QUESTION: What’s being built along Gilbreath Street where earth movers have begun clearing land?
ANSWER: There are actually two residential projects in close proximity along Gilbreath Street just beyond Ivey Road.
The newer work, and larger tract of land, is 38 acres off East Gilbreath Street. Graham’s city council originally approved rezoning for the project in December 2021, which provided for 46 townhouses and 118 single-family homes. A subsequent tweak of the plans has refined the count to 49 townhouses and 117 single-family homes.
And earlier, more dense project (57 townhouses and 396 apartments) had been considered by the city’s planning board in July of that year; the planning board recommended against rezoning, and the developer subsequently changed its plans to a mix of townhouses and single-family homes, which the city council approved in December 2021.
Graham’s city council annexed the property last month.
At the time the city council approved the rezoning, Greensboro attorney Amanda Hodierne, representing the developer, outlined that the builder would be Florida-Based Lennar Homes, one of the nation’s largest home builders.
The Graham subdivision will be the company’s first in Alamance County – although it has numerous construction sites nearby in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill in Orange County an
d farther to the east, in Cary. The company has projects in 21 states across the U.S.
During the planning board’s consideration in November 2021, Brian Schwindt, Lennar’s vice president of land acquisition, described the kind of homes that the company intends to build at the Gilbreath Street site.
The single-family homes will have three to five bedrooms, with 1,400 to 2,600 square feet and two-car garages, Schwindt outlined. Lot sizes will typically be 41 feet wide, with as much as 16 feet of that width taken up with a driveway. Houses would be 10 feet apart, based on getting the waiver from the city’s usual requirement of 25 feet.
[Story continues below photos of some of the models similar to what building Lennar has in mind for Gilbreath Street subdivision.]
Some of the Lennar models envisioned for the single-family homes portion of the Gilbreath Street subdivision:
The townhouses will have 1,300 to 1,600 square feet with two- and three-bedroom options. There will be no garages for the townhouse portion of the project, but rather a designated parking area.
Hodierne told the city council that the subdivision would be a “high quality product” priced at “market rates.”
Hodierne said that the walking trail along the back side of the acreage would “not be a fully-paved trail,” but rather a more natural substance.
In addition to parameters established by the planning board – for a dog park, buffered landscaping, stub-outs to future adjacent properties – the mayor included a proposal recommended by the city attorney to provide an easement for the city across the property; the council ultimately approved the developer’s new plan unanimously, 5-0.
See earlier coverage:
Graham council approves new configuration for Gilbreath Street development: https://alamancenews.com/graham-council-oks-new-plan-for-gilbreath-street-development/
Graham planning board likes new version of proposed subdivision better than original:https://alamancenews.com/developers-revised-plan-gets-planning-board-reversal-unanimous-approval/
Graham planning board votes unanimously against first plan for apartments and townhouses along Gilbreath Street: https://alamancenews.com/planning-board-unimpressed-with-new-jersey-developers-plans-for-large-gilbreath-street-multi-family-project-unanimously-recommend-against-it/
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