New apartment community with affordable option proposed near Durham-Chapel Hill line
The developer of the Southern Village community on U.S. 15-501 South is planning a new “urban village” off a busy stretch of highway between Chapel Hill and Durham.
The town received a concept plan Wednesday for the 15.8-acre Gateway project, located behind the Red Roof Inn at the intersection of U.S. 15-501 and East Lakeview Drive. The site is near Interstate 40 and straddles the Orange-Durham county line.
Bryan Properties is developing the project with NorthView Partners, a Raleigh company specializing in multifamily development and construction.
“What we’re doing is trying to do the grid (street) pattern like we did at Southern Village,” Bryan told The News & Observer Thursday. “We look at this as something (that) if we were doing Southern Village Apartments today, this is what we would be doing and how we would be doing it.”
The plan calls for 308 market-rate apartments in five, four-story buildings surrounding a clubhouse and pool. A sixth, four-story building with 72 affordable senior apartments could be built at the southern end of the site.
The affordable units could be priced for households earning up to 60% of the area median income, the application stated. That would serve a single person earning up to $36,300 a year or a couple earning up to $41,520.
Roughly 535 surface parking spaces and 95 bike spaces could be included, leaving a small lot near East Lakeview Drive for future development. Small pocket parks also are interspersed among the buildings.
The Gateway plan emphasizes “inviting, human-scaled streetscapes featuring buildings that front along ample sidewalks, street trees and on-street parking,” the application notes.
“Outdoor gathering spaces are easily accessible to residents — interior and exterior meeting spaces will be built into the fabric of the community,” it states. “Particular attention will be paid to extensive and durable landscaping to allow for shading of parking areas and visually pleasing streetscapes.”
Although office buildings were previously considered, Bryan said an updated wetlands analysis and complex land ownership issues required removing them from the project.
The apartment community concept also was influenced by the Chapel Hill Town Council election in November, and the conversation about what kind of apartments residents want to see being built, he said. Many residents don’t like the seven-story buildings with hundreds of apartments — many of which attract student renters — going up around town.
The end result was a less-intense project and more affordable housing, Bryan said.
He noted that residents could live in the neighborhood and walk or bike to nearby jobs at UNC Health Care’s Eastowne campus, the State Employees Credit Union-owned Parkline building, and Wegmans. Bus stops also are nearby.
Growth, transit connections
A concept plan is a rough draft of what a potential project could become. The town’s Community Design Commission and Town Council review concept plans and provide feedback, but do not vote on them.
The council would have to rezone the properties to allow more dense development.
The site currently is wooded, with a few single-family homes. Roughly two-thirds of the site could be developed with impervious surfaces, such as rooftops and two driveways. The applicant also could make road improvements in the area, as well as add bike lanes and sidewalks, the application notes.
A traffic study will be done if the developer submits an official application. The project also will need water and sewer connections.
Gateway is one of at least two projects in the area. The other, located on 6.5 acres at 5500 Old Chapel Hill Road, could have 90 apartments in a five-story building near the Pope Road roundabout.
They are trying to coordinate with that developer and others on some details, Bryan said. His conversations with neighbors started in 2005, he said. Both sites are located in Chapel Hill and in Durham County, where a light-rail route had once been planned to run.
“At that time, we were thinking it was a great location because of the station. Then the station went away,” Bryan said. “It’s still a great location but it’s probably going to end up being less intense because it doesn’t have a transit stop.”
A bus-rapid transit line has been mentioned as a alternative option for regional connections along the corridor. The town’s land-use plan envisions the area with high-density residential, office and commercial redevelopment.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 5:45 AM with the headline "New apartment community with affordable option proposed near Durham-Chapel Hill line."
