Meet the New Yorker turning 1,100 acres of Apex into a walkable city of its own.

In this episode: the full story behind Veridea, the master-planned community taking shape in Apex, straight from the developer building it, plus how RXR brought NC Children's, the UNC Health and Duke Health children's hospital, to Apex, and what southwest Wake County will look like twenty years from now.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

If you have driven NC 55 lately, you have seen the dirt moving. Pipe going in the ground. Foundations being poured. Lampposts and sod along a brand new main street. What you cannot see yet is the city taking shape underneath it all.

In this episode of Best of Raleigh, host Gretchen Coley sits down with Joe Graziose, Executive Vice President of Residential Construction and Development at RXR, the company behind Veridea. It is one of the largest mixed-use developments in North Carolina, and it is rising right here in Apex.

Veridea at a Glance

• Location: Apex, North Carolina, nestled between US-1 and I-540 and along NC 55, just south of historic downtown Apex
• Size: roughly 1,100 acres
• Developer: RXR
• Planned: about 8,000 homes, roughly 12 million square feet of office and research space, and 3.5 million square feet of retail and dining
• Anchor: NC Children's, a 230-acre health campus with a 500-bed children's hospital, a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health
• Also planned: a Wake Tech Community College campus, a Wake County elementary school, and a 25,000 square foot recreation center
• First residents: expected near the end of 2027
• Timeline: a roughly twenty-year build

From Bussing Tables to a 40-Year Career in Development

Joe Graziose did not come up easy. His dad was a construction worker, his mom was a waitress, and by 13 he was bussing tables alongside her after school and on weekends. By 19, he had taken out a loan he could not really afford and started his own development and construction company.

Forty years later, he has built housing across the country, run his own contracting companies, and joined RXR in 2007, right as the market was about to fall apart. The lesson he took from those years is simple. Patience, and the willingness to go back to the table and renegotiate when a deal stops working.

His proof point is the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, a million square feet of residential with no attached hotel. When he called for closings, 150 of the 175 contracts had defaulted. He moved his family in, reverse-commuted, and worked the deal until it sold out. As he puts it, you miss 100 percent of the shots you do not take.

What Is Veridea?

Veridea is a roughly 1,100-acre master-planned community in Apex, developed by RXR, designed so people can live, work, learn, and play in one connected place. It sits in western Wake County between US-1 and I-540 and along NC 55, just south of downtown Apex, with quick access to Cary, Raleigh, Holly Springs, RTP, and RDU.

The site sat dormant for nearly two decades, and plenty of homebuilders looked at it and walked away. Joe's read on why RXR could do it is blunt. They are not house builders. They are master developers and creators of economic growth.

The plan calls for about 8,000 homes, roughly 12 million square feet of office and research space, and 3.5 million square feet of retail and dining. That mix is the whole point. Joe is not asking how many houses he can fit. He is building a place where people can stay for a lifetime.

What Is the NC Children's Campus?

NC Children's is a 230-acre children's health campus inside Veridea, a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health, anchored by a 500-bed children's hospital. It is set to be the only freestanding, independent children's hospital in the Carolinas, with a children's outpatient care center and 103 behavioral health beds for children and adolescents.

Joe is quick to say he did not get the two systems together. They did that themselves. What he did was move fast. RXR closed the land deal in a matter of weeks, met every Saturday and Sunday, and walked into Apex hand in hand with the children's team.

The economic case is enormous. NC Children's is projected to create roughly 8,000 jobs in Apex and Wake County, and Joe, who sits on the board of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, points to thousands more indirect jobs and billions added to the state's economy over the next two decades. When you land something that big, you stop and rethink everything else on the map.

Building a Place, Not Just Buildings

Joe keeps coming back to a phrase: eds, meds, and wellness. Education, healthcare, and quality of life are the boxes he wants every superstar region to check, and Apex checks all three.

That is why education came first. A Wake Tech Community College campus and a new Wake County elementary school are both planned on site. Joe imagines a future Veridian who could be born at the hospital, grow up in the community, study at Wake Tech, and build a career without ever needing to leave.

It is also why he is building things that do not pencil on a spreadsheet. Walkable streets. Bike paths. Bus stops installed before the buses arrive. A mobility hub. And a 25,000 square foot recreation facility that RXR plans to build and hand over to the Town of Apex.

Will Veridea Make Traffic Worse on NC 55?

Joe does not dodge the traffic question. The development has its own access off I-540 at Veridea Parkway, with four-lane roads running through the property.

