Chapel Hill’s Ephesus-Fordham District is being renamed the Blue Hill District.
The rebranding comes after the adoption of Form Based Code in 2014 set new guidelines for developers and investors in the area to move forward with new projects. Town partners began working with then businesses toward a renewal of the district under the new code.
The group agreed that calling the area “Ephesus-Fordham” was not appropriate because they are two street names rather than the name of a district.
According to a press release, the new name comes from combining Chapel Hill and Carolina blue.
The property developers in the district, which include Federal Realty, Regency Centers and Ram Development, have hired Liaison Design of Raleigh to lead the brand launch for the district.
More details on the district including maps and business listings available on the new website: bluehilldistrict.com
Naming it a hill won’t change the fact that it is part flood plain. And will the other districts in town named after streets (Franklin-Rosemary and Cameron-McCauley) also need to be renamed? I suspect people will continue to be concerned with the details of the form-based code in this district regardless of the name.
Blue Hill District is so generic that it could be anywhere in Chapel Hill. Naming one of the flattest, low-lying areas of our hilly town “Blue Hill” is pretty funny; however, I do not believe that the humor was intentional. Ephesus-Fordham is a much more informative and meaningful district name – let’s keep it.