Planner chosen to redo square

An architecture firm that has worked with Duke University and Disney has been chosen to redesign the 12-acre lot that includes University Square and Granville Towers.

Elkus Manfredi was chosen this week out of six finalists because it had the plan that best incorporated the site’s many uses — office space, retail and housing — into a single vision, said Gordon Merklein, executive director of real estate for the University.

Now that the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation owns the site, the University is planning to mostly tear it down, add office space, triple the retail space and build multi-level parking decks.

The University was looking for an architectural firm that could make the site a multi-use destination while merging it visually and physically with the campus and with Franklin Street.

“There is definitely a flow to their design thinking and process thinking,” Merklein said. “It’s very important that it be not just a retail location or an office location or a place to live, but that it incorporates all those elements.”

Next week, representatives from the University will have a kickoff meeting with Elkus Manfredi.

The Boston-based firm has worked at several universities, including Duke and Harvard. It has also worked on corporate sites and entertainment sites like Downtown Disney.

Duke University Architect John Pearce worked directly with Elkus Manfredi when it was developing a master plan for buildings along Erwin Road.

After development plans were far along, Duke ultimately decided not to use the firm.

“We went through a selection process and determined that we wanted to take a different approach,” Pearce said.

But he said he remembers the firm having good planning proposals, plenty of options, good drawings and strong communication skills.

Elkus Manfredi also designed a multi-use development at The Ohio State University that Pearce said is a good indicator of what might come to University Square.

“It’s just got the right kind of flavor,” Pearce said.

The firm has also been hired in the past for at least 12 developments that follow Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria — something Merklein said was essential in any architect the University picked.

Public input sessions for the site, which developers are calling 123 Franklin St., will begin this fall.

Rose Fiore, who works for Elkus Manfredi, said coworkers were excited to do a project near UNC.

“It’s a wonderful part of the country,” she said.


Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.