BY ELIZABETH BRIGNAC
The Town of Morrisville has grown up piece by piece—a residential area here, a retail area there—rather than developing from a central point. “It never developed a natural gathering spot, as you might envision a downtown to be,” says Brandon Zuidema, Morrisville’s town manager. “Morrisville has never had a downtown. So we’re building one.”
In 2007 Morrisville’s town council adopted the Morrisville Town Center Plan, which established the town’s vision for creating a downtown destination point. The hope is to give residents a central space that pulls the community together.
The town also has “a vision for really bringing a destination point to Morrisville—to [give people] a reason to come [here] that everybody [will] talk about. So if you’re in a coffee shop somewhere else and you’re talking about Morrisville, we want you talking about our downtown,” says Zuidema.
The town spent several years seeking a developer for the project, purchasing property in the area, collaborating with Wake County Public Libraries to establish the Morrisville Community Library on the site, and doing other preparatory work. They have formed a public-private partnership on the project with Singh Development Company. Now they are ready to start building.
The Plan
Morrisville’s downtown will incorporate approximately 25 acres of development around Town Hall Drive for a live/work/play area designed for residential buildings, commercial use, and a park and other community spaces. The first phase of the plan is divided into three development blocks.
Block A will be the first section to be developed, starting in spring 2025. The Morrisville Community Library is its cornerstone. This section will be bound by Town Hall Drive, Jeremiah Street, Foxglove Drive and Carolina Street, and is projected to house both retail and residential spaces. The planned building for this section will wrap around a parking deck on the inside, creating space for both residential and public parking that isn’t an eyesore. Block A should take 24–30 months to complete.
Block C will be developed concurrently with Block A. This is the area that currently hosts the Western Wake Farmers Market. It will become a community park bound by Town Hall Drive and Carolina Street on the south and west sides. On the northern and eastern sides, it will be bound by an extension of Foxglove Drive that is part of this section’s development plan—a street that can be closed off for foot traffic during town events. Block C should take 18–24 months to complete.
Block B will be the final Phase 1 section the town develops. It will be bound by Foxglove Street to the south and Carolina and Jeremiah Streets to the east and west. The town plans a mixture of commercial and residential spaces for this section, but it does not yet have projected start or end dates.
The Park
The downtown community park planned for Block C has, of course, captured residents’ attention. The park’s main entrance is planned for the corner of Carolina Street and Foxglove Drive, where an element combining public art with a water feature will greet visitors. “We have designed [the water feature] for misters; they will emit a mist of water rather than jets. We wanted to do something different. That’s why we also integrated it with art … we were trying to do something a little bit more creative,” says Todd Rankine, Singh’s director of architecture and planning.
Along Carolina Street, visitors will encounter a series of small recreation spaces, including a natural-feature playground and areas for sitting and relaxing. Cottage retailers will line the extension of Foxglove Drive—coffee vendors, ice cream vendors and similar shops.
The park will include a new, wide green space that will host the Western Wake Farmers Market and expand the Morrisville Educational Garden. The town also plans an open-air stage.
This area already hums with activity on Saturdays as people enjoy the farmers market. “What we’re looking to do is create a 16-hour, 7-day-per-week active space,” says Mayor T.J. Cawley. “Right now we have those four hours on Saturday mornings. We want to expand that to the entire week—and we will with this space.”
Living Connected
The downtown project includes a multi-use trail that will connect the Capital Area Greenway’s Sawmill trail with the Town of Morrisville’s Indian Creek Greenway. “If you look at [downtown Morrisville] as a regional connector point … those greenways connect into all the various other Morrisville parks and community centers and neighborhoods. And then that same greenway will take you out to [William B. Umstead State Park] and into Raleigh. You start thinking about it that way—that you could bike all the way over here from Umstead Park. That’s kind of cool,” says Avi Grewal, Singh’s director of development.
The town envisions making downtown Morrisville a hub for cyclists and others using regional greenways. They also hope the greenways will allow residents to access Morrisville’s downtown without cars. “Our slogan is ‘Live connected. Live well,” says Cawley, “and this downtown will really encapsulate that … I like the expression ‘All roads lead to Rome.’ And here in Morrisville, all the greenways will connect our families to downtown. That’s my goal: From anywhere in town, you’ll be able to get to downtown without a car.”
“This will be a destination to walk to—to enjoy, and to just meet more people,” Cawley adds. “I like to say that when you have shared experiences, you create shared memories, and that creates a stronger community. And our community is going to be infinitely strengthened through this project, decades in the making.”
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