Ten years after the city vacated its former police headquarters at 505 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham City Council has a concrete plan for the site. At a March 19 work session, a six-member resident working group presented two scenarios, both centered on 80 units of affordable housing financed through federal 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Units would serve households earning at or below 60% of the area median income.
The council favored a second scenario: five stories of housing built above two floors of structured parking. That approach costs more upfront but frees the remaining land for a possible second phase of 55 additional affordable units. The working group recommended the city issue a long-term ground lease to a developer at nominal cost.
To hit the January tax credit application deadline, the working group pushed the council to select a developer with a Durham track record by July, bypassing a formal RFP process. "We are concerned that if you did some sort of formal RFP or RFQ process, you wouldn't have sufficient time," said Gregg Warren, former president of DHIC.
Council member Carl Rist noted the structured parking requirement comes from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, not the city, which has already eliminated its own parking minimums.
Separately, the council is weighing whether to subdivide the property and sell the original headquarters building, designed by modernist architect Milton Small, to Preservation North Carolina. Rehabilitation is estimated at $25 to $30 million.