In September 2026, the Town of Morrisville's construction update reads like directions through a work zone. Cars headed to the Town Campus are routed behind Fire Station One. Foxglove Drive is closed between Jeremiah Street and Carolina Street. Library patrons park in a temporary lot reached from Carolina Street through Church Street. Crews are still demolishing and rebuilding Carolina Street itself. If you tour a home near Town Hall Drive this fall, these detours are part of the drive in.
All of this work feeds one long-promised idea: Morrisville gets a downtown. Listings near the area tend to describe the payoff as one package, with walkability, better roads and maybe a train all on the way. The public schedules tell a different story. The downtown, the road rebuild and the rail stop run on three separate clocks, and they are years apart. A home near Church Street and McCrimmon Parkway gets each one at a different time, and in a different order than the marketing suggests.
The first clock: a town green and 215 apartments, opening around 2027
Morrisville's town center has been planned for almost two decades. The idea dates back to 2007, when the Morrisville Board of Commissioners adopted it, and the project broke ground in September 2025. Speaking to The Line, Town Manager Brandon Zuidema called it "probably the most significant project the town has undertaken in the last 25 years."
The first phase has two connected pieces next to the Morrisville Community Library on Town Hall Drive:
- The Town Green. Plans call for a stage, a lawn that holds up to 2,500 people, a play area, public art, and the Western Wake Farmers Market and Educational Garden. Four buildings around a shared space will hold eight "cottage retail" spaces of 1,250 square feet each. The Green also includes a social district, and Singh Development will manage it through a public-private partnership.
- The apartments. NC Construction News describes a four-story, 215-unit building with ground-floor retail and commercial space, with Singh Development as the main private partner. It comes with an enclosed parking deck that adds 100 spaces for town center use.
The whole district covers about 25 acres and is expected to cost about $20.9 million, with bond proceeds as the largest funding source. The opening date is still loose. The Line reported in January 2026 that the first phase was expected to open in 2027. The Town's April 2026 capital projects report lists Phase 1A completion as 2027/2028. As of September, crews were still working on the site, foundations and infrastructure for the apartments and parking deck, and on foundations and seat walls around the Green.
This is the clock closest to finishing, and it is the one a listing means by "walkable downtown." It is a real amenity with real dates. But it arrives just as the second clock starts.
The second clock: road construction starts in 2027 and runs to about 2030
Two NCDOT projects pass right by the Town Center. Project U-5747 widens McCrimmon Parkway from two lanes to four, from west of Davis Drive to Perimeter Park Drive. It adds a flyover above the railroad tracks and NC 54, plus displaced left-turn lanes on Davis Drive. Project U-5750 widens NC 54 to four lanes from Shiloh Glenn Drive to Perimeter Park Drive, adds lanes near the NC 540 interchange, and changes some access points along the corridor.
The Town's April 2026 report says both projects are scheduled to go out to bid together in July 2027, with completion estimated for 2030. It also says slow right-of-way acquisition has already led NCDOT to push the schedule back several times. The Town's major roadway projects page says utility relocation is expected in 2026 and construction is expected to begin in summer 2027.
Put this next to the first clock. The Town Green and the Singh apartments are set to open somewhere between 2027 and 2028. A major road rebuild is set to start nearby in mid-2027 and run for roughly three years after that. For someone buying near the Town Center today, the first years of the new downtown will likely come with heavy construction on the main routes into it. Much of the current traffic on McCrimmon Parkway and NC 54 should eventually get relief, but the 2030 date has already moved more than once.
The third clock: the train is a line in a 2045 plan
The rail story is where listing language and public documents differ most. In June 2024, Morrisville adopted its Transit Oriented Development and Zoning Plan. It places a proposed rail station in an area called TOD West and sketches 2,065 housing units there: 690 TOD-residential units and 1,375 mixed-use and transit-supportive units. Building heights would range from 5 to 7 stories for residential, 5 to 9 for mixed-use, and 9 to 13 for transit-supportive mixed-use, with a 150-foot cap overall. This is a concept for how the area could grow. It does not approve any development.
