West Franklin target set at 2014
BY MARK SCHULTZ - Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- Developers remaking the University Square property at the entrance to UNC-Chapel Hill expect to submit their first application this fall and complete the project's first phase in 2014, they said Thursday.
That phase would replace the shopping center that now is sandwiched between parking lots with new four- or five-story buildings next to the Franklin Street sidewalk. Retail would be on the ground floor and offices above. A parking deck wrapped by townhouses also could be part of the first phase.
Over time, Chapel Hill Foundation Real Estate Holdings and development partner Cousins Properties plan to turn the 12-acre site - now being called 123 West Franklin Street - into affordable and market-rate housing, student housing, shops, offices, a parking deck and civic space.
The idea, they said, is to close the gap between the two halves of downtown Chapel Hill and to thematically connect the project with the future eight-story 140 West Franklin condominium project across the street. Both developments will have public art, and the university's Ackland Art Museum wants to join the project in some way. The project will also have green space. "Right now, we're 12 acres of bricks and asphalt and concrete," said Gordon Merklein, executive director of real estate development for UNC-CH. "A lot of times I meet the kids at Granville [Towers] and ask, 'Where do you throw a Frisbee?' " Granville Towers, a student dormitory on the site, would eventually be demolished and replaced, but not for at least 10 years, Merklein said.
At a presentation to the Friends of Downtown, officials said they hope to submit their first application to the Chapel Hill Town Council this fall. It should take about two years to design and get the plans approved and about two years to build the first phase. "I think the timeline's a little optimistic," said Town Council member Ed Harrison, who attended the meeting. "But it won't miss it by much. I think with this type of framework, they can probably pull it off."
Chapel Hill Foundation Real Estate Holdings, a not-for-profit corporation founded by UNC-CH Foundation, bought the tract and the existing buildings for $45.75 million from US/GT, LLC, a limited liability company affiliated with the Kenan family. The deal took effect in July 2009.
When they announced the purchase in 2008, UNC-CH officials said the sale would not affect the local property tax base, because the foundation would keep paying taxes - the 2007 total bill exceeded $868,279 - to support local governments and the city schools.
