Organ donor HQ on verge of construction in Chapel Hill lab, light industry district
Chapel Hill annexed the first piece of a 60-acre research and industrial park Wednesday, and in doing so, is bringing new jobs to the town.
The Town Council voted unanimously with little discussion to annex 9.76 acres at 7000 Millhouse Road for the Carolina Donor Services headquarters. The project includes 51,281 square feet of office, clinic and lab spaces.
Nonprofit Carolina Donor Services is the state’s largest organ and tissue donation organization, employing about 130 people who educate the public and provide donated organs to patients at over 100 hospitals and four transplant centers, including UNC and Duke, in North Carolina and Virginia.
The current headquarters is in Durham, but Carolina Donor Services President Danielle Niedfeldt said in a news release last year that the company is excited about moving to Chapel Hill.
“Our new office will enable us to better honor the gifts of life from our donors, increase our meeting spaces, serve our communities, and provide additional surgical suites to ultimately save and heal more lives,” Niedfeldt said.
The new headquarters will be next to the Chapel Hill Transit facility and north of the 55-acre Carraway Village mixed-use development on Eubanks Road. It is expected to employ roughly 70 people.
The plans are nearing final approval, town planner Corey Liles said.
Liles noted that Carolina Donor Services is asking the county for tax-exempt status, which would cost the town $43,435 a year in property tax revenues. The town’s annual cost to provide public works and fire services to the site is estimated at $26,200, he said.
The town also would need to pay $123.09 to New Hope Fire Department to meet state requirements, Liles said.
If the property is sold, a future owner could be required to pay taxes, he said. The conditional zoning for the site leaves open the possibility of a future expansion, adding up to 328,719 square feet.
A small portion of the site has been set aside for future development.
New light industrial park
The facility will be the first project built in the 60-acre light industrial conditional zoning district, which the town created in 2017 to attract industrial, research and commercial uses generally not allowed in other parts of town.
The special district speeds up the town’s approval process to roughly five months. Developers have to secure a rezoning and negotiate conditions with the council before moving ahead with a project.
An adjacent site at 7300 Millhouse Road was rezoned in 2018 for light industrial uses, but no projects have been submitted.
Carolina Donor Services considered the site for two years before making a decision, Dwight Bassett, the town’s economic development, has said. He also noted the town has gotten multiple inquiries about the Millhouse Road district, and that the Carolina Donor Services project could attract more companies.
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said Wednesday that there has been more interest in the district but did not offer details about any potential projects.
“We’re excited to get Carolina Donor properties here, bringing jobs, and it’s going to be their state headquarters,” Hemminger said. “It’s great. It brings good recognition.”
