Chef Harvey Yancey said after closing his restaurant, Yancy's, in downtown Raleigh, he needed to find a new location to reopen his business.

"I drove around and I'm going ‘wow, what an opportunity,'" he said.

Yancey said he immediately noticed the potential of the site at 2800 Rock Quarry Road, which is now the new Farmington Square Shopping Plaza.

The plaza celebrated its grand opening Saturday with the opening of the first business and anchor tenant, Family Dollar.

Yancy's is planned to open in November, and developers said the shopping center will also include a bakery, hair salon and grocery store, among others.

"I think it's really nice, especially in this neighborhood," said shopper Pat Hinton.

Developers said there was a need for these stores in southeast Raleigh, and the center will eventually create at least 200 jobs in the shopping center's stores.

A second phase of the center is set to be complete by mid-2010 and will include several more businesses.

"It's a moment of realization, a moment of celebration for the community here in southeast Raleigh," said Jawahar Muniyandi, CEO of ISHA Developments.

Yancey said southeast Raleigh has been hit especially hard by the economy, but the new shopping center will help lift up the area.

"With a project going on like this, there's going to be a lot of opportunity out here," he said.