including upgrading common areas, units and the pool area.

Timberline Real Estate Ventures is a privately held real estate investment company that specializes in student housing.

Highwoods Properties a publicly traded REIT, acquired Advance Auto Parts Tower, a 20-story highrise, from Lionstone Investments. Lionstone Investments, who developed the building in partnership with Kane Realty Corp., were the sellers.

CommercialEdge reports Highwoods plans to use proceeds from the recent $145 million sale of three office buildings in Tampa, Fla., to fund the acquisition of Advance Auto Parts Tower.

The 346,000-square-foot tower came online in 2020. It features 11 floors of office space atop eight levels of parking and roughly 8,200 square feet of retail. The property was fully leased at the end of 2024, with a weighted average lease term of 8.2 years.

With a street address of 4200 Six Forks Road or 4000 Front at North Hills Street, the building is immediately adjacent to CAPTRUST Tower, a 300,000-square-foot Class A+ office property that is also owned by Highwoods.

At the end of 2024, the REIT’s portfolio encompassed 27.2 million square feet across several U.S. markets, while its development pipeline totaled 1.6 million square feet.

Liberty Senior Living’s high-end senior living complex is taking residents. The Triangle Business Journal reports that the 5-story complex in Raleigh rises where the Country Club Homes apartments once stood at Fairview and Oberlin roads.

Called Hayes Barton Place, residents will find a health center, pickleball court, movie theater and multiple restaurants, all geared toward seniors. Monthly fees start at $6,615 per month for 800 square feet and go up to $18,350 for the largest offerings.

The main building includes 169 terrace-style residences offering access to all the amenities, plus another 24 condo-style residences called The Flats at Bicton.

Liberty Senior Living has developed 14 properties, including The Templeton in Cary, has acquired five more and has two under development, including one in Pittsboro.

Hayes Barton Place has 86 percent of its spaces spoken for.

Dominion Realty Partners of Raleigh has submitted plans for the first phase of its Salisbury Square project, which is across from the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts. The plans show a 7-story residential building with a connected parking deck.

The residential mid-rise tower will have 545 units, with an average size of 856 square feet per unit. The Triad Business Journal reports that Dominion Realty originally planned a 20-story mixed-use tower (photo) with 304 apartments, office and retail space for phase one but changed plans due to uncertainty in the office sector and financial markets.

For Salisbury Square, amenities for the 7-story building will include three courtyards, a swimming pool, club room, game room, fitness center and sky deck and lounge on the seventh floor.

In 2022, Dominion Realty acquired the site at 700 S. Salisbury St. for $35.5 million. An office building on the site was torn down in 2023 to make way for the development.

Dominium is hoping to take over some of a golf course property owned by the Raleigh Golf Association golf course to build apartments on nearly 44 acres. The proposed zoning is residential mixed-use up to four stories. The request contemplates only building on a few of the holes at the 27-hole layout.

The properties identified in the application are on the north side of the road. The RGA clubhouse and most of the 27-holes at the course on the south side of Tryon Road are not included in the rezoning.

The company is in the design process and plans to build between 350 and 500 townhomes and apartments. The units will most likely be offered to those making 60 percent or less of the area median income. The project would take three to four years to complete.

Dominium anticipates receiving noncompetitive housing tax credits from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.

The Brentmoor Apartments, located at 2080 Brentmoor Drive just outside the Beltline, sold for $45.6 million after the former owner, Silver Point Group, defaulted on the loan. St. Clair Holdings was the buyer. The Triangle Business Journal reports the company specializes in value-add real estate projects in the Southeast and Southwest.

Silver Point Group borrowed $45.6 million from an affiliate of Berkshire Residential in late 2021 to purchase the apartment complex for $52 million in early 2022.

The deed states that the borrower is in default as it “failed to pay the note as and when due” and that the default has continued. As of April 2024, Silver Point Group owed an outstanding balance of more than $48.7 million.

Brentmoor Apartments features one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 3-story buildings with rent starting at $999 a month. The units range from 735 to 1,240 square feet. Amenities include a swimming pool, grilling stations, fire pit, sauna, dog park, fitness center and more.