UNC to begin housing study

A housing study that will guide UNC’s development plans for Granville Towers and other University properties is expected to begin in the next week.

University officials said they are close to finalizing a contract with facility planning firm Brailsford and Dunlavey to assess student, staff and faculty housing needs.

The results of the study could shape the future of University Square, which includes Granville Towers.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation purchased the 12-acre lot this summer. Plans for the site include adding office and retail space and building parking decks.

But plans for Granville, which houses about 1,000 students — about 300 fewer than capacity — are still being discussed, said Larry Hicks, director of housing and residential education.

“We’re miles from making a decision on the dispensation of Granville Towers,” Hicks said. “We’re trying to get as much info as possible on this.”

The study would identify opportunities for housing improvements on campus, at satellite campus Carolina North and at Carolina Commons, a planned housing development for UNC faculty and staff.

Hicks said the study would help the University evaluate its plans and develop a coordinated housing strategy before beginning new projects.

Possibilities for the Granville site include renovating the three towers or replacing them with townhouses or apartments.

Gordon Merklein, UNC’s executive director of real estate development, said details about the planned study won’t be finalized until the contract is signed, likely in the next week.

He said this would allow Brailsford and Dunlavey to finish the study by the end of the calendar year.

Last week, UNC hired architecture firm Elkus Manfredi to redesign University Square. Merklein said developers would use the housing study as a guide.

“We could obviously override the study if we wanted to,” he said. “Student housing is very much a component of the redevelopment. That’s a central use to that site.”

Merklein said that he won’t know the study’s cost until a contract is finalized but that such studies cost as much as $100,000.

That cost will be distributed across several divisions at UNC, including housing and residential education, facilities planning and real estate development.

Greg Wachalski, regional vice president at Brailsford and Dunlavey, said studies typically involve looking at growth at the University, talking to students and staff, and financial analyses.

Brailsford and Dunlavey previously did a housing study for UNC in 1999 and an update in 2004.


Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.