‘Transformative’ project in downtown Chapel Hill overcomes doubts to get council votes
A plan for an $80 million project approved Wednesday night could bring a parking garage, office building and green spaces to downtown Chapel Hill.
The Town Council voted 5-3 after hours of discussion to sign a development agreement with Charlotte-based Grubb Properties. The council then voted 7-1 to approve an $8.5 million land swap that is key to the deal.
The town, under state law, will accept public comments on the deal until Thursday night at planning@townofchapelhill.org.
The town will pay Grubb $1.7 million, plus the deed to the Wallace Parking Deck at 150 E. Rosemary St.
Grubb will give the town its CVS parking deck at 125 E. Rosemary St., plus an adjacent parking lot owned by Investor’s Title.
Council members Hongbin Gu, Allen Buansi and Jessica Anderson opposed the agreement. Gu cast the lone vote against the land swap.
Wednesday’s decision advances a Grubb Properties plan to replace the Wallace deck with up to 250,000 square feet of office and wet lab space for startups and research companies.
The town would replace the CVS deck and parking lot with a $33.2 million, 1,100-space parking garage with a patio for food trucks and pop-up retail. Two pocket parks would be built on East Rosemary Street, along with pedestrian and bike improvements.
The council is scheduled to vote Oct. 28 on the parking garage project. Grubb could bring a concept plan for the six-story office building to the council in November.
Rosemary, North Street traffic
The town’s traffic study estimated 1,990 cars could use the new parking deck each day — about 422 more cars than the CVS and Wallace decks generate now. The office building could add nearly 900 more cars by 2023, it said.
However, a discrepancy in the numbers was discovered before Wednesday’s meeting. Town staff said the error did not significantly affect the study’s conclusions, but they would review the numbers again and provide more information.
Residents and council members have expressed concern about potential backups on East Rosemary Street and increased traffic through the residential area on North Street.
The council supported a traffic-calming study for North Street and added $300,000 to the project’s cost to buy land for a North Street parking garage driveway and safety improvements, such as a traffic signal at the North Columbia Street intersection.
Council member Amy Ryan suggested Grubb Properties should pay some of that cost, since the parking garage is critical to the developer’s office project.
Financial, COVID concerns
Some residents spoke against the deal, citing the extra traffic, financial risk and unknown future surrounding COVID-19.
Gu shared their concerns and said she “would be more than willing” to support the project if it had a stronger chance of success and a better partnership with Grubb Properties and UNC.
“It protects the profit for the developer, but there is so much risk that has been (left) to the town that I think it has the potential of significantly impacting our town’s financial health,” she said.
Buansi said he initially was enthusiastic about the proposal, but COVID-19 changed his mind.
“I sincerely hope that if this agreement is passed tonight that it works out and we get what we want, what downtown needs,” he said. “Just at this time, given our uncertain climate due to the pandemic, I’m not comfortable with the amount of risk that the town would take on with this project.”
Council member Amy Ryan also questioned some details, including the potential cost for the town to buy back the Wallace deck and whether Grubb could help pay for road work. The town also should hire a construction consultant, she said
However, the deal has “a confluence of factors that could make this a transformative project for our town,” she said.
“I think this is actually a good time to take some risks,” Ryan said. “Construction prices are low. Interest rates are historically low. I think that we have a lot of pent-up demand, especially in biotech fields at UNC, that is going to be exploding — especially in the case of the pandemic.”
Struggling businesses, investment
The new office building is expected to complement Grubb’s Innovation Hub in the former CVS building at 136 E. Rosemary St. and 137 E. Franklin St. and spark more investment downtown.
UNC could occupy up to 50,000 square feet in the 120,000-square-foot Innovation Hub, town economic development officer Dwight Bassett said, and lease 100 spaces in the new garage.
Town officials estimated the project could generate 800 jobs, $4.2 million in local sales for businesses, and roughly $1.3 million in property tax revenues for the town, Orange County and local schools.
It’s not an easy decision, council member Karen Stegman said, but the town should seize the chance to help downtown.
“It’s going to take big action — it’s not going to happen incrementally — and our businesses are struggling as everyone has said,” she said.
“People don’t want pizza and T-shirts on Franklin Street — we hear that a lot — but until our downtown isn’t so dependent on UNC, we’re not going to get anything different, so this is how we make a grown-up downtown.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 8:25 AM.
