On Thursday night, The Chapel Hill Town Council started the negotiation process with the future developer of the Obey Creek project near Southern Village.

“We have a lot of commonality of interests in a lot of areas,” said Roger Perry, president of  the development company East West Partners. “It’s in the town’s best interest and our best interest that this works.”

Perry presented details of his development proposal to council members, focusing on the specific mix of uses and the design principles at the Obey Creek site.

Perry proposed minimum and maximum numbers for the amount of retail, office, residential, and hotel space at the property.

Here is the full chart:

Retail – 200,000 sf minimum – 475,000 sf maximum
Office – 150,000 sf minimum – 600,000 sf maximum
Residential – 250 units minimum – 800 units maximum
Hotel – 0 rooms minimum – 400 rooms maximum

Perry said an upper limit of 1.6 million square feet would be developed on 35 acres, and he said East West Partners would not build in a way that increases traffic beyond a threshold identified in a traffic impact analysis.

Perry said many of the residential units will be rentals available only for senior citizens. He also said “there will be almost no kids” in the proposed residential units.

Several council members expressed concern about the lack of age diversity.

East West Partners hired the architecture firm Elkus-Manfredi to work on the project. “The very fashionable word in planning now is that you have to curate the retail,” said architect David Manfredi. “It’s a little too cute for me, but the message is right that you don’t build space and then put a ‘for lease’ sign on it.”

Manfredi said the developer should plan spaces to accommodate particular uses. For example Perry proposed building a space to accommodate a large grocery store. He also said he wants to bring in a large department store.

Council member Jim Ward said that in addition to these large stores, the developer should plan spaces for “micro retail” or “affordable retail.”

Council members talked briefly about affordable housing, but they decided to discuss this issue in greater detail at the next Obey Creek meeting on December 8 at Chapel Hill Town Hall.