Southern Village developer will build apartments, park on Chapel Hill-Durham border

A project on the Chapel Hill-Durham border seemed far from a vote Wednesday until the Chapel Hill Town Council took an abrupt turn, approving 388 apartments with affordable options for seniors and green space for events, pop-up retail and food trucks.

Meridian Lakeview, located on East Lakeview Drive near U.S. 15-501, doesn’t check every box on the town’s Complete Community checklist, council member Camille Berry said, but there is more land around it that could bring future commercial development.

She questioned a suggestion that the council delay a vote on the project to January, giving the developer time to take another look.

“I am confused as to why we are holding up this one until we can articulate what we are going to ask for from the future ones. We can ask what we want from the future ones when those come to us,” Berry said. “I think we can make a decision on this one based on what they have presented, based on that work that we’ve done together for quite some time.”

The council voted 6-3 to approve the project, with council members Karen Stegman, Adam Searing and Tai Huynh opposed.

The 16-acre site is within walking distance of Wegmans, The Parkline office building and UNC Health Care’s Eastowne campus.

It will replace several single-family homes on largely wooded lots with apartments, including up to 72 affordable units for adults 55 and older. It will also create new street and pedestrian connections for the town’s new Parkline East Village district.

But the centerpiece will be nearly a third of an acre set aside for a public green. Southern Village developer D.R. Bryan, who is behind the project, plans to include enough shade and understory trees to exceed the town’s tree canopy requirement.

How to build Complete Community

Meridian Lakeview is the second project approved for the district — a pilot project to test the town’s new Complete Community strategy for getting more affordable, diverse housing within a short walk, bike or bus ride of employers, shops and recreation.

The planning between town staff and developers has so far focused on road and pedestrian connections, but the council reminded staff in October that there also needs to be more cohesiveness and diversity in how the available sites are used.

The first project approved — over 300 apartments, cottages and townhouses at Chapel Hill Crossing — is located on both sides of Old Chapel Hill Road at the Pope Road intersection. The council also reviewed a concept plan last year for apartments on North White Oak Drive, but that project did not advance and the property is back on the market.

Council members who voted Wednesday for Meridian Lakeview did so only after saying it was too suburban, lacking a vibrant street experience and with too much surface parking.

Bryan reminded them that the project became a four-story urban village because of concerns about six-story buildings wrapped around parking decks similar to the town’s often-criticized Blue Hill District around nearby Eastgate Crossing shopping center.

After asking staff to consider ways the town could meet its other needs in future projects, incoming Mayor Jessica Anderson said she was prepared to vote.

“I think this is a reasonable project for the area, and I wouldn’t want to start over and wait for six stories with Texas doughnuts,” she said, referring to apartment buildings that wrap around parking decks.

Meridian Lakeview project details

▪ What’s planned: 388 apartments in buildings up to four stories and roughly 515 parking spaces on 16 acres at East Lakeview Drive and White Oak Drive, near U.S. 15-501 North.

▪ Amenities: Walking trails, pedestrian connections, pool and clubhouse, about 0.3 acres for a community green

▪ Commercial space: Retail and other business uses aren’t allowed, but adult and child day care facilities are possible

▪ Affordable housing: Developer will seek low-income tax credits to build 72 affordable apartments serving adults, ages 55 and older. If the tax credits don’t come through within five years, roughly 1.7 acres would be donated to the town or a nonprofit housing developer. Would serve tenants earning 60% to 80% of the area median income and rent for roughly $1,000 a month for a studio to $1,820 for two bedrooms.

▪ Getting around: The site is near Chapel Hill Transit and GoTriangle stops. The developer could work with the N.C. Department of Transportation to install a left turn lane on Old Chapel Hill Road and a roundabout at its intersection with East Lakeview Drive. Pedestrian pathways could link the western side of the project to Old Chapel Hill Road and connect with a trail on the east that also leads to Old Chapel Hill Road and the recently approved Chapel Hill Crossings project.

Affordable housing plans, concerns

The affordable housing plan has raised questions for council members and town staff, including whether the developer will be able to get federal low-income tax credits within five years to help pay for the lower-cost units. The project, because it lies in the Durham County portion of Chapel Hill, will compete with other Durham housing projects for the tax credits.

If that effort fails, the developer plans to donate 1.7 acres to the town or a nonprofit housing developer, which could require the town to kick in additional money. Bryan said the infrastructure will be constructed for the affordable housing no matter who builds it.

Project officials reached out to Habitat for Humanity, which is interested in building 24 affordable townhouses, and another housing developer to get input, Bryan said. In October, Dustin Mills with Taft-Mills Group LLC sent a letter to the town supporting the project.

His company, Mills said, thinks a tax credit application for the affordable apartments will be competitive in Durham, where two or more projects are chosen each year, compared with one in Orange County.