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Axios
19 hours ago
- Business
- Axios
The contentious rezonings facing the Raleigh and Durham city councils
While the last-minute withdrawal of a rezoning request for the Heritage Square life sciences campus in Durham came as a surprise to many, including sitting council members, the divisiveness of the project did not. Why it matters: With so much growth and construction hitting the Triangle, several high-profile projects have garnered attention from neighbors and activists wishing to see their sizes scaled back. It's giving city councils a lot to consider as they navigate a population that continues to surge, placing more demand on housing and infrastructure. Here are some notable projects that still need to win approval from city councils in the Triangle: Heritage Square The Heritage Square project in downtown Durham, which the Chicago developer Sterling Bay envisioned adding a life sciences campus and apartments on an abandoned strip mall, was one of the most hotly anticipated council meetings of the year. The property, which Sterling Bay paid $62 million for in 2022, sits on the edge of the historically Black majority Hayti neighborhood. Members of the community raised concerns that it would raise property values and lead to displacement. Zoom in: The developer spent the past three years meeting with community members and was offering $2.3 million in contributions, including scholarship funds for N.C. Central and affordable retail space for local vendors. Between the lines: While it remains unclear why Sterling Bay pulled the request at the last minute — the company declined to comment in-depth — several city council members facing reelection this fall expressed concerns. The market for life science space has also slowed significantly in recent years. What's next: Because Sterling Bay officially withdrew its request before a vote took place, the developer will need to wait at least six months before resubmitting any rezoning to the city. It can also be built without a rezoning, but the developer said it needed more height because of issues with the bedrock that made building underground parking more expensive. Northgate Mall Northgate Mall in Durham has been closed and empty for five years, and it remains to be seen what will ultimately be built on the property. Why it matters: The site occupies a high-profile location in central Durham, between Interstate 85 and downtown, and its owners, Northwood Investors, a prominent developer in Charlotte, have proposed a life sciences campus there with retail and some affordable housing. Zoom in: The Walltown community, a historically Black neighborhood next to the mall, has opposed the plans, saying it needs much more affordable housing to counteract rising property values. A Northwood spokesperson said they have no new updates to share on the plans for the property. What's next: In response to concerns, the city's planning department called for city staff to develop an area plan for the mall to take into account the desires of nearby residents. The hope is that the area plan will shape how the city council votes on the potential rezoning. The Durham City Council will consider adopting the plan at a meeting on Aug. 18. Kane Realty's North Hills assemblage After spiking its original rezoning request in the face of neighborhood opposition in 2023, the prolific Raleigh developer Kane Realty is back this year with a new rezoning request for land it owns in North Hills. Why it matters: The North Hills area has been one of the hottest spots for development in Raleigh for years, and Kane Realty was looking to build up to 37 stories on land where just 12 stories is currently allowed. The firm had also offered land for an upgraded fire station and a transit center in North Hills as part of the application. But neighbors, including former Mayor Nancy McFarlane, pushed back over traffic concerns on Six Forks Road and a lack of affordable housing. Zoom in: Kane's new plans for the properties still call for heights up to 37 stories, but the square footage has been scaled back significantly. At a neighborhood meeting in July, neighbors continued to express concerns about the buildings' heights and the increased traffic they might bring. What's next: Kane expects to file an official rezoning request this month, setting up a city council vote in the coming months. Peace Street tower Signs urging the Raleigh City Council to vote "no" on a proposed tower on Peace Street have popped up all over Raleigh in recent months. The campaign has been led by Livable Raleigh, a group that has opposed many projects in the city, and has zeroed in on this project for potentially reducing sunlight and increasing traffic in the Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood. Why it matters: The project's plans, which call for heights up to 30 stories and hundreds of apartments next to the planned Smoky Hollow park, will be debated by the Raleigh Planning Commission Aug. 12. Zoom in: Raleigh Development Co., the owner of the site at the intersection of West and Peace streets, has already had one rezoning request rejected for the property in 2023.
