Major Initiatives

The Town maintains a five-year capital improvement plan which serves as its planning document to ensure that its facilities, equipment and infrastructure are well maintained. This process provides the ability to plan for capital needs and allocate short and long term resources appropriately. The plan also serves as the basis for determining future debt issuance.

The following projects have been completed over the past year or are currently in progress.

Northern Wake Senior Center

Renovations to the Northern Wake Senior Center were completed, however the re-opening originally scheduled for March 2020 was delayed due to COVID-19. The $3.1 million construction project consisted of adding almost 9,000 square feet, interior renovations to most of the existing center and a complete redecoration.

Located at 235 E. Holding Ave., the senior center offers adults age 55 and older a full schedule of recreational activities, such as aerobics, line dancing, ballroom dancing, wood carving, painting, and craft making. The center also provides several social events each month, as well as educational classes on subjects including computers and ceramics.

Projects indicated with this logo were financed through general obligation bonds that were approved by Wake Forest

voters in November 2014.

Stadium Drive

Completed in 2020, the Stadium Drive Complete Street project is designed to improve vehicle and pedestrian safety, as well as traffic flow. New features include sidewalks, crosswalks, accessible bus stops and left turn lanes.

Downtown Improvements

Phase 3 consists of street and landscape improvements along South White Street: East Holding Avenue to Elm Avenue and East Owen Avenue: South White Street to Brooks Street. Total cost of the project is approximately $5.7 million, and construction was completed in December 2019.

Underground Fiber Infrastructure

Construction began in February 2020 on a high-speed fiber network that will interconnect 14 Town facilities and span 25 route miles. The $2.5 million project will support the Town’s public safety efforts and critical administrative activities. Construction is expected to be complete by spring 2021.

Joyner Park Community Center

Construction of the new Joyner Park Community Center was completed during the fiscal year. The new 32,000 square foot facility includes a walking track, gymnasium for basketball, volleyball and pickleball; multi-purpose rooms, dance studio and kitchen. It also houses the staff offices for the Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department. The grand opening was held October 19, 2019.

Situated in E. Carroll Joyner Park, 701 Harris Road, the Joyner Park Community Center is designed to blend in with current Joyner Park structures and the natural habitat.

Indoor walking track around the upper perimeter of the building as well as gymnasium inside Joyner Park Community Center.

Ligon Mill Operational Improvements

Improvements consist of widening the existing narrow corridor from two-lanes to a four-lane median divided highway with left-turn lanes, bike lanes, curb and gutter and extra wide sidewalks. Construction started in May 2020 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

Pedestrian Improvements to Wait Avenue & Oak Avenue

Construction was completed on pedestrian improvements to Wait Avenue and Oak Avenue. Final punch list items are currently underway. This effort was part of the Priority Pedestrian Corridor project. The Town continues to make strategic public investments that will spur private development. The following developments in progress are direct results of that investment:

n PowerHouse Row

This project consists of two multi-use buildings facing South White Street and extending downtown Wake Forest’s main street activity. The estimated investment of $13 million, is part of many public and private investments in the Renaissance Area of Wake Forest. The first phase has been completed and includes approximately 9,800 square foot building with retail and restaurant spaces on the first floor with apartments on the upper floors.

n Wegmans Food Markets

The supermarket will be located on Dr. Calvin Jones Highway/NC 98 Bypass between US 1/Capital Boulevard and Siena Drive. Construction is underway with estimated completion and opening in 2021.

n Loading Dock

Loading Dock is a coworking and collaborative workspace incubator with existing Raleigh locations. This $2 million building revitalization project will introduce 24,000 square feet of entrepreneurial coworking space to the community in addition to the continuation of expanding and enhancing downtown Wake Forest. Private offices, coworking space, conference rooms, dining space, indoor and outdoor event space and mezzanine spaces are all included in this innovative space. Construction is slated to begin in late 2020 with projected opening date sometime in 2021.

In March 2020, Wake Forest was impacted by COVID-19. Despite the pandemic, Wake Forest continued to improve in fiscal year 2020. Due to sustained growth in the region, Wake Forest benefits from above average economic indicators as compared to the rest of the state and nation.

6 staff positions were added to meet the needs of our growing community. Two of these positions are for Joyner Park Community Center which opened October 2019.

Board approved Town merger with The Fire Department. Representatives from the Town and the Fire Department collaborated to address a range of topics and facilitated a smooth transition in July 2020.

Planned use of fund balance (reserves) - our policy affords us the opportunity for funding one- time items.

Started in 2020, major updates to the Northeast Community Plan and the Wake Forest Community Plan will define and create a blueprint for our future.

To be fiscally prudent going forward, the Town changed its policy for all employees hired on or after July 1, 2018: upon retirement, medical and life insurance benefits will not be provided.