Mosaic announces first set of restaurants, retailers to open in coming months

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PITTSBORO — Mosaic, a mixed-used development under construction at Chatham Park, has made quiet but steady progress through the pandemic and will reach several landmarks over coming months, according to developer Kirk Bradley.

The 44-acre “entertainment and lifestyle destination” at U.S. Hwy. 501 and Russet Run Road has been in development since 2016 and is projected to cost $180 million by completion in 2024. It will include more than 200,000 square-feet of retail shops, restaurants and other businesses, including a 121-key Hampton Inn & Suites, 165 apartment units, 50 luxury condominiums and 88,000 square-feet of technical and creative office space.

Already, UNC Urgent Care of Chatham Park and UNC Rheumatology of Chatham Park have opened on site, occupying 7,500 square-feet in one of 19 buildings that will eventually populate the complex. Three buildings are complete and another three are underway, with about 18 new tenants expected to open their doors in coming months.

“There’s a lot of really exciting stuff coming up,” Bradley told the News + Record. “We’re going to have a lot of restaurants and things opening here in the next 30 to 60 days, so it’s a very exciting time.”

Restaurants joining the Mosaic community include O’Ya Cantina, a new sister location to Chapel Hill’s popular Latin restaurant; Jersey Mike’s Subs; and Greek Kouzina. Mosaic will also host David Sadeghi’s fourth Town Hall Burger + Beer and second People’s Coffee locations. Hops and Berry, a self-serve tap house and restaurant, has committed to Mosaic but will not open until late 2022.

“Restaurants are, of course, what a lot of people look forward to most,” said Bradley, who is also part-owner of Chatham Media Group, the News + Record’s parent company. “I think we’ve got a diverse selection of really good-quality options that folks will enjoy.”

New service providers will include a 2,500-square-foot Lux Nail Salon; Harris & Co. Insurance and CMG Financial Mortgage. Those interested in future residential options can visit the 1,400-square foot Mosaic Sales & Leasing Center to learn about for-sale homes at Tessera at Mosaic, a 50-unit luxury condominium collection, and The Guild, which will comprise 165 apartments.

Refuel — a gas and convenience station — and Hampton Inn & Suites have each purchased outparcel sites. Refuel was scheduled to open in mid-September and Hampton Inn plans to start construction in late October. Several office tenants will also move into a two-story office-over-retail building next month, including CE Group, Finley Design, Lee-Moore Capital Company, Sanford Contractors, Inc. and Mosaic’s property management office staffed by KANE Realty Corporation. An event lawn, called Mosaic Family Commons, is almost complete and will host its first event in early October (see sidebar story).

In total, 96% of currently available retail space and 45% of the office, technical and creative spaces have been leased.

“We’re kind of going zero to 100 here,” Bradley said. “And the nice thing is we’re opening — rather than one or two sort of isolated buildings — a real critical mass with several things that people can come and see and do in October.”

The announcements follow a challenging year in which spiking commodity prices and labor shortages strained the construction industry. Mosaic is about a year behind schedule, Bradley estimates, but the pandemic has yielded some positives.

“I think people have really had the chance to think about how they want to live and work as a result of the pandemic,” Bradley said, “and that has mostly worked out to our benefit. People are looking and saying, ‘Hey, we can live in a place like Chatham Park because they’re going to have something like Mosaic that sort of brings things together.’”

Bradley calls it an “urban-burb” model — melding the conveniences of city living with the privacy and comfort of the suburbs.

“It has a sense of urbanity,” he said. “People, Millennials especially, might be looking to raise families and so they may be looking at single family homes. But they want to find homes that are adjacent to an area that has the sort of activities they enjoy.”

Compared to 18-hour cities such as Raleigh and Durham, Mosaic will strive for a “sweet spot activation” of about 16 hours per day. “So hopefully that will meet and balance everybody’s desires,” Bradley said.

Mosaic’s partial opening marks the first major, non-residential milestone of the larger Chatham Park development. Upon completion, the 7,000-acre community will host more than 60,000 residents between about 22,000 homes. It will include 22 million square-feet of office, research, retail and educational space. Within a 25-minute drive of Chatham Park, “the population is expected to grow by more than 13% to 228,100 with an average household income $137,000 by 2025,” according to a Mosaic press release.

“I’m excited about where we are and where it’s going,” Bradley said. “I think we’ve got some real momentum, and I hope we’re representative and inclusive of all of current and future Pittsboro and Chatham County. It’s not easy to do these sort of projects, but I think we’ve got something really special.”

To learn more about Mosaic, visit www.Mosaicatchathampark.com.

Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @dldolder.