The retail giant Costco Wholesale Corporation is interested in replacing southwest Cary's MacGregor Village shopping center with one of its warehouse-style stores.

Town of Cary staff have confirmed that Costco submitted a "pre-application" to the town in September.

The early documents include a conceptual plan that calls for the demolition of all the 1980s-era mall's buildings except for its bank, according to Cary's staff and mayor.

If Costco followed through on its current plans, the membership-based store would build a 147,000-square-foot store and a gas station, Costco's second facility in Wake County, at the western corner of U.S. 64 and U.S. 1, near the MacGregor Downs subdivision.-

Staff writer Andrew Kenney
 

Simon Property Group, owner of Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield, MacGregor Village in Cary and North Ridge shopping center in Raleigh, has offered to buy its bankrupt rival General Growth Properties for more than $10 billion.

Chicago-based General Growth owns five malls in North Carolina, including The Streets at Southpoint in Durham.

According to Bloomberg News, the offer includes $9 billion in cash.

The deal, if completed, is unlikely to be noticed by Triangle shoppers.

When General Growth filed for bankruptcy last April -- after billions in debt it had amassed acquiring properties came due -- it was the biggest real-estate bankruptcy in U.S. History.

The 1.3 million-square-foot Streets at Southpoint mall is one of the region's most successful a prime asset in General Growth's portfolio.

Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group owns a total of seven properties in North Carolina. It is the largest owner of shopping centers in the country.