Self-Help announced Monday that it has acquired several adjacent parcels along W. Chapel Hill Street in Durham that it plans to redevelop.

The properties total 2.3 acres along the south side of the street, stretching from a city-owned parking lot and wrapping around the corner of Kent Street.

Self-Help is working with two Durham-based firms, DTW Architects and Planners and landscape architects Coulter Jewell Thames, P.A., to figure out the best use for the site. The nonprofit hopes to have a plan ready to present to the surrounding community by the early part of next year.

“This is the first step of what will be a multi-year process,” said Paul Brown, project manager for Self-Help.

Self-Help's real estate arm targets neglected properties in prominent areas that have failed to attract private development dollars. The nonprofit has redeveloped about a half-dozen commercial buildings in Durham.

The Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending has won a $2 million award from the MacArthur Foundation.

The nonprofit was one of 15 organizations to receive one of the foundation's annual awards for creative and effective institutions.

The awards are different than the so-called "genius grants" the foundation gives to individuals each year.

The Center for Responsible Lending is a consumer advocacy group that works to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and to prevent lenders from using predatory financial practices.

The center is a division of the Community Center for Self-Help, a nonprofit group founded in 1980 by Martin Eakes.

Rezoning to let an old school building be used for a school again won quick and unanimous approval from the City Council Monday night.

With approval, the nonprofit Center for Community Self-Help can proceed with renovating the century-old Y.E. Smith building on Driver Street for lease to the Maureen Joy Charter School.

"This is a beautiful, historic building that has been part of East Durham since 1910," said Self-Help Project Manager Dan Levine. "It's really an integral part of the neighborhood."

Here's a look at today's local headlines:

DPAC ATTENDANCE UP: 15 percent, they say. And later this summer we'll learn what that means for Durham's city coffers. The city-owned theater contributes 40 percent of net earnings back to a building improvement and maintenance fund.

BIGGER, BETTER CENTERFEST: But will it stay on that Foster Street parking lot? Sure, it makes sense for vendors (electrical hook-ups, easier security), but arts on the asphalt. Really?

WEST ELLERBE PATH PICKED: That greenway connection/extension up by the North Pointe shopping center? Staff writer Jim Wise says It's taking the scenic route.  

Bob Wilson says Becky Heron has given her all. Self-Help says it has and will keep seeking public input in East Durham, and an autopsy shows a woman at the center of a triple murder-suicide in June was shot 13 times. Tragic.

Thanks for reading,

Mark   

A historic downtown Durham building that has sat empty for years has been bought by the nonprofit developer Self-Help, which plans to renovate the property and lease it to fellow Triangle nonprofit MDC.

Last month, Self-Help paid $1.4 million for the John Sprunt Hill building at 307 West Main Street. It will spend $800,000 renovating the four-story, 16,295-square-foot building.

MDC, which develops anti-poverty, job training and other types of programs for struggling communities, is currently based in Chapel Hill. It expects to occupy three of the four floors by July.

MDC plans to sublet the groundfloor to another nonprofit.