With “boots on the ground,” Durham officials on Tuesday celebrated the grand opening of The Vanguard Apartments and a groundbreaking for Dillard Street Apartments, both of which are part of a large, $200 million redevelopment effort that will add hundreds of affordable apartments to the city’s housing stock.
The mixed-income development downtown is a partnership between the Durham Housing Authority and developer Laurel Street Residential. It will replace 214 public housing units with 538 mixed-income homes, including 348 affordable units and 190 market-rate units. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the housing authority and City of Durham a $40 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant to support the redevelopment.
“The important thing is that we are keeping a promise made to the community,” Anthony Snell, Interim CEO of the Durham Housing Authority said in an interview with NC Newsline. “The community made a major investment in us [housing authority] to be the leader in the delivery of housing.”
Snell acknowledged that some residents didn’t believe the housing authority would follow through on plans for the redevelopment. Some residents forced to move complained that there wasn’t enough affordable, safe housing available to replace the public housing that was demolished.
“I hope it is establishing a level of credibility, showing that we are indeed committed to what we say, and I hope it removes some level of uncertainty and anxiety about what it is we do,” Snell said. “But let’s face it, housing is such an essential element of one’s life, anytime you broach that subject, there’s always going to be a level of anxiety around.”
Snell noted that it has taken about seven years to get to the ribbon cutting for Vanguard Apartments and the groundbreaking for Dillard Street Apartments.
The groundbreaking and ribbon cutting took place on a sunny but breezy morning with 150 or more people in attendance, including such Durham dignitaries such as former mayors Bill Bell and Steve Schewel and former state senator Floyd McKissick. DJ Brian Dawson kept the crowd moving and on cue, played “Boots on the Ground,” which spawned the popular line dance by the same name, which Snell frequently referenced.
Vanguard is the first phase of the four-phase redevelopment of two public housing communities, 519 East Main and Liberty Street Apartments. Housing authority officials said 21 units are set aside for former residents of the former public housing communities.
Meanwhile, construction has begun on Phase 2, which is Commerce Street Apartments. Construction of the 172-unit project, with 88-units set aside for seniors and 84-units for families is expected to be completed in September 2026. Dillard Street Apartments is a 146-unit project with a June 2026 completion date. Sixty-four of units at Dillard Street Apartments are set aside for former Liberty Street Apartments residents. The fourth phase is Main Street, a 148-unit apartment complex for individuals and families. Construction on that projects is expected to begin next year.
Bianca Rivera, a Vanguard Apartments resident who lived in public housing with her son, said the new apartment was worth the wait.
“I’m happy and I feel safe,” Rivera said, explaining that she and her son were the victims of an attempted home invasion at their previous address.
“What started as a desire to redevelop two former public housing communities is now a choice neighborhood.
The redevelopment of 519 East Main and Liberty Street Apartments into a mixed income community comes as North Carolina and other parts of the nation face a severe housing shortage. A recent study commissioned by the NC Chamber Foundation in partnership with the North Carolina Home Builders Association and NC REALTORS® found that North Carolina has a significant housing crisis and needs 760,000 new housing units over the next five years to meet demand across its 100 counties.
State Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Durham, said Durham’s redevelopment reminds us why the federal government must continue to fund public housing.
“I’m really concerned about the federal government not wanting to provide money to housing authorities across the state and the nation,” Murdock said. “Everyone deserves a clean, safe place to live, so I’m thrilled that we are breaking ground today to deliver on that promise to residents that we would improve our housing conditions.”
Murdock said she believes there’s more state government can do to facilitate affordable housing across the state.
“We need more tax incentives to build affordable housing but it has to be that plus more federal investments and it all has to all come together,” Murdock said.
Dionne Nelson, president and CEO of Laurel Street Residential, said Tuesday marked the company’s third ground breaking on the site.
“What started as a desire to redevelop two former public housing communities is now a choice neighborhood and City of Durham partnership that allowed us to accelerate the revitalization of this entire community,” Nelson said.
Durham Mayor Leo Williams said there are currently about 3,000 housing units in the pipeline for Durham.
“This is important work and we’re not just providing much needed affordable housing, we’re building communities and opportunities that all Durham residents can call home,” Williams said.
Williams noted that in 2019, Durham voters passed a $95 million affordable housing bond, which was at the time the largest in the state’s history. A portion of that bond was used for the first phase of the 519 East Main and Liberty Street Apartments redevelopment, he said.
Adam Abram, board chairman of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, said the redevelopment project is an economic engine that will help Durham prosper.
“It creates wealth,” Abram said. “Think of all of the construction that’s going on around here. Think of the jobs. Think of the security of the people who are going to live here in these homes and their children.”
Anthony Scott, the former CEO of the Durham Housing Authority who resigned in December, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. Scott had just arrived in Durham when plans for the redevelopment were unveiled.
“We talked about how we could do better at incorporating public housing residents into the larger fabric of Durham, and how we could create a better overall community, better social-economic environment,” Scott said. “To see yet another step for that coming through, is really exciting.”
He said public housing residents doubted whether the housing authority could live up to the promises it made regarding the redevelopment.
“This was the most challenging because so many people had to be relocated,” Scott said of The Vanguard Apartments. “There were so many concerns about what we would or would not be able to accomplish.”
Scott is soon heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he will work to bring affordable housing to that community.
“When you look at the affordable housing crisis the country is facing, the only way it’s going to change is people are going to have to decide that this important enough that we pressure Congress to allocate funding for it, we get HUD [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] to do some things to make it easier for housing authorities.”
Combat high housing costs, which spiked during COVID pandemic, will require partnerships such as the ones that enabled the 519 East Main and Liberty Street Apartments redevelopment, he said.
“We must have our city, state and federal partners come in and help us make these kinds of communities a reality,” Scott said.
