Downtown Chapel Hill & Carrboro development

[pdxheel]

The Courtyard on West Franklin is currently going through a renovation. If you don't know where this is, its where Penang is located across from the Carolina Brewery. LocoPops just opened up there and 3 other great spots are also located there: 3 Cups (probably one of the best coffee and tea shops around), Sandwhich (great gourmet sandwiches), and Bonne Soiree (European restaurant). Anyways, this should become one of the newish hot spots in West Franklin when completed.

The Courtyard

West End

If you have never been to LocoPops I suggest you go. They are amazing!!!

[Nindec]

I picked up the first edition of Carrboro's new newspaper the other day: The Carrboro Citizen. It had a pretty interesting article about upcoming changes to the requirements for open space in Downtown developments -- it sounds pretty similar to the fight Meeker's been having in Raleigh recently, but it sounds like the board is leaning towards making the right decision allowing other 'urban amenities' to be included in lieu of open space.

Also, it mentioned a couple developments I hadn't heard about. The first was 'The Alberta," a 46,000 square foot mixed use development on the old Carrboro Farmers Market sight on Roberson. I think this is right behind the armadillo grill? This is one lot away from the Cat's Cradle Redevelopment.

The other was a planned residential and commercial development at the old Andrew-Rigsbee Hardware Store on South Greenboro. This could be a great space -- It could feed off the success of the new Open Eye space one block north, and the very new restaurant, antique store, and gardening store right across the street. Combined, these two projects could start to extend DT Carrboro South a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing more plans for them.

[orulz]

Agreed about extending downtown Carrboro southwards. Open Eye is (perhaps?) my favorite coffee shop in the Triangle.

Saw this report on Carrboro's website dated March 9, 2007, which gives a very comprehensive overview of the status of all the active projects in Carrboro. All the above projects (and more) are mentioned. Some of them have been in the works for quite a while.

[ChiefJoJo]

The other was a planned residential and commercial development at the old Andrew-Rigsbee Hardware Store on South Greenboro. This could be a great space -- It could feed off the success of the new Open Eye space one block north, and the very new restaurant, antique store, and gardening store right across the street. Combined, these two projects could start to extend DT Carrboro South a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing more plans for them.

Here's the article/review about Glasshalfull, the new wine bar and restaurant you're speaking of.

Open Eye is (perhaps?) my favorite coffee shop in the Triangle.

I've been to most of them I think... My favorite is Three Cups... the Ethiopian is outstanding! Open Eye is cool too, but no one in CH-Carrboro seems to want to open before 7, except--gulp--Starbucks!

[DanRNC]

Here's the article/review about Glasshalfull, the new wine bar and restaurant you're speaking of.

This place is really nice- I would encourage people to check it out. The chef is from Aqua in Beaufort, which is a great spot as well.

[ChiefJoJo]

Franklin St may get a new development within a few years. The old Exxon on W Franklin is closing in May, and might mean more condos for the site if the Lot 5/Ram project sells out. Knowing Lot 5 condos were in the works, every time I walked by there recently, I always thought it would be a prime redevelopment site.

[RaleighRob]

^ Interesting. Granted, gas stations aren't attractive usually, I still think they are a necessary service for any city to have in their downtown/urban core, if they want to make it a 24/7 area...along with grocery stores, drug stores, apartments, coffee shops, hardware stores, etc. (Or at the very least, have some on the periphery of downtown.)

But like the article said, fortunately downtown Carrboro is just down the street and they have some gas stations. For now.

[DanRNC]

I'm glad to see McFarlings go-they gouged on price and where always pretty unfriendly.

[RaleighRob]

Saw this article today: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/603350.html

Another example of Carrboro being flexible and forward-thinking in terms of urban development.

[orulz]

Not "news" per se on this one but nobody has posted about it yet so here goes:

The former Andrews-Rigsbee Hardware building (run-down metal structure located here on S Greensboro Street between Roberson and Carr) was recently torn down in Carrboro. The project to replace it will be called Roberson Square, a mixed use building with residential, retail, and office space. From the town's May Active Projects Report:

This Conditional Use Permit project is proposed on the site of the now closed Andrew-

Hardware Store. The lot is bordered by North Greensboro Street, Roberson Street, Maple

Avenue Extension, and Carr Street. Proposed is a mix of retail, office, and residential

with one level of underground parking. The building is smaller on the south side of the

to respect the provisions of the Downtown Neighborhood Protection overlay district. It

rise to five (5) stories on the northern side of the property.

Plans were distributed for review on November 2, 2006. All comments from the first review

have been returned to the applicant. Revised plans have not yet been submitted.

Found a little rendering of the S. Greensboro Street elevation.

[DanRNC]

^Thats turning into the hot little corner with Tylers, Open Eye, and The Trading Post all clustered in that small block.

[Raintree21]

Franklin St may get a new development within a few years. The old Exxon on W Franklin is closing in May, and might mean more condos for the site if the Lot 5/Ram project sells out. Knowing Lot 5 condos were in the works, every time I walked by there recently, I always thought it would be a prime redevelopment site.

Saw the Exxon was pretty much gutted when I was in CH this weekend. The underground fuel tanks were removed as well.

[ChiefJoJo]

A new project has been announced in Carrboro, "The Alberta." Here's the article, and the site is located here, behind Armadillo Grill.

The 46,340-square-foot building would be on two acres at 100 Sweetbay Place-300 Roberson St. behind the Armadillo Grill where Carr Mill now has a satellite parking lot. It would include 23 condominiums in the rear of the ground floor and the upper floors, said architect Jack Haggerty. The rest of the ground floor would contain shops, offices or restaurants totaling 6,772 square feet, Haggerty said.

Along with 300 East Main, that area looks to be slowly filling in with nice, human-scale mixed use development.

