Growth continues at a rapid clip across the Triangle. Here are 5 places to watch in 2024.
As the town manager of Holly Springs, Randy Harrington knows growth. The population of his southwestern Wake County town has exploded this century — from roughly 10,000 residents in 2000 to more than 46,000 today.
The VinFast factory coming 20 minutes away, near the community of Moncure, will only increase the trend, he says.
“I think Apex and Holly Springs might be a couple of the closest municipalities to VinFast,” Harrington said. “But the other important thing to keep in mind is that they are going to draw employees from, I bet you, 20 to 30 counties around the central region of North Carolina. So a lot of communities are going to feel the impacts.”
Change is rarely siloed, especially in the high-growth North Carolina Triangle. The impacts of a promised 7,500-worker car plant extend beyond the Moncure site. A rapid bus line in 2024 may transform East Raleigh neighborhoods and a long-sought grocery store in downtown Durham could make the whole city center more livable.
Like the previous 12 months, the next 12 are poised to see development expand the Triangle’s scope. Hundreds of apartments are being built from portions of a Chapel Hill mall. Former farmland in the Chatham County seat of Pittsboro will add to the region’s suburban sprawl.
Public officials, from Harrington to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, acknowledge that the externalities of this wide-reaching development must be balanced. Home prices may rise. Finding housing becomes more difficult. Infrastructure is tested, and construction disruptions are certain. Historic neighborhoods get replaced.
This is the inherent give and take of growth. And in 2024, the growth will keep coming in ways both familiar and new.
The N&O predicted these Triangle areas would be ones to watch. How our forecast held up
