City council could decide at Monday night (August 4) meeting; new project proposes 87 townhouses in lieu of 217 apartments
Mebane’s planning board gave its endorsement this week to a developer’s proposed rezoning which would significantly change a dormant plan that had been approved in 2022 for 217 apartments into an 87-unit townhouse development on the site of the former Kingsdown mattress factory in downtown Mebane.
Mebane’s city council had approved a rezoning request in October 2022 to build 217 apartments in four-story buildings and retail space for the two blocks along West Washington Street, between Mebane’s city hall and library, that had been occupied for decades by the Kingsdown mattress factory, one of the city’s oldest and most successful industries.
But in the almost three years since that approval was granted, nothing more than the demolition of most of the former Kingsdown buildings on the two-block site has been done. Only the Cotton Building remains, so far, but its viability for preservation is no longer considered affordable [see separate story this edition.]
See: https://alamancenews.com/developer-concludes-historic-kingsdown-cotton-building-cant-be-saved/
Greensboro attorney Nathan Duggins, who represented David Allen, the developer, summarized the new layout “as a better, improved plan.”
Allen later added that the 87 townhouses were a “better, more open plan than apartments.”
Allen put the overall cost of the townhouse project as $42.5 million. He said the three-story design will provide three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, and two-car garages. There will be a bedroom and full bath on the entry-level floor; two other bedrooms on the third floor. The main living area and kitchen, and a half-bath are on the second floor.
The townhouses will have 2,003 or 2,100 square feet, each with a covered porch, and an option for an elevator. Allen described upscale finishes, including GE appliances, and quartz/granite counter-tops.
The two-car garages will also have a “pad” in front of the garage that can accommodate another car, up to as many as four cars per townhouse.
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In addition, the developer has kept a previously-agreed upon contract with the Mebane Methodist Church to lease parking spaces in their lot along Holt Street, which is designed to accommodate the retail and restaurant spaces; it is not intended for residents’ use, Allen explained. It will not be available on Sundays or Wednesday nights, when it will be needed for church services.
Allen said that building costs have escalated dramatically since approval of the apartment complex. Allen said building costs are up 35 percent since then, which contributed to revising the outline of the project. He also cited higher interest rates and less bank interest in financing for rental multi-housing projects as opposed to owner-occupied projects (except in large urban markets like Raleigh and Charlotte).
He put the estimated price point for each townhouse unit at $600,000 to $650,000.
That high figure – many other townhouse projects throughout the city have $300,000 to $400,000 price tags – prompted realtor Rachel Zamorski to question the figure from the audience, suggesting that the architectural rendering of the townhouse complex shown in Allen’s presentation “looks like barracks.”
[Story continues below photos and layout of the proposed revised project.]
The commercial space in the project has gone down dramatically from that approved in 2022. Back then, it was expected to have 9,396 square feet, with another 4,200 square feet for community space (in the Cotton Building). The new plan calls for one building to have 4,800 square feet and another to have a 3,000 square foot restaurant (in place of the Cotton Building).
Allen also pointed to higher rental rates, now approaching $50 per square foot, as having deterred interest in commercial space.
On the company’s drawings, both the retail/restaurant space is shown as open, or green, space, apparently conveying that those spaces could be finished out at the end of the project.
Mitchell Pinsky, one of Mebane’s city planners, explained to the planning board that no traffic impact study was required since the reduction from 217 apartments to 87 townhouses would result in “reduced trip generation.”
Ultimately, planning board member David Scott made the motion to approve the new rezoning request, which was seconded by Keith Hoover. Scott, Hoover, Cannell, and planning board member Ed Tulauskas and the newest member, Dalton Mack, voted in favor, 5-0. The five members present provided the bare minimum of the necessary quorum of the nine-member board. Absent were planning board chairman Judy Taylor and members William Chapman, Gale Pettiford, and Susan Semonite.
In planning department documents submitted to the city, Allen indicates that Katie Burkholder, who is a city council member, will handle marketing/sales for the townhouses. She has indicated she will not participate in next week’s city council consideration of the rezoning. [See separate story in this edition.]
