Apex set to welcome first apartment complex in Veridea; more housing, retail space to come

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- A much-anticipated development in Wake County has marked a major milestone.

On Tuesday, a groundbreaking was held at the first apartment complex in Veridea, the sprawling community planned in Apex that will include thousands of housing units, a Wake Tech campus, 3.5 million square feet of retail and hospitality space and the future NC Children's Hospital.

"We have sort of a proverbial mantra of 'eds, meds, and well-leds'. We call them superstar regions. Apex checked that box," said Joe Graziose, Executive Vice President of Residential Construction and Development for RXR, the developer behind Veridea.

Apex town leaders joined Mayor Jacques Gilbert and the leadership team from RXR at Tuesday's groundbreaking, where work officially began on Veridea's first vertical structure -- a two-building luxury apartment complex called Summit House, set to open to renters in early 2028. For Graziose, it's the start of a bold future for this once-dormant landscape.

"Physically and mentally, I've been working on this project in December for four years," he said. "But I've been coming back and forth trying to put this all together -- with a whole team, obviously, but really leading that team -- and today is just monumental."

Summit House will spearhead a project set to include the future NC Children's Hospital -- set to become the second-largest pediatric center in the country -- as well as thousands of future housing units. Mayor Jacques Gilbert said it's the next step in the booming town's growth story.

"Apex is a growing community, and we need to provide more opportunities," Gilbert said. "And we often talk about it being a welcoming community. So in order for us to welcome people in, we have to provide great opportunities. And RXR has done that today."

With at least ten years of construction ahead -- and an expected 2,300 jobs generated over that time -- it's a project with impact that Gilbert says exceeds the sum of its parts.

"Anything that brings good jobs is good for economic vitality," he said. "We talk a lot about that. And so anything moving in that direction, we embrace it fully."

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