“Whole Foods here has such an avid following. They’ve done a superb job cultivating loyal customers that will travel to their stores in great numbers,” Widmayer says. “The Triangle market is also strong and is well-positioned to thrive coming out of the recession.”

Market at Colonade has an additional 17,503-square feet of retail space to lease. Panera Bread and Samuel Cole Salon have already committed to the project. In all, the new center boasts 90% committed occupancy. The building is the first LEED-registered retail project in the Triangle.

Market at Colonnade is part of a public-private collaboration between Regency, the City of Raleigh and NC State University to test and monitor innovative storm water management methods. In fact, one of the center's most innovative sustainability features is a storm water system that utilizes underground water storage beneath the parking lot surface, rather than a traditional retention pond.

Whole Foods Market designed and constructed its store interior to meet the USGBC certification for LEED v2.0 Commercial Interiors, and partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Commercial Building Partnerships, an effort to an effort to dramatically reduce energy use in both new construction and existing commercial buildings using cost-effective strategies.