Agenda - 06-01-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Triangle Business Week of January 6, 1992 ... Page 1 of 2 Proposed retail/office complex at Chapel Mill's Franklin and Columbia streets vibrant downtown, one that is still university friendly but attracts other shoppers and businesses. An often - used phrase to describe the desired effect is ` retail diversity." Two new projects — one public and already under construction and one private and working its way through permitting procedures — will go a good way toward achieving what the town has long sought. Last month, construction finally began on a 31- space parking deck at the corner of Rosemary and Hender- son streets. And the town council re- cently gave a tentative nod to plans to build a 30,000- square -foot retail and office complex at the corner of Columbia and Franklin streets. The site, perhaps the most prime piece of real estate in the downtown, is cur- rently occupied by a gas station and convenience store. - Taken together, the two projects .represent a big step forward in the push for a new downtown. They book- end the core business district and offer solutions for problems that ex- tend well beyond the grazing range of the Carolina faithful. It's always been a little inconve- nient to park in downtown Chapel Hill, and for years the town fussed with plans to expand parking. In the mid- 1980s, plans for a park- Makeover on The Hill By Kirk Rosa In many ways, the core business district of downtown Chapel Hill will never change. College students will always flock to the 100 blocks of Franklin and Rosemary streets for food, drink and final four T- shirts. For a number of years, however, town leaders have been trying to build on this base and create a more ing deck topped with a hotel, a hand- ful of condominiums and offices seemed to be flying toward approval until a local newspaper launched an all -out campaign to shoot it down. Other public- private ventures met with a similar fate. Finally, the town decided to build a deck on its own. But like most elements of this place that has been called the "Southern Part. of Heaven," it's not going to be Your average urban parking facility. Located on the 100 block of Rose- mary Street behind the old post of- fice, the three -story brick and con- crete structure is to be topped off with a town commons complete with a. park, a small open air amphithe- ater, a series of pavilions to accommo- date street vendors and, of course, plenty of trees and other greenery. The design also takes advantage of the sloping landscape so that the commons is level with and empties out onto Franklin Street. "It was de- cided that we wouldn't build a plain vanilla parking deck," . said Chapel Hill's chief planner Roger Waldon. Though the most visible aspect may be the new commons, no one's arguing that the parking spaces below hold the key to the city. Some three years ago, a survey con- ducted by Chapel Hill's Downtown Commission confirmed that parking — or lack of it — is the number one reason consumers take their business elsewhere, usually to the malls clus- tered along the roads to Durham. This was not only bad for downtown, but as businesses closed down, moved