140 West construction will begin in January

Although some downtown businesses are still concerned about what a parking-lot-turned-upscale-development might mean for them, town officials are taking measures to allay some of their fears.

Construction on the 140 West Franklin Development, which will be located in place of the town-owned Parking Lot 5, will begin in January.

The lot, located at the intersection of West Franklin and Church streets, will partially close Dec. 15 and permanently close Jan 3, said town engineer Jay Gibson.

Meg McGurk, the assistant director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said some business owners are still worried the reduced parking will also mean fewer customers.

“The concern is Lot 5 is very convenient and visible, especially for the businesses right around it,” McGurk said. “The town has been working on replacement parking over the last two years to make up for that loss of parking in Lot 5, especially right around Lot 5.”

The $75 million development is a project launched by the town and Ram Development Company as part of the 2003 Downtown Economic Development Initiative.

The development, for which special use and rezoning permit applications were approved in 2007, combines public, commercial and living spaces with the goal of recharging the downtown atmosphere.

Upon completion, the structure will stand eight stories tall at its highest point and contain 140 units of upscale condominiums, 28,540 square feet of ground-level retail space and 337 private and public parking spaces.

Ram Development cleared the last hurdle standing between it and the start of construction on Nov. 19 when it received a zoning compliance permit from the town after weeks of delays.

“It’s obviously a very complicated process,” Gibson said. “We were waiting on certain items from the developer, and until those items arrived, we were unable to finish process the permits.”

With the closure of Lot 5 goes 103 parking spaces, a mix of leased and hourly spots. To mitigate the effect of losing the lot amidst already cramped downtown parking, the spaces have been redistributed throughout town.

McGurk said the town, specifically Economic Development Officer Dwight Bassett, has been helpful in the challenge to conveniently relocate parking.

“He’s really worked very steadily,” she said. “He’s responsible for finding all of the replacement parking.”
McGurk also said new blue signs that show the way to parking lots and spaces will aid visitors and residents in their search for parking.

“That just went up in the last two months, maybe less than that, so people can find their way to the parking lot,” she said.”

Kendria Sweet, a spokeswoman for the company, said construction of the development is still slated to be completed within two years despite the delays.

“We told our homeowners that they would be in in two years, and we’re going to make that happen,” she said.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.