Two decades after it opened as a hyped “new downtown” for North Raleigh, Triangle Town Center looks less like a regional mall and more like a holding lot. Big-name anchors have peeled away, storefronts are leaning hard on markdowns, and the conversation around the property has shifted from how to revive it to how to replace it. Macy’s has now announced it will close its Triangle Town Center store, a move many see as an accelerator for whatever comes next.
As reported by The News & Observer, regulars talk about long, quiet stretches of corridor and racks full of discounted merchandise, while leasing agents say potential tenants eye the place and then back away. The paper ties the slow unraveling to years of anchor departures, changing shopper habits and a bumpy ownership history that never quite stabilized the mall.
Ownership churn and a big parcel
The mall, a roughly 70-acre site near Capital Boulevard, was sold to Summit Properties USA in December 2024 as part of a broader acquisition, according to the Triangle Business Journal. The sheer size of the property and its easy highway access still make it a tempting target for redevelopment, even as earlier financial trouble and a brush with foreclosure have muddied long-term planning. Local listings and guides continue to point to the center at 5959 Triangle Town Blvd, a reminder of how visible the site remains in north Raleigh.
Tenants say they’re wary
Local brokers and would-be tenants told The News & Observer that questions about foot traffic and safety have made them think twice before signing leases. “Tenants have been apprehensive about going there,” Vijay Shah told the paper, and other observers say it will take a bold, clearly funded vision, not just a new mix of stores, to convince businesses that Triangle Town Center is worth the gamble.
Anchor exits and chainwide pain
Macy’s said the Triangle Town Center store is one of 14 locations it plans to close as the company reshapes its portfolio, according to a letter from CEO Tony Spring. Macy’s described the move as part of “targeted changes,” while industry outlet VMSD has tracked the closing list that includes the Raleigh store. For Triangle Town Center, it is one more anchor slipping away.
Luxury anchor in trouble
On the higher-end side of the spectrum, Saks Global, parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, adding fresh uncertainty for luxury anchors around the country. Reuters reported that the restructuring has vendors and landlords alike watching closely as the company reworks its finances.
Crime, closures and public perception
Triangle Town Center’s recent history also includes safety incidents that have weighed on its reputation. In 2022, a parking-lot shooting at the mall left a 21-year-old dead and resulted in charges, a grim reminder of how a single episode of violence can change how shoppers and prospective tenants view a property. ABC11 covered the case and later arrests. Longtime customers also point to the 2021 closing of Sears as one of the key dominoes that helped start the mall’s visible slide.
Odd signs in the parking lot
More recently, the mall’s strange in-between phase has played out in the parking lot. Earlier this winter, nearly 200 unsold Tesla Model Y vehicles were photographed lined up outside a shuttered anchor store, a striking tableau that local photojournalists quickly documented. That run of images and coverage was later collected on the author’s listing of work on Muck Rack.
What redevelopment might look like
Developers and planners now say the site is far better suited to a hybrid plan that blends housing, offices, transit connections and selective retail instead of trying to resurrect a full-scale indoor mall. Summit and other investors have talked through mixed-use concepts, the Triangle Business Journal reported, and nearby projects offer a preview of how denser, transit-oriented redevelopment could work. Those backing a reset argue that the mall’s location and size make a reimagined, not retail-first future the most realistic outcome…