Durham City Council approves $44 million bond for major redevelopment in Hayti
- EJP
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
EJP partners with the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) to implement the Durham Downtown and Neighborhood Plan (DDNP), a $40 million Choice Neighborhoods initiative to revitalize downtown Durham and expand affordable housing. This long-standing partnership also extends to the redevelopment of Fayette Place, a critical project in restoring opportunity and stability to the Historic Hayti community.
For decades, the 20-acre former Fayette Place site in the heart of Durham’s Historic Hayti neighborhood has stood as a stark reminder of promises unkept. Once home to single-family houses and hundreds of Black-owned businesses, the area was devastated during the “urban renewal” era of the 1950s and later housed the Fayetteville Street public housing complex before it was demolished in 2009. The land has remained vacant ever since.
Longtime resident Brenda Bradshaw said the vacant land has been a painful reminder for more than 30 years. “We are finally going to get our neighborhood back,” said Bradshaw, 79. “It’s sad that they too so long to do something.”
That turning point came when the Durham City Council unanimously approved a $44 million tax-exempt bond to support the first phase of redevelopment. On Monday, the council is expected to take up an additional $17 million loan agreement for Phase I. In total, the redevelopment is projected to cost between $86 million and $90 million.
The new development—The Villages of Hayti—will deliver more than 250 affordable rental homes for families earning 30% to 80% of the area median income. Plans call for nine buildings, three to four stories tall, with a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units.
For many community leaders, the project represents both progress and a reminder of what was lost. Henry McKoy, director emeritus of Hayti Reborn and former director of the NCCU School of Business, said the redevelopment is about “righting a historic wrong,” noting that urban renewal erased an estimated 4,000 homes and 500 businesses in Hayti. “Fayette Place…was a representation of promises not kept,” he said.
Still, questions remain. Advocates like Anita Scott Neville point out that residents will not have opportunities for homeownership in the new development, which will be built on land leased for 99 years to out-of-town developers. “The vanguard about preservation is to make sure that while there is development, there is also preservation and legacy building,” Neville said. “Redevelopment should not push out those who currently live and do business here.”
For local business owners like Angel Greene, who has operated Angel World of Flowers nearby for nearly three decades, the housing crisis is personal. “If I hadn’t purchased my home years and years ago, I don’t know that I would be able to even live in Durham,” she said. Still, she is hopeful. “I’m really looking forward to the business booming.”
DHA leaders share that optimism, even while acknowledging the limits of a single project. “There are efforts underway to reclaim the life of what once was there,” said DHA Interim CEO Anthony Snell. “I’m not saying that we can reclaim all of it with this initiative, but what we are doing, certainly, I think is in the right direction.”
Phase I of construction could begin as early as next year, with completion expected in 2027—marking what many hope will be the start of a new era for Historic Hayti.
This article was adapted from the following sources: