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Shopping center gets a much-needed glow-up.
Ridgewood Shopping Center has long been a get-in, get-out kind of destination, whether you’re just dropping in to get a bottle of wine from Ridgewood Wine & Beer Company, groceries at Whole Foods, or some State swag from the Red and White Shop. But that’s slowly begun to change with the additions of spots like Drift and Taco Bamba that entice patrons to linger for more than just a quick errand.
And, now, thanks to Regency Centers—which bought the property in 2018—the center is getting a glow-up, shifting from “a place rather than just a convenient center,” says New City Design Group Principal Ted Van Dyk, one of the main architects on the project. “It’s a great crossroads.”
Anchoring the revamp is an upcoming 3,702-square-foot full-service sit-down restaurant with an exclusive patio, to replace the former All-Star Bike Shop on the corner of the west end side of the property facing Ridge Road—which was bought by Conte’s Bike Shop and moved down to where Drift is ~three years ago in preparation for the reface.
Serving as the only full-service restaurant between Village District and Lenovo Center, says Regency Centers Senior Project Manager Adam Jolly, the eatery will no doubt attract a whole new slew of visitors who are headed to a hockey game or show at Lenovo, or before/after attending the NC State Fair come October.
Regency is still in talks with potential vendors, but Senior Leasing Agent Allison Wiggs says they are “looking for an upscale local, regional or national concept to complement this redevelopment and bring a unique dining opportunity inside the beltline.” Perhaps an upscale Italian or pizza restaurant, she teases.
To boot, the team is also working with the ABC commission to try and get a Common Area Entertainment Permit similar to those in Smoky Hollow and Village District that would allow patrons to enjoy alcoholic drinks on the lawn below Taco Bamba—and throughout the entire center.
“Little by little we’re creating all these activity nodes,” says Van Dyk. “We want to try to create an environment where people might stick around for a while—do a little window shopping, walk around, let the kids play, then have lunch and do their shopping at Whole Foods.”
Having endured several iterations and exterior add-ons throughout the years, the redevelopment also includes exercising adaptive reuse while harkening the design back to its original bones. The green mansard roofs will be stripped to reveal natural materials and a clean, midcentury-modernesque flat roof—which you can already see over the Red and White Shop—that’ll be more cohesive with already-updated areas of the center.
Whole Foods’ refresh includes dark-bronze awnings and a coat of a light-gray paint like that on the Snooker’s/Dress side, and legacy tenant Great Yarns will debut an entirely new storefront that swaps the wood siding for glass. But, don’t worry, the signature pink door will remain (just on the Ridge Road side).
Regency hopes all the changes will uplift Ridgewood in the same vein as Village District. “And who knows what’s going to happen as future tenants look at this shopping center and see what we’re doing,” muses Van Dyk. And, so, a new Raleigh hot spot is in the making. ridgewoodshoppingcenter.com
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