The Chapel Hill Town Council took a significant procedural step to the start of major development planned along East Rosemary Street in the coming years.
With a 5-3 vote at its Wednesday meeting, the council approved Town Manager Maurice Jones to enter a development agreement with Grubb Properties, who plans to construct a new parking deck, office building and green space along the street.
The development has been in discussion for months, as town staff, developers and council members discussed how the engage in the project. Ultimately, Chapel Hill will prepare to demolish and construct a new, expanded parking deck at 125 East Rosemary Street, where an older deck sits now. This can now be done thanks to a land swap with Grubb Properties, who owns the land, for the Wallace Parking Deck at 150 East Rosemary Street. The development company has expressed plans to turn the space into an eventual 250,000-square-foot office building, as well as adding pocket parks on either side of the street.
The agreement approved by the council details how Grubb will lease the Wallace Parking Deck to Chapel Hill as the development company constructs the new 1,100-space parking deck, which will feature amenities like a patio for food trucks and pop-up retail space. It also clarifies the town is making no other payments to Grubb beyond the land exchange, including no waiving any taxes or fees. The agreement says the developer’s benefit is receiving the land and having parking available to support the potential office building and other development planned for the area.
Council members Hongbin Gu, Jessica Anderson and Allen Buansi were the three dissenting votes to the economic development agreement sought by town staff. All three voiced concerns about such a project in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the town’s financial undertaking, with Gu saying she’s additionally concerned about the financial feasibility of the new parking deck. Gu also was the lone vote against authorizing the land swap between Chapel Hill and Grubb Properties.
The council members who voted for the agreement, however, pointed to the project’s potential to spark new business and broaden the tax base for both the town government and Orange County. At Wednesday’s meeting, town staff said Grubb’s potential office space development has the potential to bring up to 800 new jobs and around $1.3 million in property tax revenues.
According to the town staff, there are two deadlines for the project to be canceled within the next year if either side is unsatisfied. The economic development agreement says after independent inspection of both existing parking decks, either Chapel Hill or Grubb Properties can terminate their side of the agreement by November 3. Additionally, the agreement stipulates the development can be called off before construction on the new deck begins if the land exchange is not officially completed.
Town staff said Wednesday its timeline for initial construction of the expanded East Rosemary Street parking deck is slated to begin in April or May 2021. More information about the project can be found on the Town of Chapel Hill’s website.
Concept art via Perkins + Will.
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