Durham City Council delays vote on Hayti Heritage Square rezoning. Here’s why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Durham City Council postponed rezoning vote to allow more public dialogue.
- Sterling Bay aims to redevelop Hayti site but faces criticism over equity plans.
- Community pushback centers on historic preservation, housing and participation.
A pivotal decision about an aging property in Durham’s Hayti neighborhood has been delayed for another two months.
On Monday night, the Durham City Council postponed a public hearing and vote on a controversial rezoning for 401 E. Lakewood Ave., also known as Heritage Square, to give developers more time to reach a compromise with residents on a project that will transform the area.
The nearly 10-acre property was once a key part of the city’s “Black Wall Street” along the Fayetteville Street corridor, but it has remained unused and fenced off for years.
Chicago-based developer Sterling Bay wants to build an apartment building, an adjoining life science building, and a retail space on the property. If approved, the rezoning would allow the buildings to reach over 175 feet tall.
Jamie Schwedler, a spokesperson for Raleigh law firm Parker Poe, which represents Sterling Bay, told the council at the development team has spent the past three years talking with residents and community leaders to address concerns about redevelopment in Hayti.
But she acknowledged that more conversations are needed.
Many opponents contend Sterling Bay lacks a commitment to affordable housing and want residents to be part of the development process. Sterling Bay also wants to change the name of the property, which critics say will erase history.
The Hayti neighborhood was mostly destroyed in the 1960s during urban renewal and the construction of the Durham Freeway. Advocates say the neighborhood needs help to rebuild.
“You have a developer stepping forward to work with the community to listen to the requests,” Schwedler said at the meeting. “We incorporated many of those requests into our design. ... We understand the concerns and we try to do what we can.”
‘More talking is better’
Mayor Leonardo Williams had planned to vote for the rezoning but was willing to grant the continuance.
“I haven’t liked everything I’ve seen,” he said. “I do appreciate the willingness to actually have more dialogue, and I think that it needs to be done respectfully.”
Councilman Mark-Anthony Middleton said he supported a continuance. “I think more talking is better,” he said.
Twenty-five people who had signed up to speak Monday will now have to wait for the council to take up the rezoning at its Aug. 4 meeting.
Councilman Nate Baker thanked those who have pushed for continued conversations with Sterling Bay.
“There are so many times when the community is ignored,” he said. “There’s so many times when there’s just a yes or no or an up or down. There is a desire to improve the proposal that’s on the table.”
Councilwoman DeDreana Freeman acknowledged not everyone who signed up to speak will be able to return in August.
She asked Schwedler to specify who in the Hayti community Sterling Bay has spoken with over the past three years who has influenced changes in their proposal.
Schwedler listed former state Sen. Floyd McKissick, Hayti Reborn leaders Henry McKoy and Anita Scott Neville, and community leaders Terrance White and Carl Webb. The company has also been talked with the Rev. Julian Pridgen, the pastor of St. Mark’s AME Zion Church, which sits steps away from Heritage Square.
Freeman offered to help Sterling Bay facilitate conversations with other groups in Durham over the next two months.
“I am in no way, shape or form voting against Hayti,” Freeman said. “Being able to pull whoever wants to speak to the developer into a room is up to you all.”
“If there are things that you are hoping and dreaming for, I want that to come to the side of this conversation, and we need to figure out how to pull those things in on the side of this work because this is not a part of that development so I’m open to spending time,” she said.
‘Not against development’
In response to concerns from residents, Sterling Bay said it would install a marker honoring the community, designate 2,500 square feet of retail space for local businesses to rent at a discounted price and create life science jobs and other occupations residents could apply for.
In April, the Durham Planning Commission, which makes suggestions to the city on development proposals, voted 10-0 to recommend the city reject the Heritage Square proposal.
The commission questioned Sterling Bay’s community investments included in the project and if there were opportunities for Hayti residents and the neighborhood to benefit from the development, such as through a fund or scholarship endowment for students at Durham Technical Community College and N.C. Central University.
Schwedler said at the April meeting that the proposed development would create generational wealth opportunities. Sterling Bay estimates the completed project will generate $190 million in annual economic impact and create 1,500 new jobs.
Still, critics say the offers aren’t enough compared to the legacy of Hayti and what residents need.
Hayti Reborn, a local advocacy group, said in a news release that the community is “not against development.”
“But it opposes displacement, gentrification, and unchecked commercial expansion at the expense of its legacy and residents,” the release read. If the city council had voted on Monday, the group would have been pushing for a unanimous rejection.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Durham City Council delays vote on Hayti Heritage Square rezoning. Here’s why."