Developer list shortened

Chapel Hill officials took another step toward determining who will lead the development of downtown parking lots 2 and 5 Friday when they released an evaluation of phase-one potential developers.

The evaluations, put together by project consultant John Stainback, will help the Chapel Hill Town Council determine which developers it will include on its final short list for the development of lot 5 and the Wallace deck, the first phase of the overall revitalization project.

According to the evaluation, the developer request for qualification proposals ranked as follows:

1. LeylandAlliance of Tuxedo, N.Y., with Grubb Properties of Charlotte

2. Pizzuti Companies of Columbus, Ohio

3. Ram Development Co. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

4. Opus South Corp. of Alpharetta, Ga.

5. East West Partners Management Co. Inc. of Chapel Hill with Stonebridge Associates of Bethesda, Md.

6. Federal Chapel Hill Associates LLC.

Stainback said that based on the evaluations, he is recommending that the council drop the two lowest-ranked developers to create a short list of four proposals.

If the council follows Stainback’s suggestion, it would eliminate the only two local developers that responded to the RFQs.

According to the evaluations, the two local firms were ranked last in part because they earned lower scores in the areas of developer information and developer experience.

Those two categories carried higher weighted scores among the nine categories used to determine the evaluations.

“The town has said that they want a developer with a strong architectural background,” Stainback said.

Stainback considered aspects such as other projects the developers had taken part in and their similarity to the lots 2 and 5 project.

“It was an almost scientific approach,” he said. “It’s a complex process, but the numbers don’t lie.”

Macon Toledano, vice president of planning and development for LeylandAlliance, said he also thought the numbers were representative of the companies.

“It means that the team we’ve put together is, at some level, what the council wants,” he said.

The town plans to build two mixed-use developments on lot 2, behind Spanky’s restaurant, and lot 5, across from University Square.

Plans also call for construction of a parking deck on the site of the Rosemary Street RBC Centura bank, a transit transfer center under lot 2 and a three-level expansion of the Wallace Deck.

The council’s committee for lots 2 and 5 will consider Stainback’s list at its meeting Wednesday.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.