Axios
05-08-2025
- Business
- Axios
Developer pulls plans for Heritage Square rezoning in Durham
A Chicago developer proposing a new life sciences campus near downtown Durham has pulled its rezoning application from the City Council at the 11th hour. Why it matters: The plans from Chicago-based Sterling Bay envisioned a mixed-use life sciences campus on the site of the Heritage Square shopping center on the edge of the Hayti neighborhood and across the Durham Freeway from downtown. The shopping center currently sits vacant, but was once home to a grocery store, some smaller shops and restaurants. Driving the news: The developer's plans, which were set to be heard at Monday night's Durham City Council meeting, were facing pushback from residents of Hayti, a historically Black neighborhood that has faced rising costs in recent years. Many of those residents expressed concern at the City Council meeting that a project of that size will cause property valuations across the neighborhood to soar even more, the News & Observer reported. Before the council could vote, however, Sterling Bay withdrew its application, a move that surprised the council and the dozens of people in the audience. The council ultimately voted to approve the withdrawal 5-2. Zoom in: A Sterling Bay spokesperson told Axios the company is disappointed that the project will not proceed, and noted that it's worked for the past three years to speak with residents in the neighborhood about the project. The company said it proposed $2.3 million in contributions to the local community as part of its rezoning, including scholarship money for N.C. Central University and Durham Technical Community College, a contribution to the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, affordable retail space and several other measures. "While the initiative will not move forward, we remain proud of the collaborative efforts that shaped it," the spokesperson said in a statement. What's next: The withdrawal means that Sterling Bay could resubmit another rezoning in six months or potentially build without it. Sterling Bay only filed the rezoning after discovering issues with the bedrock that made building underground parking more expensive and required taller buildings. The company had bought the 10-acre property for $62 million in 2022, according to county records. Sterling Bay said it was "exploring new steps" but declined to comment further on what might become of the property. Between the lines: The pulling of the rezoning also comes at a time when financing for office and lab buildings is much harder to come by.
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
F.K. Plous: Build the CTA Super Loop to get Lincoln Yards and The 78 developed
In April, the Tribune Editorial Board asked: 'Is Lincoln Yards becoming Chicago's new Block 37?' Block 37, for those too young to remember, was the space surrounded by State, Dearborn, Randolph and Washington streets that stood empty for 20 years until an exasperated Mayor Richard M. Daley found a developer willing to build what amounted to a disappointing assembly of retail stores. Today, a similar drama is unfolding on a much bigger scale 2 miles north of downtown on a vacant 54-acre tract of former industrial land dubbed Lincoln Yards. Developer Sterling Bay announced its intention to build a mix of office, residential and commercial buildings on the tract back in 2019. But in five years, Sterling Bay has finished only one Lincoln Yards project, a life sciences building that today stands empty. Famishing for capital to keep the project alive, Sterling Bay surrendered ownership of more than half the tract to Arkansas-based lender Bank OZK. Now Los Angeles-based Kayne Anderson and Chicago-based JDL are planning to acquire the entire tract for a bargain. But the partners' plans — at least at this point — suggest a much more modest scale of development than Sterling Bay's: shorter high-rises, a lower residential population, and less commercial and office space. What went wrong with Lincoln Yards? Most of the postmortems name the usual suspects: the pandemic, the massive conversion of office work to remote work, rising interest rates and political foot-dragging by Lori Lightfoot when she was mayor and Ald. Scott Waguespack. Those factors may have played a role, but so does another element that everyone seems to overlook: geography. The map of Lincoln Yards looks forbidding. In a flat city where all private and public property is organized into rectangles and triangles aligned with the principal points of the compass, Lincoln Yards is defined by a series of wedges, lumps and lobes that don't adjoin with the rest of the Chicago street map. Like its deviant neighbor to the south, Goose Island, Lincoln Yards is full of confusing little streets that don't line up with the Chicago grid and bear names not found in any other neighborhood. The problem is the river. Early Chicago may have craved a clear and simple street grid, but it craved growth even more, and that meant quick access to the docks where schooners delivered the coal, salt, lumber, shingles, iron, flour and whiskey the new city needed for growth. Because the river winds, the streets accessing the docks in Lincoln Yards had to deviate in their headings. Even veteran Chicago motorists find the place confusing, and transit hardly goes there. Elston Avenue, which forms the tract's western edge, lost its CTA bus service in 1997. Elston should be the gateway to Lincoln Yards, but when a popular band is performing at the Salt Shed between Division Street and North Avenue, Elston seizes up. Should Elston attract more new businesses and residents, Lincoln Yards could become inaccessible. By surface vehicles, at least. But more than 20 years ago, the CTA was pondering a new subway that could have provided Lincoln Yards, Bucktown, Noble Square and adjacent neighborhoods with a fast, frequent mass transit service to the