Will Downtown South hasten or help Raleigh get ahead of gentrification?
The day before a City Council hearing on Downtown South, developers and community groups made their final pitches for a project they said could either get ahead of, or hasten, gentrification in Raleigh.
John Kane, of Kane Realty Corp., and Steve Malik, owner of the North Carolina Courage and North Carolina FC, want to build the $2.2 billion mixed-use project near the southern entry to downtown. The 140-plus acre project would have housing, stores, restaurants and hotels, all anchored by a sports and entertainment stadium.
“We’re excited for the City Council to hopefully see the benefits this project ... brings for the city, that it brings for the surrounding neighborhoods and that it gets ahead of the gentrification that is coming to the area and provides opportunities to mitigate that change, which will be happening,” Bonner Gaylord, the managing director of operations for Kane Realty, said during a Monday afternoon press conference.
Earlier in the day, ONE Wake, a coalition of faith congregations and nonprofits, called for changes, including more affordable housing and assurances that neighbors of the project have a path to jobs there. Without such assurances, the coalition said, it opposes the rezoning the developers need and that the city could vote on this week.
“The Downtown South project will do more harm than good in its current form. We oppose the rezoning application for this project until binding commitments on additional community benefits are made, ” said the Rev. Jemonde Taylor, the rector of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church and a member of ONE Wake’s steering committee.
Taylor also said the process is moving too quickly for a project the size of Downtown South. When completed, the development would have more square footage than all of downtown Raleigh currently.
“We are up against a rigged clock,” Taylor said Monday.
“The date of December 31 has been set by the developer, and that has dictated a lot of movement,” he said. “So in ONE Wake’s opinion, things have been moving incredibly fast and there has not been enough time for sufficient dialogue.”
Gaylord and the Downtown South team have said the project must be approved by year’s end for the to close on the deal and secure financing. On Monday, Gaylord repeated a previous statement that the team tried to push the closing back but was not successful.
Raleigh Planning Commission rejected rezoning
The Raleigh Planning Commission voted unanimously against rezoning for the proposed development last week, but the vote is non-binding.
Planning Commission members indicated that while late November concessions about affordable housing and the use of North Carolina plants in landscaping were encouraging, there were too many lingering questions. They expressed concerns that surrounding, predominantly Black neighborhoods, would end up shouldering burdens like gentrification and storm water runoff.
The City Council will hold a virtual public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday. A second meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday. The council could vote Tuesday, but would have to postpone until Thursday if written public comments are submitted, due to local government COVID-19 rules.
Affordable housing units
During its press conference, ONE Wake asked developers to build at least 299 affordable housing units that would be protected for 15 years.
The developers have pledged to make 10% of their first 999 units affordable to those below 80% of the area median income for at least five years. A one-person household at 80% AMI must make $52,750 or less a year. For a family of four, it’s $75,300 or less.
One Wake also called for developers to commit to hiring minority and women-owned businesses to work on 30% of the site’s infrastructure.
“We are not against the development in general; we are against this deal in particular,” Taylor said.
During the developers’ press conference, Gaylord responded to a question about those who could be displaced by gentrification associated with the project by saying there will be some affordable housing, and the team will also provide education in nearby communities about predatory real estate practices and about property tax relief programs.
Malik also responded to the question about displacement, saying, “There’s a little hysteria that has been incited by people putting that message out; that is not the case.”
Property tax revenue raised from the site could, Malik added, be used to provide further public benefits.
Both Gaylord and Malik believe gentrification in South Raleigh is inevitable, but that Downtown South project could allow it to happen in a somewhat controlled manner that would benefit both developers and the surrounding community.
“We are working together in a way where we want the benefits inured to that area and to those folks that are in that community and all of Raleigh,” Malik said.
“Or it’s an empty field,” he added. “What do you want?”
Malik also said that he listened to ONE Wake’s press conference and agrees with many of the concerns expressed but disagrees that the rezoning proposal is the right path to achieve community benefits.
“If you want a benefit, we’ve got to increase the property taxes so that there’s money to pay for the benefits,” Malik said.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 3:55 PM.
