The Triangle's overall office vacancy rate might be hovering around 21%, but developer Kane Realty is hearing from a growing number of tenants looking for space, says Bonner Gaylord, the firm's chief operating officer.

Why it matters: Kane Realty is one of the Triangle's most prolific developers, with a portfolio of office, retail and apartment buildings stretching from North Hills, which it has turned into one of the region's most popular live-work-play destinations, to downtown Raleigh.

What they're saying: Kane's heard from potential tenants seeking close to a million square feet of space total, Gaylord told Axios. "It's really the most significant pipeline of prospects we've ever had."

• Most of that activity has come since November, Gaylord said. "I think the market desires certainty, and so with the uncertainty of the election everybody pauses and waits to see how everything's going to shake out."
• Touring activity set a record for the company the second week after the election, he added. "Then in the beginning of January, we had a huge influx of new prospects."

Of the potential prospects for space, 55% are from out-of-state companies, he said, citing internal Kane Realty data.

• Raleigh, he noted, has mostly been competing with markets like South Florida, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas and Nashville for potential tenants.

State of play: An influx of tenants would be welcome news for the Triangle's office market as well as Kane Realty, which opened three new office buildings in North Hills last year — and is still trying to get its ambitious Downtown South project off the ground.

• Gaylord said he believes Kane is well positioned in North Hills to continue signing new leases thanks to the huge investments the company has made in building retail and apartments around its office buildings there.
• The company's Main District and Innovation District expansions have added dozens of new retailers in the past year, including an RH Gallery and restaurants like the Village Tavern.

By the numbers: Gaylord said, excluding newly opened buildings, Kane's North Hills office buildings have an extremely low vacancy rate of 3.8%. Its newer buildings, however, still have plenty of space for potential tenants.

Go deeper on what's next for North Hills

North Hills has added dozens of new retailers and restaurants in the past year — with more to come.

Here are a few of the new spots that have opened:

• 🍽️ Restoration Hardware's three-story gallery and restaurant, North Hill's largest retail addition
• 🍽️ True Food Kitchen, a 6,000-square-foot health-focused restaurant chain
• 🍽️ Village Tavern, a 7,600-square-foot upscale eatery originally founded in Winston-Salem
• 🥗 Popular salad chain Sweetgreen's first Triangle location
• 🍷 Foxcroft Wine Bar, the first Triangle location for the popular Charlotte wine bar
• 🍪 Captain Cookie & The Milkman, a cookie and ice cream maker
• 🧘‍♀️ Dose Yoga & Smoothie, the second location for the Raleigh yoga studio and smoothie bar
• 🍽️ The Italian restaurant Leo's
• 👕 Clothing store J. Crew
• 👕 Men's clothing store Johnnie-O
• 👕 Women's fashion store Madewell
• 💄 Chanel Beauty

Keep reading for a dozen more openings

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🎓 The UNC System will no longer require students to take courses focused on diversity, equity or inclusion as a condition of graduation, in response to an executive order issued by President Trump. (WRAL)

Durham nonprofit FHI 360, which receives significant USAID funding, is furloughing 200 workers. (Triangle Business Journal 🔒)

🇺🇸 200 years ago, Revolutionary War general Marquis de Lafayette toured North Carolina with then-President James Monroe, visiting Halifax, Raleigh, Rocky Mount and Fayetteville, which is named after him. (WUNC)

💸 The City of Durham is still owed tens of thousands of dollars from a promoter it used to book last year's Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival. (News & Observer 🔒)

• The promoter had promised to book the singer Monica as a headliner but ultimately was scammed and the singer never showed.

Raising Cane's, the Louisiana fried chicken restaurant with a cult following, will open its second Triangle location on Raleigh's Hillsborough Street.

The latest: Raising Cane's debuted Triangle in 2023 with a location on Chapel Hill's Franklin Street, immediately attracting long lines of UNC students for its chicken tenders.

• The company appears to be trying to replicate that success, putting its next location on Hillsborough Street near N.C. State University.

Driving the news: Cane's will take over the former Umami Asian Bistro location on Hillsborough Street, next to Mitch's Tavern, according to the Triangle Business Journal.

• The goal is to be open by the end of the year.