Grove 98

Grove 98 is new construction at the doorstep of Traditions, on Highway 98, and it is the cheapest way into this part of town. About 300 homes are planned, a mix of rear-load townhomes and cottages, priced from roughly $375,000 to $550,000. Rear-load means the garages come off an alley and the street side of the house is a porch and a front door, so the blocks look different from most subdivisions out here. Grove 98 also has the town's first pocket park playground design, a small park built into the neighborhood instead of parked at the edge of it. Building started in 2021 and is still going.

Where it is

Grove 98 fronts Highway 98, next door to Traditions. Sitting on a highway instead of behind one is the practical difference between this neighborhood and most of the new building nearby: you pull out of the entrance and you are already on a main road. The trade is noise on the lots closest to the frontage, so stand in the yard of any lot near the road before you make an offer. Past that, the daily pattern is what it is anywhere on this side of Wake Forest. You drive to the grocery store, and you drive downtown.

What to know if you're moving here

The mix is townhomes and single-family, about 300 homes at build-out, in a price band of $375,000 to $550,000. The number to look at after the price is the one that comes due every month.

• The homeowners association is $150 a month, or $1,800 a year, well above what the older single-family neighborhoods in town charge.
• Dues at that level usually mean the association handles exterior or lawn work an owner would otherwise pay for separately.
• Read the documents, because what is covered can differ between the townhome side and the cottage side.
• Schools are Richland Creek Elementary, Wake Forest Middle and Wake Forest High.
• The amenity the neighborhood is known for is the pocket park playground, so ask the builder directly if a pool is on your list.
• Houses built since 2021 are close to new, though the first phase is far enough along that some builder warranties have run out.

What to do if you're visiting

The pocket park is the thing worth seeing here, mostly because it tells you how the neighborhood was designed to be used: the playground sits inside the blocks, where people can see it from a porch. Beyond that, a visit means the town around it.

• A short list of good plates done well is what Lily Mae's puts out.
• The kind of shop you go into for one thing and leave with three is Magpie and Crow.
• Dinner when nobody wants to decide is MOD Pizza – Wake Forest.
• Finish at Lumpy's Ice Cream, the closest thing Wake Forest has to a summer institution.
• Weekday afternoons are the calm time on Highway 98, and Saturday is not.