Durham drops developer but remains undecided about future of old police building
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- Durham City Council ended talks with Peebles Corp. over rising project costs.
- Officials remain undecided on preserving or redeveloping the historic building.
- Preservation groups urge separating the Small building to enable housing plans.
Discussions about redeveloping the former Durham police headquarters site will continue as city officials try to agree on the property’s future.
On Thursday, the City Council ended negotiations with the Miami-based Peebles Corp., which had been hired to redevelop the 4-acre property at 505 W. Chapel Hill St. The firm had requested additional funding due to increased construction costs for its plan to build affordable housing, office, retail, and laboratory space.
Mayor Leo Williams said Peebles had provided the “best concept” for redeveloping the property and that ending negotiations didn’t mean the city would never work with the firm again.
“There are some serious financial decisions we’re going to have to make,” Williams said.
The building was designed by architect Milton Small in the 1950s to serve the Home Security Life Insurance Co. and sits next to the N.C. Mutual Tower, once the tallest building in Durham. Many advocates have been urging the City Council to preserve the headquarters building due to its modernist architecture and connection to Durham’s history and culture. The site is also an entry point into downtown.
Stacey Poston, the assistant director of Durham’s General Services Department, said it would cost $25 million to bring the building up to current code and transform it into a hotel, according to an estimate from the Peebles Corp. That cost is cheaper than demolishing the building.
Since August when it was hired by the city, the Peebles Corp. raised the total project cost to $382 million and increased its request for city funds from $61 million to $78 million.
Much of Thursday’s five-hour meeting focused on what to do with the Milton Small building now that Peebles has been dropped. City officials have not been able to decide what to do with the property since the Durham Police Department moved to East Main Street seven years ago.
Several members of Preservation Durham, a nonprofit organization, asked the city to consider selling the building to Preservation North Carolina and finding other options for the remaining land, such as a separate affordable housing project. The old headquarters building takes up less than a quarter of the 4-acre lot.
“We believe that carving out the historic building from the rest of the site will actually make the rest of the parcel, which would then be vacant, more attractive to an affordable housing developer who can then put the focus and attention as well as public subsidy that it deserves,” said Julianne Patterson, the executive director of Preservation Durham.
Council member DeDreana Freeman said she had been advocating “for years” to divide the property but so far, no formal proposal has been made to the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said the city’s “indecision” has caused the years-long delay in any action taking place.
“It must be understood that we are not here by an act of God or nature or some uncontrollable circumstance,” he said. “One thing that we have to focus on is [that] we cannot have blight in our downtown corridor. The building is deteriorating every day.”
Council member Nate Baker said he had lost “confidence in Peebles” and wanted the city to talk with the preservation groups.
“The historic preservation of Milton Small [is] one that I have wrestled with,” Baker said. “Historic preservation is a unique skill set. think it would be a good move for us to consider partitioning off the Small building and engaging in conversation with Preservation North Carolina and Preservation Durham.”
Durham staff will will bring further analysis to the City Council at an unspecified later date, Ferguson said.
This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 8:26 AM.