Demolition officially began on a parking deck in downtown Chapel Hill Saturday morning, marking the first step in significant redevelopment scheduled for the site.

Crews closed off East Rosemary Street to traffic early Saturday morning and began removing the pedestrian bridge from the parking deck at 125 East Rosemary Street. While the bridge has been inactive since 2018, its removal is the first phase of the entire parking deck being demolished in the coming days.

Part of East Rosemary Street between North Columbia Street and Henderson Street is closed to through traffic and pedestrians. Parking access to the surface lot near North Columbia Street and the Wallace Parking Deck remains open.

The redevelopment on East Rosemary Street is part of a larger project in coordination with Grubb Properties. Once demolition is complete, work will begin to construct a new, 1,100-space parking deck on the site. The new deck will have more parking than the current 125 East Rosemary Street deck and the Wallace Parking Deck combined and will feature amenities like a food truck patio, pop-up space for vendors and more electric vehicle charging stations.

A concept design for the 125 East Rosemary Street Parking Deck, as presented to the Chapel Hill Town Council on May 13, 2020. (Photo via Perkins + Will)

Chapel Hill town staff estimates in summer 2020 put the base cost for the new parking deck to be more than $27 million for its construction and the land swap with Grubb Properties. The final cost, however, may ultimately be higher, depending on additional amenities the council may choose to include.

Following the completion of the new parking deck, Grubb Properties will then help coordinate the destruction of the Wallace Parking Deck and will construct a new 200,000 square-foot office building that is set to include wet lab space. The Chapel Hill Town Council will review a detailed project proposal again before destruction of the Wallace Parking Deck, having approved the new parking deck project in September 2020.

The Town of Chapel Hill said East Rosemary Street is set to reopen to through traffic on Monday.

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