At the Town of Chapel Hill’s latest town council meeting, developers gave an updated timeline for the East Rosemary parking deck and detailed why the development will cost the town more than $10 million in unforeseen construction costs.
The new parking deck is now estimated to cost $39 million, an increase from the initial estimates of $28 million. Developers say these price increases are primarily due to the cost of materials rising during the pandemic.
Despite escalations in the costs of materials like metals and copper, town officials like director of economic development Dwight Bassett, still see the new East Rosemary parking deck as a beneficial decision that will pay for itself in four to five years.
“The transformation that could happen just by building this parking deck, the addition to the tax base and the job creation could just absolutely be amazing for our downtown and we think it’s a pretty important investment into our future,” Bassett said.
Bassett said there is a need for growth and development in the downtown area, which the East Rosemary project will encourage. The development calls for an office building that could add upwards of 200 new workers and include Chapel Hill’s first wet lab space.
“It’s a pretty important step for us as a community,” Bassett said. “We can reverse some of that trend of people defaulting to Durham or RTP for that type of space.”
Despite an unforeseen increase in construction costs, Bassett said the town is still anticipating the demolition of the existing parking deck on 125 East Rosemary Street to take place in July. This would be the first step in the construction of the new parking deck.
“Demolition in July, beginning actual construction in September and then we would occupy next August for a new parking deck,” said Basset.
Bassett said he is also excited about the new parking deck because it will include tag reader and gate system parking technology to add convenience and more efficient parking management.
Developers told the town council that they should move quickly on the project because of the current volatility in the construction material market. The council’s approval of a contract would ensure a guaranteed maximum price of the current $39 million.
A public hearing on the East Rosemary parking deck is scheduled for June 9 with final authorization expected by June 23.
Featured photo via Perkins + Will
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Are you kidding? The quote: “The transformation that could happen just by building this parking deck, the addition to the tax base and the job creation could just absolutely be amazing for our downtown and we think it’s a pretty important investment into our future,” is simply naïve…
A 25% increase this quickly after the Town Council approved it? Does not seem right to me. Prices have not increased this much. They knew it would cost much more, and I guarantee it will cost much more than this. The town and us as those who pay the bills have no business being involved in this. We should require another vote on this. Any guesses on what it will actually cost and what will actually benefit the citizens as opposed to the developers?