NC 55 is the harder problem. RXR is investing more than $160 million in infrastructure across the site, and Joe says close to $18 million of that is going into off-site work on NC 55, done in partnership with NCDOT. New lanes, new traffic signals, a new ramp, and added turn lanes. His claim is direct. The mitigation going in will improve NC 55, not make it worse. Town leaders have said those road upgrades are targeted to be in place before the first residents arrive.

Why Joe Builds From Inside the Community

Joe credits RXR's success here to how the company shows up. They do not bulldoze their way into a town. They go in first, they listen, and then they build.

He means it literally. He shows up at local festivals like PeakFest. He mentors Apex High School students in his offices. He cannot get in an Uber without the driver knowing who he is. Southern hospitality, he says, is the most under-articulated thing about North Carolina, and it is a big part of why he wants to do more business here.

The Glen Cove Blueprint

This is not Joe's first time turning a hard site into a place. Thirty years ago he started a 56-acre waterfront redevelopment in Glen Cove, New York, his hometown, now known as Garvies Point, with more than 1,100 units.

It was a Superfund site with contaminated soil he kept trying to hide until he could not anymore. The team worked with 35 governmental agencies over more than a decade to clean it up, even bringing in Al Gore early on to help navigate the environmental side. Today the same neighbors who fought it walk the 1.5-mile esplanade, sit in the dog parks, and gather for the Saturday farmer's market.

The takeaway he carries into Veridea is about programming. A community needs reasons to come together, so the farmer's markets, concerts, and gathering spaces have to be planned in from day one.

What People Get Wrong About Master-Planned Communities

Ask Joe what people misunderstand and he points to risk. The financial exposure a developer takes on is enormous, and the public rarely sees the upside in jobs and taxes that comes with it.

He also names the mistake towns make. They focus on one thing, usually single-family rooftops, and one thing burns out. The answer is a real mix. Density, multifamily, workforce housing, retail, office, and industry, so people have places to both live and work.

What Will Veridea Look Like in Twenty Years?

Joe's vision for a Saturday two decades out is specific. He is keeping the main street in Veridea Crossing, the walkable retail district, private, so RXR can close it down for events. Farmer's markets. Coffee shops with people spilling outside. Families picnicking on the lawns.

This is a twenty-year build, and Joe will say so in the boardroom even when nobody wants to hear it. But he believes the first ten years will land the biggest impact. He has already promised Gretchen a walk on the finished site, and she intends to collect.

Rapid Fire with Joe Graziose

• Favorite project you have ever worked on: The masterplan in Glen Cove
• Best piece of advice you have ever received: Never give up
• Most exciting part of Veridea: The people
• One word for Apex's future: Incredible
• Early morning on the job site or a late-night strategy session: Early morning
• Go-to way to spend a day off: Fishing

Veridea FAQ

What is Veridea? Veridea is a roughly 1,100-acre master-planned community in Apex, North Carolina, developed by RXR, with homes, retail, offices, research space, schools, and a children's hospital all in one place.

Where is Veridea located? In western Wake County, just south of downtown Apex, nestled between US-1 and I-540 and along NC 55.

Who is the developer? RXR, a national real estate developer based in New York. Veridea is led by Joe Graziose, Executive Vice President of Residential Construction and Development.

When will people be able to move in? The first residents are expected near the end of 2027, beginning with Summit House, the development's first apartment community. Full build-out is a roughly twenty-year project.

What is the children's hospital coming to Apex? NC Children's, a 230-acre campus anchored by a 500-bed children's hospital and a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health. It is set to be the only freestanding, independent children's hospital in the Carolinas.

Will Veridea include a Wake Tech campus? Yes. A Wake Tech Community College campus and a Wake County elementary school are both planned on site.

How will Veridea affect traffic on NC 55? RXR is funding off-site improvements on NC 55 with NCDOT, including new lanes, signals, a ramp, and turn lanes, with the goal of completing them before residents move in.

Why It Matters

Joe Graziose is not just building apartments and office space in Apex. He is building the kind of place a person could spend a whole life inside, and he is doing it the way he has always worked, by listening first and delivering second.

If you want to understand where southwest Wake County is headed, watch the dirt move along NC 55. Then come back in ten years. Joe says it will be a walkable, working, fully alive community, and he has invited Gretchen for a bike ride to prove it. That is the kind of promise this city is being built on.

Related listening: Inside Kane Realty: How Mike Smith Is Shaping the Future of Raleigh

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