Durham broke ground Wednesday on the Villages of Hayti, a 252-unit affordable housing development on Merrick Street in the historic Hayti neighborhood, built on the former Fayette Place site that has sat empty for nearly two decades.
The Durham Housing Authority and Durham Community Partners, which includes Harmony Housing Affordable Development, Gilbane Development, and F7 Development International, are leading the first phase of the multiphase project. Construction is expected to wrap by the end of 2027. The city approved a $44 million bond for this phase in November.
The complex is a 100% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project. All 252 units are reserved for households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. The first phase spreads 81 one-bedroom, 113 two-bedroom, and 58 three-bedroom apartments across nine garden-style, walk-up buildings. Twenty-six units are designated for people with disabilities or individuals experiencing homelessness, per N.C. Housing Finance Agency requirements. A 4,000-square-foot community building and a 1,700-square-foot playground are part of the plan, along with walking paths and a covered picnic pavilion. The site sits less than 1.5 miles from downtown Durham and about a quarter mile from a GoDurham bus stop.
Gail Jones, who lives across the street, described the lot's past in plain terms. "It's been a maze. It's been a dog park. It's been an encampment, been a playground, is being lost and littering, looting, trespass and murders, drugs," she said. She added that the project is personal: she hopes her parents, who still talk about the neighborhood, get to see the plans come to fruition.
Clarence Laney, senior pastor of Monument of Faith Church, framed the development as something larger than housing. "You know that Hayti was not just a neighborhood, it was an ecosystem," he said. "Black wealth, Black culture, Black church life, Black entrepreneurship, Black joy all rooted right here on this ground."
Gospel singer Shirley Caesar, a 13-time Grammy Award winner who grew up on the block and has a nearby road named after her, said the project would get people off the streets. "I just believe that everybody ought to have a good roof over their head," she said.
The project's Community Advisory Committee includes representatives from Durham CAN, the Hayti Reborn Community Advisory Council, and the W.G. Pearson Center. First residents are expected before construction fully closes out at the end of 2027.