Developer proposes hundreds of more student apartments for busy Chapel Hill corridor
A Florida developer wants to build about 200 new apartments and a 450-space parking deck along the bus rapid transit line planned for Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
A concept plan for The Flats, at 607-617 MLK Jr. Blvd. near downtown Chapel Hill, proposes 600 to 650 bedrooms aimed at student renters. The developer will get feedback on the plan from the town’s Community Design Commission at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Town Council will review the plan March 24.
The project would replace a few small homes and a small apartment building on about 3.6 acres just north of the Adelaide Walters senior apartment building.
The area, already lined with student apartments, has seen some smaller, older complexes redeveloped in recent years. They include the 194-unit Lark Chapel Hill (formerly the Lux) and the 346-unit Union Chapel Hill (formerly Grove Park) apartment complex under construction across the street from The Flats site.
The Flats would be built into the sloping hill west of MLK Jr. Boulevard, with five stories on the Isley Street side of the site and six stories adjacent to the boulevard.
Some apartments would wrap around a 450-space parking deck, while another section would wrap a courtyard with a pool and clubhouse.
The project appears to take up most of the site, with driveways exiting the parking deck onto the boulevard and onto Isley Street. Stormwater runoff controls are planned under the deck.
The developer anticipates submitting an affordable housing plan as part of the project that “will meet or exceed the requirements of the town’s inclusionary zoning ordinance,” the concept plan states. Developers typically offer 15% of their units as affordable to meet the ordinance.
“Included in those options is the developer’s unique experience and ability to rehabilitate existing affordable housing in other parts of town,” it states.
Carolina Flats, transit oriented
George Retschle, with Ballentine Associates, submitted the concept plan in late January on behalf of Florida developer Russell Greer, with Progressive Capital Group. The plan is not an official application, but the town’s feedback can be used to finalize one.
Greer has been to the council before, for a 2012 concept plan for Carolina Flats, a mix of apartments and a hotel at the corner of Estes Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Carolina Flats was the first of five projects proposed for that corner, at the heart of the town’s Central West district. None has advanced to a council vote.
The current proposed project for that site, called Aura, includes about 360 apartments, and 55 for-sale townhouses and live-work units with ground-floor commercial space. It also proposes 15,000 square feet of additional commercial space.
The application notes that the project is in line with the more dense development anticipated in the town’s future land use map adopted in December. However, it does not include a plan for encouraging transit use.
MLK Jr. Boulevard is a busy transit corridor in town and the future route of the North-South bus-rapid transit service running from Eubanks Road to Southern Village. The town expects to see transit-oriented development in the corridor.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Developer proposes hundreds of more student apartments for busy Chapel Hill corridor."
