The 505 Working Group (WG) completed it's process and presented to the City Council in May of this year. The 505 WG was composed of Yolanda Winstead (DHIC), Ted Heilbron (Kelley Development Co.), Sherry Taylor (DCLT), Gregg Warren (formerly DHIC), Ketty Thelemaque (CAN), and Rick Larson (Durham CAN, Duke Memorial Church,PA).  The team met for six weeks and accomplished quite a bit in a short amount of time. The support from staff and consultants was high level and encouraging. 

The WG had close cooperation and support from City staff (General Services, Housing, Planning, Attorney), HR&A, and Perkins&Will, which provided massing studies for our work. As such, the City Staff support the WG feasibility findings but did not  take a position on the WG 's recommendations. 

The primary message delivered to the City Council was:

• RESPOND NOW TO THE AH CRISIS: Affordable housing remains a crisis in Durham -- it's essential that the City Council act now and use our public land for our low and working income citizens.
• 80 UNITS IS THE MINIMUM. We support the WG's recommendation for Scenario 2 (80 units with the possibility of another 55). The stated priority of past Councils was 80 units. 80 units is the minimum, and we call on Council to aim higher. 
• PLAN FOR A PHASE II: We understand that the second phase of Scenario 2 will have to wait. We call on the Council to set aside the .5 acres in the SW corner for AH when considering future development.  
• RETAIN CITY OWNERSHIP: We support the WG's recommendation that the City should retain ownership of the property via a ground lease.
• FAST TRACK and NO RFP.   The Council must choose a developer quickly (by July) -- an RFP will unnecessarily delay moving forward. The City attorney says an RFP is not required   [NOTE: CAN will be reminding the Mayor and Council Members Kopac, Cook & Burris that of their commitments to fast track AH development at 505. And the 3 Council members (Cook, Kopac & Burris) said they would vote against the City launching another RFP for the 505 West Chapel Hill Street site.

IndyWeek article about the proposal to start Affordable Housing on the site. 

The City Manager directed staff to identify an affordable housing developer by August, 2026 Stay tuned for more updates prior to the August City Council work sessions.

Reps from the 505 Working Group pictured here: Sherry Taylor, Gregg Warren, Yolanda Winstead, Rick Larson, Ted Heilbron