Raleigh Council OKs development proposals

RALEIGH -- The City Council approved two development proposals today that have drawn intense interest from residents who live nearby the projects.

The council voted 6-2 to allow a developer to build a private 10-story student apartment building and a parking deck off Hillsborough Street for N.C. State University students. The project, called the Stanhope Center, was first submitted to the city 10 months ago. In recent months Capstone Development, an Alabama-based developer that specializes in student housing, has revised the project in an attempt to gain the support of city planners and City Council members.

The council also voted 5-2 to approve Crescent Resources request to rezone 2.67 acres at Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road in the Cameron Village shopping center in West Raleigh.

The rezoning increases the height limit on any building it constructs from 50 feet to about 85 feet. The building could include up to 28,000 square feet of shops and 232 apartments or condominiums.

Crescent, a Charlotte partnership between Duke Energy and Morgan Stanley Real Estate, has a contract to buy the property from Regency Centers, a Florida-based real estate investment trust that bought Cameron Village in 2004.

Any future site plan Crescent submits would have to go before Raleigh's Planning Commission and City Council.

Councilmen Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder voted against both projects.

The Stanhope Center is the first of three parcels that Capstone hopes to redevelop just south of Hillsborough Street between its intersections with Friendly Drive and Rosemary Street. Hillsborough Ventures, the owner of the property, plans to lease all seven acres to Capstone.

The Stanhope Center portion, covering about three acres, will include 277 multi-family units and a six- to seven-story parking deck with 782 parking spaces. The parking deck is to go on the south side of Stanhope Avenue.