[pdxheel]

Any updates on these projects? Not much seems to be happening.

[ChiefJoJo]

Not "news" per se on this one but nobody has posted about it yet so here goes:

The former Andrews-Rigsbee Hardware building (run-down metal structure located here on S Greensboro Street between Roberson and Carr) was recently torn down in Carrboro. The project to replace it will be called Roberson Square, a mixed use building with residential, retail, and office space. From the town's May Active Projects Report:

Found a little rendering of the S. Greensboro Street elevation.

Here's an update on the Roberson Square project from the N&O.

The town held the public hearing for the Roberson Square project, a five-story building comprising condominiums on the top three floors, and shops, offices and possibly restaurants on the bottom two floors.

Roberson Square -- 203 S. Greensboro St., across from Open Eye Cafe -- would be 91,575 square feet, and would include 18 condominiums, 65 underground parking spaces and at least 10 on-street parking spaces.

Residents have complained for years that that site is an eyesore. It used to be the location of the Andrew-Riggsbee Hardware Store but has since been a fenced-off gravel lot in the middle of a bustling downtown.

I also noticed it will have wide sidewalks (10-ft) and underground parking--which is impressive. There apparently were concerns about not enough parking and increasing the non-residential tax base, which stands at about 20%--on the low side. I think this is the smae problem that Chapel Hill has, in that there's just not enough employment to keep most residents from commuting to jobs elsewhere.

I do wish other areas of the Triangle could get smaller, well thought out, human-scale projects like this.

Any updates on these projects? Not much seems to be happening.

I have no idea what's going on with the Ram Lot 5 project. It seemed to be rolling along and there's not been much news lately. I don't get to Chapel Hill as much as I used to... I assume the parking lot is still active.

[CHGuy]

Carrboro has approved the Roberson Square project. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/968362.html

[DanRNC]

It was announced today that UNC will acquire University Square/Granville towers for $44.5 million. I am not sure what the plans are for it but the city seems pretty happy so it must involve complete redevelopment.

Story

[orulz]

Read here for more news.

In the short term, the property will stay pretty much as-is, except management of the housing will be turned over to the university. The UNC Chapel Hill foundation is actually a private entity associated with the university. As such, the building will stay on the tax rolls. (over $800,000 anually in property taxes come from this property.) In the long term, it will be redeveloped.

I wonder if the Pittsboro Street extension may come to life again as a result of this acquisition. I don't so much care for the Pittsboro extension from a traffic flow standpoint, but from the standpoint of putting in more public streets, and expanding the downtown core away from only Franklin Street, I like it very much.

[RaleighRob]

UNC slowly moving ahead with the redevelopment of University Square: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/...iversity-square

[Brendan]

UNC slowly moving ahead with the redevelopment of University Square: http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/...iversity-square

Elkus Manfredi Architects' work looks very impressive! This should turn out really well for Chapel Hill.

http://www.elkus-manfredi.com/project/the-...ate-university/

http://www.elkus-manfredi.com/project/the-...icana-at-brand/ - This one is incredible!

http://www.elkus-manfredi.com/project/cityplace/ - Not our style, but beautiful.

http://www.elkus-manfredi.com/project/westwood-station/

This is who CBL should call to de-mall Cary Towne Center. I'm so jealous.

[Brendan]

The Daily Tar Heel had an article yesterday about the University Square project lacking money, which developers are calling "Franklin 123".

http://www.dailytarh...lans-lack-money

If the economy worsens or credit tightens even more, the project could be shelved, which would be very disappointing.

[Brendan]

Story on WCHL1360 now reports that talk of lack of funding is premature.

Planning is proceeding as expected. 18-24 month approval plan. Waiting for more complete plan before approaching investors.

The news I don't care for is that it may be built as a series of smaller projects over a span of a few years. Things could be canceled and/or the overall plan may not end up being as impressive as it could be. But maybe I'm wrong.

The Daily Tar Heel had an article yesterday about the University Square project lacking money, which developers are calling "Franklin 123".

http://www.dailytarh...lans-lack-money

If the economy worsens or credit tightens even more, the project could be shelved, which would be very disappointing.

[orulz]

There was a proposal for a 4-story, 36-unit (144-bed) student apartment building with ground-floor retail at the NE corner of Rosemary and Church that went for conceptual review yesterday (wonder what the result was?) It calls for 35 parking spaces and 66 bike racks in the basement. It's called the Wesley House and is proposed by the Wesley Foundation. Basically, then, this would be a Methodist dormitory. Seems they aren't requesting any rezoning so this would be basically an as-of-right development.

I guess CH must have a 1:1 parking requirement or close to it, hence the 35 parking spaces for 36 units. This is pretty dense though since every unit in the building has 4 bedrooms.

[Brendan]

On Wednesday, the public got to hear the plans for the first phase of the redevelopment of University Square in Chapel Hill.

http://www.newsobser...sion-takes.html

There were two shocking items in the article. It could be 4 to 8 years before phase 1 is complete.

AND A COMICAL 30 TO 50 YEARS TO COMPLETE THE ENTIRE PROJECT!

I'm sorry, but I may not be around here that long to care.

[DPK]

On Wednesday, the public got to hear the plans for the first phase of the redevelopment of University Square in Chapel Hill.

http://www.newsobser...sion-takes.html

There were two shocking items in the article. It could be 4 to 8 years before phase 1 is complete.

AND A COMICAL 30 TO 50 YEARS TO COMPLETE THE ENTIRE PROJECT!

I'm sorry, but I may not be around here that long to care.

Can someone shed some light on to why it will take that long for both phase 1 and the entire project? Skyscrapers are built in less time than this thing is proposing. Can I safely assume it's just more local Chapel Hill crap politics? There can't be that much red tape to cut through.