The proposed Obey Creek development could create a new southern gateway into Chapel Hill. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

“The aesthetics of this are going to be critical,” Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said as he reviewed the concept-plan for 1,200 multi-family homes and 570,000 square feet of commercial space across from Southern Village on U.S. 15/501. “We need some signature kind of place that says, ‘You are now in Chapel Hill.’”

That’s exactly what some rural residents don’t want. They don’t all consider themselves part of Chapel Hill, said John James, whose family has lived in southern Orange County outside the town limits for the past 50 years.

“A lot of us don’t tend to come into town,” he said. “What we see is a jump straight away from our little part of the county. It’s clearly designed to change the area. We thought that when Southern Village was approved, that that was going to be the last big thing.”

Though Southern Village brought neo-urbanism to the rural countryside, even village resident Elliot Baron fears Obey Creek’s buildings – which developer Roger Perry said could reach eight stories – will block northbound drivers’ view of the green hill on which the UNC campus sits.

“You won’t see Chapel Hill,” Baron said. “(Obey Creek) is what you will see. This will be the new entryway.”

Councilwoman Donna Bell said when Perry returns with a formal application, she hopes the tallest buildings would be six stories or less. Councilman Jim Ward worried that Obey Creek would rise taller than the UNC Hospitals complex that now dominates the view entering Chapel Hill from the south.

“The hospital itself is considerably taller,” Perry assured.

Market Street Books at Arts & Letters Community Center, the local independent bookstore and non-profit community center in Southern Village, has announced it will be closing at the end of this month.

The news comes just three months after Market Street Books was awarded the Small Business of the Year honor from the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.

“The primary problem throughout the last eight months has been, as it has for many businesses, the economy,” executive director Michael Lyle said in a release. “Our sales figures during this time have been down an average of 40 percent and that would be sufficient to seriously damage the viability of any business. But none of us could have planned adequately for what has happened to the world's economy.”

For more information, go to www.marketstreetbooks.com.

The developers of Southern Village's shopping center have dropped plans for a 90- to 100-room hotel in the parking lot across from Weaver Street Market.

In a press release, developer D.R. Bryan cites neighborhood opposition and says the village will pursue an aggressive marketing campaign instead to boost Weaver Street Market and the other businesses there.

Read more here. 

Developers D.R. Bryan and John Fugo have pulled their proposed hotel from tonight's Chapel Hill Town Council agenda.

In an e-mail to the homeowners association, the Southern Village developers say they have removed their concept plan from council consideration tonight in response to the petition against it. More than 80 people have signed the petition and/or written letters to Town Hall opposing the developer's initial six-story design.

They have a new plan that is four stories, they announced last week. The new plan also closes Abedrdeen Drive to create a plaza connecting the hotel to the community's village green and stage.

Read more on the hotel here.