Greenville developers who own an office building across from Cameron Village in West Raleigh want to rezone the property and redevelop the site into a mix of apartments and retail.
The rezoning request, which will be discussed at a public hearing tonight, comes less than six months after Raleigh officials approved a 282-unit apartment and retail complex across the street.
It's likely to rekindle the debate over building more density close to established residential neighborhoods. That debate largely disappeared during the economic downturn when few new projects were being proposed.
Citing concerns about conflicts with existing land-use plans, traffic and increasing density so close to residential neighborhoods, a citizens group that represents the area voted 35 to 5 against the rezoning.
The neighbors thought such high-density projects should be inside Cameron Village, said Bill Padgett, co-chairman of the Wade Citizens Advisory Council.
"This was a margin piece that was a transitional density," he said. "And yet the rezoning pretty much asks for high-density to be in this area across Hillsborough Street as it moves back into the neighborhoods."
The new zoning would allow up to 275 apartments and up to 14,000 square feet of retail on the three-acre site at the northwest corner of Oberlin Road and Clark Avenue.
The project would require tearing down the two-story, 70,000-square-foot modernist office building on the site. The rezoning request also includes three residential lots.
The properties are owned by two Greenville lawyers, former state Sen. Thomas Taft and Kenneth Haigler, according to property records. They bought the office building for $2.25 million in 1994.
The requested zoning would allow the new building to be up to 80 feet tall.
The developers argue the project's proximity to a proposed Triangle Transit Authority light rail station makes it appropriate.
"There's a city policy trying to focus density with a half-mile of transit stops," said Anne Stoddard, a Chapel Hill consultant working with the developers. "We really see this property as part of a transit-oriented development."
At Oberlin and Wade
In February, the City Council gave the Charlotte developer Crescent Resources approval to build The Residences at Cameron Village on the northeast corner of Oberlin and Wade. The project is to include 282 apartments, 16,000 square feet of retail and a 450-space parking deck. Construction has yet to start.
Crescent hoped to secure financing for the $45 million project by April and start in May.
Stoddard said the retail portion of the 401 Oberlin project would be along Oberlin Road.
The office building on the site is now partially leased. It recently lost a tenant when the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources relocated to a new Green Square office building downtown.
If the rezoning is approved, Stoddard said market conditions would dictate when the developers moved ahead.
"Like all other projects out there, it's going to depend on what other projects move into the pipeline ahead of us and what the financial markets response to the project is," she said.
