Rezoning drawn to Epic Games’ planned Carne Town Center headquarters, Future of Site Unknown :: WRAL.COM

The future of the former place of Cary Towne Center is once again up in the air as Cary officials drew the Rezoning request for Epic Games’ planned headquarters late in 2024.

The gaming company applied for a changeover request from Cary Towne Center in 2021 after purchasing the property the same year, but As per the City of Cary’s Rezoning -Webstedwas the request withdrawn on December 6 because of “inactivity.”

“If an applicant does not manage to pursue an ambient application for a period of six months, the application is considered extracted,” wrote the city of Cary Assistant Planning Director Katie Drye in a letter obtained by WRAL NEWS. “It has been more than six months since the staff has been made aware of any activity on the above rezoning case.”

The former Cary Towning Center has been empty for years, but Cary Company behind one of the world’s most popular games, Fortnite, Applied for reorganization to transform the former shopping center into its new headquarters.

Cary Assistant Town Manager Scot Berry told Wral News that the restrictions on conversion requests are in place to make sure land just doesn’t sit unused.

“If you just have to sit on it, there must be some restriction on when things would expire,” he said. “Rules may change. Perhaps preferences may change. So if it could be open, it ended forever, it could be problematic for both the developer and Cary.”

Here is a timeline for Cary Towne Center and Epic Games’ history with the place.

• January 3, 2021: Epic Games buys Cary Towne Center -site for new headquarters with completion planned for 2024.
• 31 January 2021: Cary Towning Center closes.
• May 21, 2021: Epic Games’ Rezoning Request Accepted by Cary -Employees.
• July 14, 2021: Meetings held around Cary to discuss plan for new headquarters.
• December 8, 2021: Authorization for demolition of Cary Towning Center requested.
• December 16, 2021: Public consultation held at Cary City Council meeting to discuss how Epic games will use a new place.
• April 29, 2022: The last piece of Cary Towning Center torn down.
• November 30, 2023: Cary Town Official confirms that epic games to this point had not submitted development plans to the city.
• December 6, 2024: Rezoning -request drawn by Cary -Employees after “Inactivity.”

However, the company has been involved in several legal battles since they applied for omnizing, Including a fine of $ 520 million over Fortnite from FTCand antitrust -ret cases against both Google And Apple after both companies started Fortnite from their respective companies’ app stores.

While a judge largely gave up the benefit of Apple, another judge gave up that the Google Play store had been protected by “competitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers.”

In 2023, CEO Tim Sweeney announced that the company dismissed about 830 employees throughout the company. Sweeney said at the time that the move was due to several reasons, including a loss of income from the sale.

According to the city of Cary, the current zoning of the property as approved for the Carolina Yards project remains a development that would give thousands of office, commercial and residential areas to the area.

Berry said he is not worried about how the property will be used in the future, whether of epic games or another project.

“When I think of any place in Cary, I always get excited,” he said. “The former shopping center is a great location … When considering what will go there, we will work with them and it will be an exciting result.”

The city said that if Epic Games wants to continue with its plan to turn the former mall into its new headquarters, they will have to submit another conversion plan.

In a statement to Wral News, Epic Games said they have no updates to their plans for Cary Town Center but will remain headquartered in Cary.

WRAL -anchor/reporter Chris Lovingood and Wral Multiplatform manufacturer Joseph Ochoa contributed to this report.