City devising plan for Rolling Hills

A draft agreement for redeveloping the failed Rolling Hills subdivision and part of the adjacent Southside/ St. Theresa neighborhood will be presented to the Durham City Council next week.

Rolling Hills occupies a 19.3-acre tract at the southeast corner of Lakewood Avenue and South Roxboro Street. The city bought and cleared the land for urban renewal in the 1970s. Since 1985, it invested at least $1.2 million to assist two developers in constructing houses and condominiums there.

In 2004, the city repossessed the property for unpaid loans.

The new agreement consists of a recommendation to approve the firms McCormack Baron Salazar of St. Louis and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse of Baltimore as developers, said Larry Jarvis of the Durham community development department.