Loop, Near North Side, Near West Side and the Illinois Medical District plus connections to the Blue Line to O'Hare International Airport and the Orange Line to Midway Airport. The proposed Super Loop, sometimes known as the Circle Line, seemed achievable and practical because more than half the route would use existing CTA infrastructure. Northbound trains would follow the Red Line subway from the Loop to the North and Clybourn station. Then, just north of the station, a new underground junction would enable Super Loop trains to switch onto a new pair of tracks running west under North Avenue. That westbound segment was to include a station at North and Elston at the southwest corner of the area that would become Lincoln Yards. From North and Elston, the underground tubes would head west half a mile, then turn south under Ashland Avenue. At the busy corner of Division Street and Ashland and Milwaukee avenues, the line would pass under the existing Blue Line subway station, where Super Loop passengers could ride an escalator up one level to transfer to trains to O'Hare or downtown. Proceeding south under Ashland, trains would stop at a new station under Chicago Avenue. Just south of the Chicago and Ashland stop, the line would swing slightly west, climb out of the tunnel and ramp up onto an unused segment of the old West Side Elevated Railway. At Lake Street, it would cross the elevated Green Line just west of the Ashland stop, where a platform would enable passengers to transfer to Green and Pink Line trains. Continuing south on what's today known as the Pink Line, trains would stop at a new station serving the United Center, the existing station serving the West Side medical district and the 18th Street stop serving the Pilsen neighborhood. But just south of 18th Street, where the Pink Line turns west, Super Loop trains would continue south on a new elevated right of way paralleling Ashland Avenue, crossing the sanitary canal and curving northeast to join the Orange Line elevated just west of its Ashland stop, where passengers could catch an Orange Line train to Midway. At Chinatown, trains would switch onto the Red Line and repeat their itinerary. All seemed to be going well for the new Super Loop plan until around 2012, when the CTA quietly dropped the project. The Red Line subway lacked the capacity to handle the increased train frequencies generated by the Super Loop. Under then President Dorval Carter Jr., the CTA switched its growth focus from circulation within the urban core to outreach toward the margins with a $6 billion, 6-mile extension of the Red Line to the Far South Side at 130th Street. But today, with the Red Line extension barely started and two giant tracts of real estate waiting for development deep inside the city, it's time to rethink the Super Loop not just as a people mover but also as a tool for jump-starting development and generating vital real estate tax revenues. It would work like this: With the Red Line off-limits to more trains, switch those Super Loop trains at Chinatown into a new subway running parallel to the Red Line three blocks west under The 78. Build two underground stations: one at the south end of The 78 just north of 16th Street, the other a half-mile north at, or under, the Chicago Fire's proposed new soccer stadium. Rapid transit stations serving a major stadium are essential in preventing traffic congestion on game days. One reason Chicago and New York are the only remaining cities with two Major League Baseball teams is that both ballparks in both cities are on the rapid transit system (and in Chicago, Rate Field is served by Metra as well). Heading north from the Fire's new stadium in The 78, the Super Loop tube would cross under the South Branch of the Chicago River and head north under Canal Street to a long-overdue two-block-long underground station serving Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center, neither of which was ever directly connected to the city's rapid transit infrastructure (or to each other). The new connectivity would take thousands of daily vehicles, buses and taxis out of the congested West Loop — especially on Canal, Adams, Clinton and Jackson streets — and create a long-delayed all-weather pedestrian connection between the two busy rail terminals. Continuing north under Canal, the new subway would bring precious new mobility to the congested and fast-growing River West and Fulton River districts, two formerly obscure tracts of warehouses and railroad spurs now throbbing with residential development — and auto traffic. The next stop north would be Goose Island, another once-obscure tract of factories and rail yards now generating explosive commercial development (and congestion). As originally proposed, the CTA Super Loop running west from North and Clybourn would have merely grazed Lincoln Yards with an underground station at the far southwestern corner of the tract, North and Elston. On its new north-south orientation, the subway could head directly northwest from Goose Island into the heart of Lincoln Yards, with two underground stations — one in the south tract at a location next to Cortland Street and the Armitage Avenue bus line, and another in the longer north tract, around Dickens Avenue. The line would access the popular 606 trail, then loop west to Ashland and turn south on the original Super Loop heading (but with a 'Gateway to Bucktown' station under the busy intersection of Ashland and North). There's no reason to scratch heads and ponder why two large and promising tracts of urban real estate continue to stand empty in a city full of eager, experienced and well-financed developers and young families seeking an urban home. Those promising properties are inaccessible. The missing element is the mass mobility provided by a new rail transit infrastructure. Expensive? Compared to what? Has anybody calculated the real estate taxes never paid by two empty prairies?
