Friendly Center

Friendly Center and the Shops at Friendly Center is a 75-acre open-lifestyle shopping, dining and entertainment experience. The complex, which boasts over 1.3 million square feet, is anchored by Belk, Macy’s, Sears, the Grande Cinema, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Old Navy, Harris Teeter and REI.

Friendly Center is located in Greensboro, the heart of North Carolina, which is enjoying a rise in upscale downtown living. The area also benefits from seven local colleges and universities with more than 55,000 college students.

Huie Design was tasked with modifying pylons, towers, monuments, wayfinding, variance applications and tenant sign refurbishment and criteria.
Huie wanted to create a unified brand identity for two properties that are divided by a leased parcel on which no signage can be placed. To accomplish this, iconic towers were created and strategically placed to visually link all three parcels.

Additionally, Huie wanted to draw patrons through the Friendly Center parcel where trees block site lines. Tree removal was allowed by the city, and wayfinding and internally illuminated sculptural ”trees” were installed to provide customers with a visual of three blocks of retail.

Developer: CBL and Associates