Representatives from the town of Chapel Hill and Ram Realty Services gathered Wednesday morning for a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the start of construction of the 140 West mixed-use project in the heart of downtown.
The $55 million, eight-story development will include 140 condominiums, 26,000 square feet of retail space and a public open space above two levels of underground parking.
The project, which has been in the works for more than a decade, will go on what is now the town's Parking Lot 5 at the intersection of West Franklin and Church streets.
Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said it will knit together the two ends of the downtown business district by replacing the parking lot with a retail and residential gathering place.
"That surface parking lot reflected a missed opportunity to connect East and West Franklin Street, to generate economic activity 24 hours — or at least 18 hours — a day, to enhance the tax base, and to be place where residents and visitors could come to enjoy downtown," he said. "It added to the argument that Chapel HIll had missed the mark. It was an emptiness. Now, I'm excited that this project will fill that gap."
Pre-construction preparation of the site began last month, with the closing of the parking lot and the removal of trees. Construction is expected to take about two years.
When it is finished, one of the underground parking levels will be owned and operated by the town of Chapel Hill, which will pay Ram $7.5 million for it.
The 140 West project was the first of several big downtown developments to be set in motion during the past decade, although one of the others, the two-towered Greenbridge condos a few blocks to the west on Rosemary Street, got built faster and opened last year. Another major project, the renovation of the University Square shopping center directly across Franklin Street from 140 West, is in the planning stages.
Dave Hart is the associate editor of The Chapel Hill News.He can be reached at 
Comments
$7.5M Parking + $1+ M Prep Costs + ?? $ Hazardous Waste Removal
Wed, 01/05/2011 - 19:34 — CitizenWillQuick reminder of the total cost foisted onto the taxpayer is more that $7.5M
There's the already $1M+ spent on consultancies and staff prep time, the $260K (which I believe will be higher) for hazardous waste plus the cost of additional improvements in the surrounding areas. Beyond that, there will be the cost of borrowing funds. Factor in the reduced recreational fee structure which it appears the Council is about to award its business partner - a deficit which will be shoved off onto the rest of Town to pay - and you have a sum heftily over $10M.
Mix in the incredibly favorable terms for the property - giving away millions of dollars of valuable real-estate for negligible return - which RAM Development was blessed with by many sitting on the current Council, and the real contribution by this community to RAM's bottom line weighs well into the 10's of millions.
Another notable fiscal reality which the Town finally owned up to - parking fees, at least at the rate currently charge - will be insufficient to pay back the loan. Funds will have to come from some other source to pay for the moneypit under those gold-plated condos.
Finally, the Town got permission from the State's Local Government Commission to defer hammering down the details of borrowing and paying back the borrowed funds. My guess is that the Town will turn to TIFs (tax incremental funding) to pay for their mistake.
I'm sure there was a lot of "rah rah growth at any cost" rhetoric and, at least from what I can tell by reading the local media, very little reflection on the troubles this project has already seen.
Today is a sad day for Chapel Hill.
We could have had a much better project: a business model more community oriented and integrative with surrounding neighborhoods; a plaza with more public utility - a true meeting place between East and West Franklin incorporating local arts;a building with stronger environmental standards (not the "do as I say, not as I do" compromise), architecture which embodied in a structure reflective of Chapel Hill's history rather than the bland "new South" beltway architecture Council settled for;a signature public/private project which didn't shift millions of dollars of costs onto taxpayers shoulders.