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Former Lincoln Yards site to become smaller, walkable residential community, developer says. ‘Bigger is not necessarily better.'
A Chicago developer has negotiated a deal to purchase the northern half of the stalled Lincoln Yards megadevelopment site. JDL Development said Thursday it will give the site a new name, and instead of the grandiose vision pursued by the original developer Sterling Bay, which lost control of Lincoln Yards earlier this year, promises to build a modest-size, walkable residential community. 'Everything we build is going to be purposeful, and blend in with the neighborhood and the surrounding area,' said Jim Letchinger, CEO of JDL Development, who pictures mostly mid-rise residential buildings, with perhaps one or two skyscrapers. 'It will be much more appropriate, and we do hope to also create a very strong street retail environment. It's all about creating a neighborhood, not about trying to build a trophy for JDL.' Letchinger said the new 31-acre development, called Foundry Park, will eventually total about 2,000-3,000 units, including single-family homes, condos, rental apartments, townhomes and affordable housing. A nearly 40-story tower is also possible, but no decisions have been made. The company's gambit opens a new chapter in the decadelong saga to redevelop the vast stretch of land along the North Branch of the Chicago River, sandwiched between Bucktown and Lincoln Park. Neighborhood advocates said they like the idea of scaling back Sterling Bay's original plans, and new owners mean the community now has another chance to shape the development. 'I always thought Sterling Bay's plan was simply too big, so I'm not surprised their approach did not work out,' said Juanita Irizarry, a former member of the Lincoln Yards Community Advisory Council, a body of community residents, advocates, urban planners and other experts created by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019. JDL Development and its partner Kayne Anderson Real Estate expect to close the deal by the end of September. They did not disclose how much they will pay for the property. The firms wanted to purchase Lincoln Yards' entire 53 acres, but negotiations with J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which controls the southern half, have so far been unsuccessful. 'That's OK,' Letchinger said. 'Thirty-one acres is a lot, so we're working with city officials on the northern section. They say their No. 1 goal is to start building.' A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development said 'it would be premature for DPD to comment at this time.' JDL is best known for developing the Gold Coast's No. 9 Walton luxury condominium building and more recently completed the 2.2 million-square-foot One Chicago in the River North neighborhood. Its work continues nearby on the North Union development, which will have up to 12 buildings and 3.5 million square feet of space. Sterling Bay's original 14 million-square-foot proposal, unveiled in 2019, called for residential and office skyscrapers, some nearly 600 feet high, thousands of apartments, riverfront parks, retail, entertainment, a high-tech science hub and an extension of The 606 trail. A project that dense would also have required costly new infrastructure, including new bridges, roads and a reconstructed riverfront. The plan was controversial from the start. Sterling Bay forged a redevelopment agreement with the city in 2019, just before former Mayor Rahm Emanuel left office. The company proposed spending nearly $500 million upfront on neighborhood infrastructure before getting reimbursed from a city tax increment financing district. The strategy angered many community groups and activists, who said TIF financing is supposed to be reserved for blighted communities, not affluent areas like Lincoln Park. 'We wanted Lori Lightfoot to hold off on agreeing to what Mayor Emanuel had put together and take more time to decide if that was the right approach,' Irizarry said. Sterling Bay ran into difficulties from the start. Lightfoot was skeptical about Lincoln Yards' long-term prospects, leading to public disagreements with the company about how to kick-start development. The pandemic then crushed the office market, soaring interest rates helped make it more difficult to secure investors and most of the land was left vacant. Letchinger said Foundry Park will not include any office towers, and scales back Sterling Bay's residential plan. The development will be less dense and generate less traffic, avoiding the need for a new bridge and other infrastructure, possibly freeing up the TIF dollars for other uses. 'Bigger is not necessarily better,' Letchinger said. 'The last developer wasn't able to execute their plan, and candidly, I don't think it was a workable agreement.' Instead of building an entirely new bridge, Letchinger said the developers might renovate an old railroad swing bridge that connects the site's northern and southern sections into a river-crossing pathway for bikes and pedestrians. 