A long dormant downtown project for the former Kingsdown mattress factory property in downtown Mebane appears to be coming back to life.
Almost 2½ years ago, in October 2022, Mebane’s city council approved a rezoning plan with very specific outlines of retail space and 217 apartments for the two-block area (the 200- and 300-blocks along West Washington Street between city hall and the city’s library) that was occupied for decades by the Kingsdown mattress factory, one of Mebane’s oldest and most successful industries.
But financial difficulties for the developers apparently prevented the project from going forward.
The property was sold in August 2023 for $3.3 million.
The former Kingsdown buildings were demolished in November 2023, but the vacant land has seen no activity since.
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But now revised plans have been filed by a South Carolina-based company.
The previous developer had modified plans for four-story apartment buildings to reduce the height to three stories along West Holt Street, where they would have been across the street from single-family homes. They would still have been four stories along Washington Street, with the first floor dedicated to retail space and apartment living above.
As a result, the number of apartments proposed for the project was reduced from 268 as originally proposed to 217, as ultimately approved by the city council.
The new plans appear to remove the apartments altogether, as well as the residential areas above the retail spaces. Instead, there are 87 three-bedroom townhouses throughout the residential portions of the two blocks.
The new plan has a two-story building, with 9,600 square feet of retail space, at the corner of West Washington and Third streets.
The two-story former “Cotton Building,” one of the oldest original Kingsdown buildings – and the only one preserved by the original developer and still standing – would remain and designated as a “pavillion” with 2,000 square feet.
Obligations made by the former developer to allow rent-free use of the pavillion facility – originally termed a “clubhouse” or with availability for event space, and originally listed as 4,200 square feet – by non-residents of the complex would apparently need to be discussed again; a reasonable cleaning fee was allowed.
Some parking would be assumed to be on-street (27 spaces), plus another 181 regular parking spaces, and 174 that would be in garages associated with the townhouses, for a total of 382 parking spaces, according to the plans. The new developer continues to cite an agreement with the nearby Mebane Methodist Church for use of a parking lot along West Holt Street with 40 parking spaces, which would be available except on Sundays.
No rezoning request has yet been submitted, Mebane officials have said, so no consideration by either the planning board or city council has yet been scheduled.
The city’s technical review committee (TRC) considered the plans Tuesday, and city officials indicated after the meeting that the developer is considering further changes to the new site plan recently submitted to the city, especially concerning retail features of the proposal.
