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Six months after it failed to win approval, a plan for up to 625 homes, offices, shops and a car wash along N.C. 55 won unanimous support from the Cary Town Council.
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The council approved the Alston Commons rezoning Thursday, clearing a major hurdle for a nearly 23-acre mixed-use development near Petty Farm Road after the applicant added new guarantees on housing and the project’s proposed car wash.
The revised plan guarantees at least 500 homes and adds a condition aimed at preventing the car wash from opening as a standalone development. The project can ultimately include up to 625 homes, 200,000 square feet of office space, 25,000 square feet of other commercial space and a car wash of up to 30,000 square feet.
Applicant attorney Jason Barron of Morningstar Law Group told the council the 500-unit minimum and stronger phasing followed concerns raised by council members.
Barron told council the two central mixed-use sections would “come out of the ground at the same time” as the car wash. But Planning Manager Erin Puckett clarified that the zoning condition requires only that vertical construction — at least erecting columns — have begun in both sections before the car wash can open. The condition does not require those buildings to be completed or guarantee the timing of the full buildout.
The site is within one of Cary’s designated Destination Centers, where the town’s plan calls for higher-density, mixed-use growth.
Puckett told the council that the central mixed-use portions largely fit that vision, while the car-wash pod does not on its own because of its vehicle-oriented use and form. Staff nevertheless recommended approval of the project as a whole.
The traffic study supporting the rezoning was completed in 2022. In an email to The News & Observer, Puckett said Cary considers rezoning traffic studies valid for five years and that revisions to the project were estimated to remain within the peak-hour traffic projected by the original analysis. Cary and NCDOT will review transportation again when a development plan is submitted and could require additional improvements.
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At least 5% of the homes must be rented at rates affordable to households earning no more than 80% of the area median income for 30 years. Because the project now guarantees at least 500 homes, that means at least 25 income-restricted units.
Another 5% of the homes must be 750 square feet or smaller, but the same apartments can count toward both requirements.
Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush said she was concerned that the two requirements can overlap, even though she supported the rezoning.
“If the same apartments can count toward both, the headline number looks bigger than the actual affordability benefit,” Bush told The N&O.
More broadly, Bush said Cary is securing affordable units “a handful at a time, negotiated case by case,” but that the numbers are not keeping pace with the community’s needs.
“I can support this much density in this location because it is within one of our designated destination centers,” council member Brittany Richards said during the meeting. For Richards, concentrating growth there allows other parts of Cary to remain less dense and less developed.
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This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 4:15 PM.