Developer wants to add apartments, hotel to The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham
The Streets at Southpoint could soon expand with a mid-rise hotel and apartment buildings, a new plan shows.
Developers submitted a request to rezone the property so they can add up to:
- 1,382 apartments;
- A 200-room hotel; and
- 300,000 square feet of office space.
The existing mall is 1.3 million square feet and its total footprint could swell to 3.3 million square feet under the proposed rezoning.
The idea was first floated by Brookfield Properties in 2019.
Since then, the number of proposed apartments has nearly doubled.
The Streets at Southpoint opened in 2002 and is Durham’s only surviving mall.
It’s home to 174 retailers spread over 132 acres, according to Brookfield, a real estate investment trust that acquired the mall’s operator in a $15 billion deal in 2018.
The plans do not reveal where the apartment building and hotel would be located on the property. One of the mall’s anchors has sat vacant for years. Sears closed both its Durham locations in 2019 after going bankrupt.
Brookfield did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The News & Observer.
The new buildings will not exceed 10 stories, with a maximum height of 145 feet, according to the plan, which states the design and architecture will match the existing mall.
Rezoning required
The plans would require a rezoning. The Planning Commission was set to consider the case at its 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday.
The commission advises the City Council on planning matters, but its vote is not binding. The City Council will have the final say later this year.
The developer would be required to rework the mall’s driveways and roads, build new bus shelters and crosswalks, and upgrade bus pull-out lanes on Fayetteville Road and Renaissance Parkway, according to the planning department.
They’d also dedicate land on the northern edge of the property to allow the American Tobacco Trail to extend east to Fayetteville Road. Today, the route turns west after crossing Interstate 40 just north of the mall.
Apartment families’ children would attend Jordan High, Githens Middle and Lyons Farm Elementary schools.
Jordan is over capacity and Githens is nearing capacity, according to the planning department. Lyons Farm opened last year. It’s Durham’s first new elementary school in 10 years.
This story was originally published March 13, 2023 at 5:11 PM.
CORRECTION: Correction: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the desired square footage of office space due to an error in planning documents. The application is for up to 300,000 square feet, not 3,000 square feet.
