More affordable apartments possible for Chapel Hill. Here’s where they could be built.
The story was updated following an Oct. 17, 2024, public information meeting.
An affordable-housing developer’s third project in Chapel Hill could add 190 apartments within a short walk or bus ride to Franklin Street.
The 607-617 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. project would be six stories tall with one- and two-bedroom apartments and a parking deck on three acres. The first two floors would be mostly underground and provide parking, development officials said at an Oct. 17 public information meeting. Roughly 200 parking spaces are anticipated, they said.
The site is next to the Adelaide Walters senior apartments and across the street from the Union Chapel Hill student apartments.
The project would serve households earning up to 60% of the area median income: $44,520 a year currently for an individual and up to $63,540 for a family of four. Town staff last estimated over 3,000 housing units are needed in that income range, among the most cost-burdened households in Chapel Hill.
While UNC-Chapel Hill students would not be prohibited from living in the building, it’s rare for students to live in Taft-Mills Group developments, including those near East Carolina University in Greenville, where the company is based, President Dustin Mills said.
Residents would have to provide proof of income and pass background and criminal history checks, he said.
What happens next
A Chapel Hill Town Council public hearing has not yet been scheduled, but the project has been submitted to the town’s Community Priority housing process, which means it could be approved within six months, instead of the typical 12- to 18-month process.
The faster process is available for projects with at least 25% affordable units and does not require developers to present a completed site plan to the council. The housing must remain affordable to someone earning up to 60% of the AMI for Orange County for 30 years. The limit is 80% of AMI for projects that offer housing for sale.
Over 55% of Chapel Hill renters and 19% of the town’s homeowners are cost burdened, which means they pay more than 30% of their income for housing, according to town reports.
Taft-Mills Group could learn in August 2025 whether the project will get low-income housing tax credits to help with construction costs, Mills said. Leasing is anticipated by late 2028 if the project advances as planned, he said.
Council rejected student housing at site
The council previously looked at a concept plan for the MLK Jr. Boulevard site, which now has two rental homes, in 2022. The concept plan for The Flats, which proposed 200 apartments, was rejected in part because it focused too much on students and not local residents and families.
Taft-Mills Group and Chapel Hill-based nonprofit Community Home Trust would build and manage the proposed affordable apartments.
Both are also working with the town to develop the Tanyard Branch Trace affordable housing project on Jay Street and are nearing construction of the Longleaf Trace affordable housing project on Legion Road, which would serve older adults.
Tanyard Branch and Longleaf Trace won low-income housing tax credits in 2023 and 2024 from the N.C. Housing Finance Agency to help with their construction.
MLK Jr. apartment project details
▪ Location: 3 acres at 607-617 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
▪ Developer: Taft-Mills Group and Community Home Trust
▪ What’s there now: Lawler Development Group LLC-owned rental houses and apartments
▪ What’s planned: 190 affordable apartments, plus a clubhouse, playground, community room, kitchenette, fitness room and computer center.
▪ Lease rates: Affordable for individuals earning up to $44,520 a year or up to $63,540 for a family of four. The monthly rent for an affordable one- or two-bedroom apartment is currently estimated at $1,100 to $1,400.
▪ Transportation: The proposed apartments are on existing bus lines and the town’s future North-South bus-rapid transit line connecting northern Chapel Hill with the UNC campus, UNC Hospitals and Southern Village.
This story was originally published October 15, 2024 at 1:12 PM.
