Durham City Council to discuss fate of old DPD HQ building

The wheels are in motion for the City of Durham to continue hearing from six development teams that are interested in transforming the old Durham Police headquarters building located on 505 W. Chapel Hill St.

The City Council will discuss its fate Monday night during the Nov. 6 work session.

"We're at the beginning part," the Peebles Corporation's Donahue Peebles III said.

'This is a generational decision': Durham city council debates fate of old police HQ building

The Peebles Corporation is one of six that shared their vision this summer for the city's four-acre site that has six key priorities, including a minimum of 80 affordable housing units.

"We've had conversations with a variety of different groups," Peebles III said. "One that care about the preservation of the Hayti. Ones that care about the creation of new, permanently affordable housing, some that care about the creation of new businesses and economic generation ... I think the burden is incumbent on us to help fight against those challenges by building mixed income communities."

Peebles' response was scored "highly advantageous," to Durham that finds experience in mixed-use settings a plus as the Bull City continues to grow and find ways to repurpose its spaces.

"When we think about growth, the goal isn't to stop, or to slow down the wheels of progress," Peebles III said. "We want to play a role not in in shaping that growth, but in orienting it to a more compassionate disposition."

McCaffery was also evaluated by the city as "highly advantageous."

President Ed Woodbury released the following statement:

"McCaffery is thrilled to be considered to lead the development of 505 W Chapel Hill St. The site has tremendous potential to become an asset that will benefit the community for many years to come. McCaffery has an extensive track record of successfully integrating high-quality, mixed-use developments into urban settings, many of which have included adaptive reuse of historic buildings. We are confident that McCaffery's vision to develop a vibrant mixed-use project will be transformative and help catalyze the next phase of Durham's downtown redevelopment."

The City Council's next step is to approve the Request for Proposals, which will include cost estimates for each proposal.