The development team of the future South Creek neighborhood in Chapel Hill gathered on Wednesday for a ceremony recognizing a milestone in the project: the completion of the first full building structure on the site.
Dozens of stakeholders, as well as some local dignitaries, met to hear brief remarks and see a United States flag unfurled from the roof of 95 Market to celebrate the construction progress of the apartment building — which will be the first of many elements in the mixed-use neighborhood off U.S. 15-501. Additionally, the development team provided tours of the completed structure to show off the layout, rooms and future amenities in the space, and filled a time capsule that will later be embedded into the building’s wall as a keepsake.
While the 92 apartments in the 95 Market building will be for-rent, the 600 condominiums and 100 other townhomes set for construction at South Creek will be for-sale units. Most will be at market rate, while 15% of the total units will be reserved for lower, more affordable prices. The residences will be accompanied by around 52,000 square feet of commercial space, plus a new playground, traffic lights and crosswalks across U.S. 15-501, and connections to nearby hiking trails.
Lee Bowman — the principal for the Legion Company, which is working as a local liaison to the South Creek’s developers, Beechwood Homes — addressed the gathered crowd to thank the construction contractors and Chapel Hill town staff who have worked to get the project this far. During the speech and his subsequent tours of the structure, Bowman revealed more about the commercial plans for the ground floor of 95 Market. The first contracted tenant will be the locally-owned immersion pre-school Sounds and Colors Early Learning Villages, with the goal of adding at least two more businesses like a café, salon, or doctor’s office to the building’s available spaces.
Since South Creek broke ground in Sep. 2024 and began construction on 95 Market, Bowman said he and Beechwood have heard positive responses from nearby Chapel Hill community members about the new neighborhood’s prospects. He cited the proximity of Southern Village and the developers’ commitment to being “complimentary” to surrounding housing and retail options as reasons why people are excited.
“We’ve met with folks all around the Southern Village area, the south of here, the north of here,” Bowman told Chapelboro. “We view Southern Village as a complimentary development. People that live there may move over here, or some of our residents might move over there too. And likewise, the commercial development…we’re not going to [completely] replicate what they have there. They have an incredible commercial development. We still need to do commercial development that serves our residents, but also may serve the greater community… so, that’s what we’re looking to do. And so far, that approach has been well received, I’d say.”
A neighborhood map of the South Creek development, as shared on the Beechwood Carolinas website as of 2026. (Photo via Beechwood Carolinas & South Creek.)
Not only is the for-sale housing and commercial space meant to be complimentary, but it adds density along a key corridor in Chapel Hill and is an example of how the town government’s recent planning framework encourages development. Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson spoke at the ceremony and highlighted both South Creek’s housing components and connectivity efforts as reasons for her excitement.
“It’s right on our north-south Bus Rapid Transit line, and it’s just across from Market Street in Southern Village…as well as next to Community Center Park,” said Anderson. “That means that residents can walk, bike and take the bus the all the things they need to do in daily life, and all the things they want to do in their spare time. This is all really part of the Complete Community vision that Chapel Hill has, for how we transition to a modern-day place that serves lots of different people.”
President and CEO of the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro Aaron Nelson also spoke, sharing his belief that the community “got lucky” working with Beechwood Carolinas which accepted the local government’s feedback and incorporated both more affordable housing and 80 acres of preserved woodlands as part of the project. He also praised the development for addressing all three of his organization’s goals in its ongoing campaign to strengthen the region’s business vitality.
“At the Chamber, our priorities are workforce development and more housing and supporting small businesses — and this project does it all,” Nelson said Wednesday. “New commercial space, where businesses are going to be located in the base of this building with housing…and then an incredible amount of jobs, these folks working here every day to build us this beautiful new [neighborhood].”
With the completion of 95 Market’s structure, Bowman said the goal is to quickly finish the rest of the building. He said the current timeline is to have the apartments come online in the “late summer, early fall” and the South Creek leasing program will begin negotiating with potential residents in April. The next building in the buildout will be The Hawthorn — South Creek’s first for-sale condominium building that features 68 units — which is targeting a spring 2027 opening. Grading is complete for the third building in Phase 1 of construction, The Weaver, which will also features condos and is aiming to begin construction this summer with leasing in late 2027.
That flow of construction is intentional, Bowman said, with crews working from the north end of the property to the south. Not only will it better connect the first residents with the intersection at U.S. 15-501 and Market Street, but Bowman says it should minimize any disruptions for residents who move into 95 Market and the Hawthorne buildings.
“We’re trying to be cognizant of livability — we don’t want to [build like] hopscotch, and have someone move in here and then have construction around them for too long,” he said. “So, we want to complete the northern sections and then head south.”
Featured photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.
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