Preservation Durham has dropped its opposition to removing the Liberty Warehouse’s Local Historic Landmark designation after reaching agreements with the building’s owner and prospective buyer.

The City Council is due to vote on removal at its meeting tonight.

According to Preservation Durham Executive Director Wendy Hillis, Liberty owner Greenfire Developer and East-West Partners, a Chapel Hill firm which has a contract to buy the warehouse, have agreed to address several preservationists’ concerns:

• Integrating the existing southern brick wall into the redevelopment plans by preserving the Foundry, Central Park mural and wall, but making strategic penetrations to allow for enhanced public connectivity and programming in Central Park.
• Incorporating of the northeast brick façade and LIBERTY sign into the redevelopment plans.
• Reusing old wood from the warehouse within the redevelopment and recycling that which is not reused onsite.
• Memorializing and documenting the Liberty Warehouse and the tobacco-auction business in Durham, either through an outdoor public exhibit or a dedicated museum space.
• Using architectural forms and materials that contextually relate to the surrounding area.
• A continued dialogue with Preservation Durham around the development of Liberty Warehouse that will include regular communication and meetings as the project proceeds towards construction.    
• Should East-West Partners not become involved in the Liberty’s redevelopment, Greenfire Development is committed to these same criteria.

Hillis and Preservation Durham President Josh Park negotiated the commitments with Greenfire Managing Partner Paul Smith and East-West principals Roger Perry and Bryson Powell.

“We have always recognized that Liberty Warehouse would be a difficult building to rehabilitate,” Hillis said in a prepared statement.

“Our concern has been that any redevelopment project intelligently assess the historic importance of the site and ensure that any new construction is appropriate within the industrial context of the neighborhood.”

Here is a look at today's local headlines:

OBEY CREEK REVISED: Obey Creek is the name of the mixed-use (housing, shopping and office) project proposed for U.S. 15-501 South, across from Southern Village. It would be three to four times larger than East 54. Developer Roger Perry talks about the changes he's making to the plan in today's lead story package.

EAST 54 CONDOS 80 PERCENT SOLD: Perry says don't judge his project based on past developments. Given the recession and still struggling economy, he says East 54 is an "overwhelming success." We did not answer everything we wanted to in today's stories, and we are continuing  to look into the question about whether mixed use projects like East 54 are a net positive or negative on the local economy. It's a tough question.

WINNING COACH LEAVING: Few people are happy in Pittsboro to learn that Russ Frazier will move to Raleigh’s Leesville Road High School next semester. But his father is very pleased. Find out why in sports editor Elliott Warnock's story.

A letter writer says Chapel Hill should end the foreworks show (the reason may surprise you), aging and increasingly infirm riders are complicating bus and van service for Orange County's disabled ... and American Idol top 6 finisher and hometown crooner Anoop Desai (that's him at left, in 1997) returns with a new sound for a show this weekend at Local 506.

Thanks for reading,

Mark

In the two years I've covered the Chapel Hill Town Council, East 54 has routinely come up as an example of what to avoid, and what can be learned from, according to several members of the council.

We recently gave developer Roger Perry a chance to respond to the critics. We asked him about the mistakes he's made (or that others say he's made) and what he's planning for his latest development, Obey Creek.

Perry says his East 54 condos are 80 percent sold, his office space 90 percent leased and his retail, once new tenants come on board, also nearly 80 percent leased. Look for two stories Wednesday in The Chapel Hill News, but for now, an excerpt:

The numbers show the town’s mixed-use development strategy is working, said Perry, the president of East West Partners. It’s the same strategy he’s pursuing with Obey Creek, an even bigger project proposed for U.S. 15-501 in southern Chapel Hill.

“To make a broad statement that something doesn’t work because it has struggled in the worst economic situation we’re seen in 80 years is a knee-jerk reaction,” Perry said.

“If you accept the inevitability of growth then how do you accommodate that?” he continued. “You can argue around the edges what the right mix (of development uses) is.”
 

House Speaker Joe Hackney will participate in a panel discussion Monday as part of a UNC Chapel Hill class.

Hackney will be joined by UNC-CH trustee Roger Perry. The duo will speak to about 60 students enrolled in the Role of the University in American Life class, which tackles the making of laws, policies and rules that govern a university.

The class meets at 11 a.m. Monday in room 039 of the old Graham Memorial Building, now home to the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

Hackney received his bachelor's degree from UNC-CH in 1967 and his law degree in 1970.

Roger perry has concluded his term as chairman of the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

Perry, of Chapel Hill, led the board for the last two years. This morning, he turned his gavel over to Bob Winston, a hotel developer who has been on the board for six years.

 Barbara Hyde, of Memphis, is the new vice-chairwoman, and Phillip Clay, of Cambridge, Mass., is the new treasurer.

Perry oversaw a couple massive campus initiativs - the conclusion to a capital campaign that brought more than $2.3 billion to the university, and the hiring of current Chancellor Holden Thorp.

Perry said Thursday Thorp's hiring was the crowning achievement of his tenure as board chairman.

Roger Perry has concluded his term as chairman of the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

Perry, of Chapel Hill, led the board for the last two years. This morning, he turned over his gavel to Bob Winston, a hotel developer who has been on the board for six years.

Barbara Hyde, of Memphis, TN,  is the new vice-chairwoman, and Phillip Clay, of Cambridge, Mass., is the treasurer.

Perry, (pictured at left), oversaw a couple massive campus initiatives - the conclusion of a capital campaign that brought more thann $2.3 billion to the university, and the hiring of current Chancellor Holden Thorp.

Perry said Thorp's hiring was the crowning achievement of his tenure as board chairman.

At UNC Chapel Hill, there's some controversy brewing over scooters.

Yes, scooters. Those mini-bikes a lot of folks use to put-put-put their way to campus.

The university just began regulating them, an effort, officials there say, to keep them off sidewalks and other campus walkways.

But the people who ride them say they're an eco-friendly alternative to cars and don't want to have to pay new parking fees and keep their vehicles in designated lots.

Here's the story.

The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees was to vote this Thursday on a series of parking permit fee increases that included this unusual add-on:

"Former Members of BOT: Former members of the University's Board of Trustees that were elected or appointed by the Board of Governors or by the Governor of the State of North Carolina are eligible for all-access (ALG) gratis parking permits upon request."

Basically, this was to give former campus trustees an all-access parking pass for their use whenever they wanted it. The justification, as current board chairman Roger Perry told me, was to help out former trustees when they come back to campus to attend meetings or otherwise volunteer their time.

But then the plan was scrapped. Here's the story.