Friday, June 29, 2012

Holly Springs: A real life Sim City Experience


Up until now, these blogs have been predominantly about Cary, but Cary is not the only popular suburb of Raleigh.  There is Apex, Morrisville, Wake Forest, Garner….and Holly Springs where my husband and I just bought our new home - we got an amazing deal: 3169 Square Ft of dream house for only $215,000
As a Realtor® I am fascinated with what makes real estate valuable, and since moving to NC I have also become interested in how towns/areas grow. On Long Island space is finite and growth is pretty much done, with the exception of the eastern most points.
 I used to love playing the Sim City computer game.  It gave the player a pretty good idea what had to happen to make a city successful, like the timely building of roads, electricity, sewers, housing, industry, schools, recreation, public transportation, etc. If you did a good job, your community ‘loved you’, if not, they would demand things: “your citizens demand a fire department”.  
 Living here is like watching that game come to life.  Little by little you can see towns like Holly Springs growing right before your eyes.
 You don’t have to travel far outside any of these towns to see what the countryside looked like around Raleigh before the “boom”.  Tiny 2 bedroom shacks, trailer homes, small farm ranches, many with the now decaying remnants of Tobacco Barns  (or drying sheds) as a reminder that much of this area was built on the Tobacco industry.
Now, as the area continues to attract more people and businesses,  the ‘Sim City’ model continues to expand towns to the south and west of Raleigh.  New roads are being built, including an ongoing major outer loop, NC-540 connecting the newly expanding suburbs with the city. New housing developments are being built continuously to keep up with the demand and replacing the little shacks with 4 bedroom dream homes.  With that comes the need for more schools. Since 2005 Wake county has added over 30 public schools to try to lessen overcrowding, and several more are in the works for the next 2 years alone.

And, just like in Sim City, the citizens demand cultural and Liesure facilities.  Holly Springs has met that challange beautifully with a gorgeous Library/Cultural Center and Theater, as well as with The W. E. Hunt Recreation Center with it's recent million dollar renovation which boasts


  • Fitness center
  • Elevated track that is 1/12 of a mile around
  • Gymnasium
  • Game room
  • Playground
  • Classrooms
  • Two multi-purpose spaces designed for aerobics

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    Holly Springs is scheduled for another one of my favorite necessities for a rapidly expanding area….the MAJOR shopping center.  Ground has been broken and leases entered into for the New Hill Place Shopping center which is expected to include bowling, movie theaters, major retailers and national restaurants, and is scheduled to open in less than 2 years. 
    This means a couple of important things: MORE JOBS = positive economy which equals an increase property value for the new house we just purchased.  Win/Win

    Come on down to Holly Springs! Get your property now while prices are still great, and watch the real Sim City play out!

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