As $30M land deal advances, Triangle families seeking relocation aid are turned away
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- Chatham Estates sale to Toll Brothers could displace about 140 families by June 30.
- Residents seek $2 million relocation fund as Toll plans 427 million-dollar homes in 2027.
- Town and nonprofits provided $800,000 in aid, which organizers say is insufficient.
When Chatham Estates residents showed up at PNC Plaza to hand‑deliver a letter outlining their relocation demands, security personnel refused to let them inside the building Tuesday morning.
Supported by ONE Wake organizers, local clergy and Cary Town Council member Michelle Craig, they had traveled from their mobile‑home park in Cary to downtown Raleigh, hoping to press the law firm for Toll Brothers — the developer buying their property and forcing them to relocate — to meet with them and offer financial support.
Instead, they were halted in the lobby and told they couldn’t go upstairs.
“Is this how you treat everybody who walks into the building?” asked Katia Roebuck, an organizer with the NC Congress of Latino Organizations, who led the 20-person crowd. “If they can’t meet with us now, then when?”
The standoff lasted less than 10 minutes. The crowd turned around; the letter went undelivered.
Ted Pease, president of Toll Brothers’ Raleigh division, and Collier Marsh, the firm’s representing attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
The confrontation marked the latest step in a months‑long effort by the community to secure relocation support as the $30 million sale of the 27-acre mobile-home park moves forward — a deal that will displace 140 families in one of the region’s tightest housing markets.
The property has been owned by Curtis Westbrook Sr. for over 40 years. Chatham Estates residents first learned they had six months to vacate the property last December. Westbrook, now in his 90s, told residents then that he had found a buyer and anticipated closing the deal this year.
According to Town of Cary records, Pennsylvania-based luxury builder Toll Brothers is under contract to buy the land at 607 Cedar St. on the periphery of east Cary — one of the last remaining large tracts inside downtown limits. It’s planning to build 427 homes in the million-dollar range starting in 2027.
Residents must be off the property by June 30. They’re asking for a $2 million relocation fund to keep them from falling into homelessness.
“This is not charity, it is a social impact dividend,” said Abigael Dawah, a Chatham Estates resident and single mother of two, who turned up on Fayetteville Street, waving a placard that read: “Toll Brothers, Your Profit Is Our Displacement.”
On average, residents estimate the cost to relocate a manufactured home — including the breakdown, transport, utility reconnection, and new lot deposits — is about $15,000.
For many families like Dawah’s, it’s far more than they can manage. She still doesn’t know where she’ll go next.
“It’s absolutely stressful,” she added. “If I’m not able to sell my home, I’ll have it destroyed. I have no other option.”
What’s next
As Cary races toward a population of 200,000, the loss of Chatham Estates marks the end of one of the town’s last affordable neighborhoods.
On average, Chatham Estates residents pay $400 a month for the land their mobile home sits on. The average rent in Cary is almost $2,000.
Displaced families will have to take time off work to find a new location, new schools for their children, jobs and, for many, transportation, or interpreters.
In 2024, Dorcas Ministries, now part of the nonprofit NeighborUp, launched Stable Homes Cary in partnership with the town to ensure $800,000 went to help relocate families.
But Councilwoman Michelle Craig, who represents District B where the mobile home park is located, says it’s insufficient. On Tuesday, she stood outside PNC Plaza asking for public support.
“It’s going to cost tens of thousands of dollars to move their mobile homes,” she said. “We need to do more to help these families. I’m here to make an appeal to anyone who can help.”
One church has donated moving kits that included packing supplies and gift cards. Still, more help is needed. NeighborUp has an online link at neighborup.org/chathamestates where donations can be made.
Kristen Johnson contributed to this report.
