Cary town council OKs plans for $51 million development in heart of downtown
More than three years after plans for a $51 million commercial and residential development in the heart of downtown Cary were filed, the town council has green-lighted the development.
The council agreeing to contribute $13.8 million in town funds to help pay for the project along with Cary developer Northwoods Associates, a partnership between George Jordan III and his nephew Jordan Gussenhoven.
Jordan’s family began building in Cary with the town’s founding in 1871, and Gussenhoven’s company Chatham Street Commercial has focused on bringing new developments to downtown, such as the upcoming Chatham Walk and The Center.
Northwoods Associates, who developed the Midtown Square downtown retail location, is following up on a project that has been at least a decade in the works.
The company plans to build retail, office and apartment space on a total of about 5 acres of “underutilized” land owned by Jordan and the First Baptist Church of Cary on 218 South Academy Street. According to the tentative plans included in the town staff’s proposal to the council, the owners seek to buy part of the land from the town and restructure it for a project that would include a 180-unit apartment building, two 50,000- and 10,000-square foot commercial buildings and a four-level parking deck with 446 spaces.
The town would own 222 spaces for public parking, which could also be used on Sunday mornings for church parking.
Among the project’s expected economic impacts is an increase in tax revenue on the property for Cary upward of $120,000, said economic development director Ted Boyd.
“The addition of a Class A office space ground floor retail restaurants and shops, along with 180 apartments will stimulate the downtown economy and promote business,” Boyd said.
The requested town funding is based on an estimated cost of the parking deck, surface parking and stormwater facilities on town property, as well as street and sidewalk improvements. A commitment from Northwoods to pay $6,415,506 for their portion means the town would have a net cost of around $7.4 million.
Boyd said the project could provide as much as 150 jobs paying at or above the average wage in Wake County of $58,000 annually.
During the hearing, Cary Town Manager Sean R. Stegall said that the project would alleviate traffic and parking issues.
“When we do new projects downtown,” Stegall said, “we make the situation better, not worse.”
First Baptist Church is set to take a congregational vote on the project’s specifics in early 2020, after which Northwoods and the church will execute a development agreement. The developers will begin a period for the development’s design and plans that cannot be longer than 23 months, according to the proposal.
At the same meeting, the council approved rezoning to redevelop Cary Towne Center, which would allow for the building of residential, hotel and retail space in Cary’s Eastern Gateway.
Historic Ivey-Ellington house
As part of the council’s hearing on the project, a resolution was adopted to relocate the Ivey-Ellington house to make room for the development’s parking deck. The house dates back to 1870 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The resolution states that the town staff has to find a suitable location in collaboration with the Cary Historic Preservation Commission and the State Historic Preservation Office to preserve the building’s national designation and its structure.
Public comments from Cary residents expressed concern for worsening traffic and increasing pedestrian danger from the development, but others were concerned about the urbanizing town core and the cost of losing the site of the Ivey-Ellington house.
“The last thing a lot of citizens and downtown business owners expected would be addition of multiple apartments, very expensive condos, and parking decks all throughout downtown Cary,” said Justin Porter, who owns My Friend Teresa, a photo studio on the same corner as the development. “The biggest selling point about the downtown area is the charm of not being that type of town.”
Porter said he will miss seeing the sunset reflect off of First United Methodist Church of Cary once the proposed parking deck eventually blocks it out.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Cary town council OKs plans for $51 million development in heart of downtown."
