Fayetteville is on the cusp of a cultural and economic transformation as plans move forward for a large-scale Asian market as part of Fayetteville’s first truly mixed-use development. The ambitious project aims to bring together retail, dining, housing and community spaces in a vibrant new district. 

For years, Fayetteville’s Asian community has lacked a central hub for groceries, dining and cultural connection. On 3 Build Owner Hung (Jerry) Truong is working to amend that. In partnering with Sun Supermarket, a locally owned and operated Asian grocery store here in Fayetteville, Truong and the team are gearing up to give Fayetteville what it has been missing. 

Truong believes Fayetteville is “more than ready” for this type of Asian community. Between the growing Asian population, the many soldiers at Fort Bragg who’ve lived overseas in Asia and have grown familiar with different foods and products from that experience and even from the increasing influence of Asian pop culture in America, Truong shared that he knew the demand was there for a centralized Asian community. 

“People don’t really realize how much exposure they’ve had to different Asian cultures and stuff, and how excited they get when they come in there [to the store] and they see things that they’ve already looked at and they’re wanting to cook and stuff like that. So it’s very exciting to just see so much growth,” shared Sun Supermarket Co-owner Linda Rojas. 

The new development is an extension of the previously announced Midtown at Coalition – a modern, mixed-use property featuring apartments, townhouses and a two-story food hall being built in Fayetteville’s Military Business Park just outside the gates of Fort Bragg. 

The Forge Food Hall will feature an enclosed and covered food hall concept with space for multiple vendors, a two-story brewery space and outdoor dining areas. The apartments will be a mix of one, two and three bedroom units. This extension, dubbed “Midtown East,” adds 32,000 square feet of market space, along with restaurants, retail and additional extended-stay residential units. The design draws inspiration from modern Asian architecture, with low-lying roofs, breezeways and intentional landscaping meant to evoke the feeling of walking through a bustling market in Asia.

Sun Asian Supermarket, a local Asian grocery store that has been in business for almost 20 years, will be the anchor tenant in this new development with a new multi-story store offering a greater selection of products to the greater Fayetteville community. 

“It’s really an opportunity to take all the different Asian nationalities… and bring us together,” shared Rojas. “Everyone is so separate in a way in Fayetteville… but here, it’s an opportunity for all of us to come together as one big community, and invite others in too.” 

The project is expected to triple the size of the current Sun Supermarket in both square footage and staff. Store departments will include produce, meat, seafood, housewares and more, so the store will be bringing on additional employees to manage the increased inventory. 

Food Market Designs, a design studio specializing in supermarkets and convenience stores, is helping the local team to create a unique, vibrant market space capable of serving all of Fayetteville. FMD is known for its one-of-a-kind designs. This aligns with Truong’s vision as the builder for bringing something fresh to Fayetteville.

“My passion is in building things… we want to be on the leading front in how we build and and how we set the standard in how Fayetteville should build…If we want Fayetteville to change, we have to stop building the same way we’ve been building for the past 20-30 years,” remarked Truong. 

Construction is already underway for the food hall and apartments. With Midtown East still in an early stage, the ground breaking date and opening date are “moving targets.” However, Truong shared that he hopes to break ground in the second quarter of 2026. Assuming this is the case, construction would then be anticipated to wrap up in time for a grand opening at the end of 2027. 

Learn more about On 3 Build by visiting their website: on3build.com