RALEIGH
A $600 million, multi-use neighborhood will join a slate of developments planned for Raleigh’s Fuller Heights, a historically diverse, affordable area outside Dorothea Dix Park that faces gentrification.
Raleigh-based SLI Capital and New York City’s Mack Real Estate Group announced last week they had partnered to pay $34.75 million for 7.5 acres between Lake Wheeler Road, South Saunders Street and Hammell Drive. The duo’s plans for two high-rise buildings could force some area residents and businesses to move.
SLI and MREG plan to complete Raleigh’s site review and design approval processes in a year or less and break ground in the second half of 2022, Bryan Kane, CEO and managing partner at SLI told The N&O in an email.
Phase one of the yet unnamed project will include up to 600 apartments. SLI declined to comment on how rents will compare to the area’s current prices.
SLI and MREG have not announced retail tenants, but Kane said they “anticipate having a variety of food and beverage and other retail amenities as part of our program.”
The new neighborhood will be within walking distance of Raleigh’s “Plaza & Play,” which Dix Park leaders describe as “an inviting and inspiring public space for all ages with one of a kind play spaces, a civic plaza, fountains, gardens and areas to cookout and relax with family and friends,” according to a press release.
Plaza & Play will become the park’s main entrance and the first phase of significant development in the park. It sits directly across from the historic Fuller Heights neighborhood.
Raleigh’s gentrification debate
Fuller Heights — on the southeast edge of the 308-acre Dorothea Dix Park — is considered one of few areas left in Raleigh with naturally occurring affordable housing. It is known for its diversity and growing Latino population.
Long-term residents and affordable housing advocates fear new developments built in Fuller Heights and near Dix Park will cause displacement and gentrification, The N&O reported.
The developers declined to discuss potential ramifications for longtime residents with The N&O.
The neighborhood was included in the city’s Dix Edge study to determine what residents want or need as the park is developed. It found most of the homes were single-family rentals below the city’s median home value.
That could change as multimillion-dollar plans inflate nearby home prices and attract wealthier residents.
“Low-income families (making) under $30,000 yearly in annual income have lived in the community for several years,” Dieneaker Shaw, a neighborhood ambassador for the City of Raleigh, previously told The N&O. “These families have built a culture and stability for their families. .... Middle-class income residents should not be forced to move to rural areas outside of the beltline.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 2:21 PM.