'Not only does this bridge still work, it's a true work of art,' he said. Other details on JDL's plan, including the number of buildings, their locations and sizes, can only be filled in after consultations with city planners, neighborhood groups and local Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, Letchinger added. 'I am pleased to see progress on the site with JDL and Kayne Anderson,' said Waguespack in a prepared statement. 'We will be working closely with the surrounding communities and city officials to revitalize the area with new housing and development that will help grow our local economy.' A scaled-back version of Lincoln Yards has a greater chance of success, said Jonathan Snyder, executive director of North Branch Works, a nonprofit advocate for economic development along the Chicago River, but he and other neighborhood advocates will also push JDL to bring employment opportunities to the area, once home to A. Finkl & Sons Steel, a now-demolished steel plant, and many other businesses. 'I am not talking about a new giant steel mill,' Snyder said. 'I appreciate that they're scaling down the project, but I think there is still going to be room for some neighborhood-friendly industrial uses, such as a brewery.' A brewery would provide decent jobs and complement existing neighborhood businesses, especially music venues such as The Hideout and The Salt Shed, an entertainment hub in the former Morton Salt warehouse complex, Snyder said. Snyder said he hopes JDL will allow community members to sit at the table as plans take shape. 'It would be terrific to reestablish the (Lincoln Yards Community Advisory) Council,' which lapsed after most development activity ground to a halt, Snyder said. 'It wasn't something that stood in the way of development. We just helped represent the community and tried to make (Sterling Bay's plan) better.' Letchinger said robust participation is encouraged at all of their developments. 'We've always been willing to meet with community members and stakeholders,' he said. 'We always learn something, so projects always get tweaked and improved.' Adding thousands of residents to the neighborhood will still be a challenge, said Brian Comer, president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, as some streets like Cortland Street are already frequently clogged with traffic, and local schools don't have room for new students. 'Oscar Mayer (Magnet School) is packed to the gills,' Comer said. 'There was not overwhelming support for Sterling Bay's plans, but everybody wants development on the site. Nobody's running away from that. So, I look forward to seeing Jim's vision and hope it fits in better with the community.'
Chicago Tribune
25-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Let's focus on Lincoln Yards' future, not the mistakes of the past
Who's to blame for the embarrassment that has become Lincoln Yards? Who cares? It's former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, says Andy Gloor, CEO of Sterling Bay, the original developer of what was supposed to be a brand-new neighborhood on 53 acres of choice North Side land that until recently was industrial. Gloor maintains that Lightfoot's administration caused so many delays that it jeopardized financing that would otherwise have materialized. For her part, Lightfoot, never one to back down from a fight, at a public appearance in May accused Gloor of 'repeatedly lying about me in public,' as the Tribune recently reported. She said she doubted he ever had the financing he said he did. We understand why Lightfoot and Gloor are arguing. It's natural to seek to protect your reputation. But that is all yesterday's news, at least when it comes to a piece of land whose productive use remains critical to Chicago's economic future. Sterling Bay is out of the picture now that its primary lender, Bank OZK, has seized a substantial chunk of the land in question and reportedly is in negotiations with another developer about building on the entire 53 acres. Brandon Johnson, needless to say, now is Chicago mayor, having defeated Lightfoot in 2023. What matters at this moment in time is that the city of Chicago, the bank and the latest (and hopefully the final) developer, Chicago-based JDL Development, move with dispatch to determine a path forward for a massive vacant lot that is beginning with each passing day to serve as a sad metaphor for a city trapped in stasis. We've said before that the original Lincoln Yards concept, which envisioned substantial commercial as well as residential development, may no longer be viable given the post-pandemic collapse of the office market. Tackling Lincoln Yards in bite sizes rather than in one multicourse meal may be the prudent way to go. Or, perhaps JDL will want to forge a new, expansive vision for the tract that connects long-established, affluent Lincoln Park with more recently gentrified Bucktown. Whichever course is chosen, let's get moving. The future is where the focus has to be now, not Monday-morning quarterbacking the Lincoln Yards failure to date.
