Condos added to office project

Developer declines to include retail

CHAPEL HILL -- Eight months after getting a cold shoulder from the Town Council, a local developer is proposing an even bigger office complex off N.C. 54, this time with 60 residential units to sweeten the deal.

Harry Bowles of Capital Associates has submitted a revised plan for his Woodmont office complex proposed for a 33-acre parcel between Barbee Chapel and Little John roads south of N.C. 54.

The latest plan totals more than 580,000 square feet, nearly twice the size of the Dean E. Smith Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. The town's Community Design Commission will review the proposal at 7 tonight to make a recommendation to the Town Council, which will reconsider the plan in February.

The proposal calls for almost 480,000 square feet of office space, slightly more than in the conceptual plan the Town Council reviewed in February. The council did not like the office-only proposal and asked Capital Associates to add some shops and restaurants.

At that time, Bowles said he did not think the project needed retail because the Meadowmont Village business district is within a half-mile. Bowles reaffirmed that position Tuesday, noting that Meadowmont currently has vacant storefronts.

"We don't think that it would be in anybody's best interest to try to put retail out there," he said. "It would be competing with the village merchants who need all the customers they can get."

Instead, Capital has added 102,000 square feet of condominiums to the plans, and Bowles said that would enlarge the potential customer base for Meadowmont merchants.

As required by town ordinance, nine of the 60 condos would be dedicated as affordable housing under the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust. To qualify for the discount, buyers would have to earn less than 80 percent of the local median income, or $57,050 for a family of four.

"It's not low-income housing," Bowles said. "It's really geared toward professionals and semi-professionals."

Bowles said residents and office workers would have easy access to Meadowmont Village using a shuttle service that would operate during midday hours, and a series of walking and bicycle trails connecting to those that already run along either side of N.C. 54.

"We're providing a lot of connectivity," Bowles said.

Capital also has reduced the number of parking spaces on the site from 1,826 to 1,635, in part as a response to the Town Council's admonition to discourage driving and encourage alternative forms of transportation for the office workers.