The regional rail plans have moved in a different direction since then. GoTriangle's Greater Triangle Commuter Rail study found significant benefits for the region, but also significant feasibility challenges in building regional rail within the budget and timeline of the current Wake and Durham transit plans. The challenges included sharing the corridor with freight and intercity trains and engineering the many road crossings. The follow-up study by CAMPO and Triangle West TPO focuses on adding intercity passenger rail in small steps. By its own description, it is not a commuter rail study. When a joint rail subcommittee met in September 2025, elected officials still had to give direction on funding, cost-sharing and priorities.
The long-range plan adopted in February 2026, Destination 2055, keeps Morrisville on the map, but late in the sequence. It lists regional rail from the Regional Transit Center to Wake Forest in its 2035 horizon. The same route appears again in the 2045 horizon "with stop added in Morrisville (McCrimmon)." Even in the long-range plan, then, trains would run past Morrisville for a decade before a station is added. Neither horizon is a funding or construction commitment. For now, Piedmont trains stop in Cary, with eight daily trains, and the Carolinian also stops in Cary. Neither has a Morrisville or RTP stop.
The three clocks side by side
| Window | Town Center | McCrimmon Pkwy and NC 54 | Rail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | Site, foundation and utility work; Foxglove Drive closed | Utility relocation expected | No Morrisville stop; Cary has Piedmont and Carolinian service |
| 2027 | First phase targeted to open | Projects bid together in July; construction expected from summer | Follow-up study focused on intercity rail, not commuter rail |
| 2028 | Phase 1A listed as 2027/2028 | Under construction | Planning only |
| 2030 | Open | Estimated completion, after several delays | Planning only |
| 2045 | Open | Complete | Morrisville (McCrimmon) stop appears in the long-range plan |
Over the next several years, a home near Town Hall Drive gets a new green, a farmers market and a few cottage shops, along with years of road work. The rail station is a line in a plan with a 2045 horizon. The 2,065 units in the TOD concept depend on that rail line. The 215 apartments now going up are the part already funded and under construction.
Checking these clocks on a showing
None of these timelines show up on a listing sheet. Here are a few public sources that let you match a specific address to the schedules above:
- The Town's monthly project updates. The Town Projects page posts closures and detours each month. In September 2026 those included Foxglove Drive, rolling lane closures on Carolina Street moving toward Church Street, and Town Hall Drive running one lane each way while sewer lines went in.
- NCDOT's project maps. The U-5747 public meeting maps show the flyover's footprint and the Davis Drive turn lanes. For the NC 54 widening, the U-5750 map, sheet 1, shows the access changes along the corridor.
- The TOD plan's own wording. If a listing mentions a future station, the 2024 plan and Destination 2055 are the public documents that describe one, and both describe a plan, not a schedule.
- The tax rate you'd carry while you wait. Morrisville adopted a FY2027 rate of $0.35 per $100 of assessed value, unchanged from FY2026. Wake County's FY2027 rate is 53.71 cents per $100, for the year from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. Together that's 88.71 cents per $100 before any other districts or charges. At a $500,000 assessed value, the town and county portions come to about $4,436 a year.
For context, NC REALTORS® reported 5.93 months of inventory statewide in September 2026, with closed sales down 11% year over year and the median price up 0.7% to $370,000. Those are statewide numbers, not Morrisville numbers. They describe a balanced market where buyers have time to ask about timelines before they make an offer.
FAQ
Is there a train station planned in Morrisville? It's in long-range plans. The 2024 TOD plan places a proposed station in TOD West, and Destination 2055 adds a Morrisville (McCrimmon) stop in its 2045 horizon. Neither is a funded, scheduled project. GoTriangle's commuter rail study found significant feasibility challenges, and the follow-up study focuses on intercity rail.
When will Morrisville Town Center open? The first phase was expected in 2027 according to a January 2026 report. The Town's April 2026 capital report lists Phase 1A completion as 2027/2028.
When does the McCrimmon Parkway flyover get built? The Town's April 2026 report puts the bid date in July 2027 and completion in 2030, after several schedule delays tied to right-of-way acquisition.
Who is building the Town Center apartments? Singh Development, which will also manage the Town Green through a public-private partnership with the Town.
When you're weighing a home near Church Street or McCrimmon Parkway, it helps to know which of these clocks you're buying into. Whether you're comparing addresses near the new Town Center or thinking about selling before the road work starts, Cobb Zies & Co can walk through how these timelines may affect a specific street. Request a free home valuation, and we'll start with your address and the construction schedules around it.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
