Carrboro's 203 Project makes steady progress, on track for August completion

Construction on the 203 Project in Carrboro has continued on schedule, with an anticipated completion date of early August.

The space will be the future home of Carrboro Recreation, Parks and Cultural Resources, the Orange County Southern Branch Library, WCOM Radio and other organizations. The Town of Carrboro held a groundbreaking ceremony in May 2022, and the project began construction in August 2022.

Kevin Belanger, the public works director for the Town, said the project has progressed well. He also said the tower crane that acted as the building’s primary structure during construction was removed on Thursday.

“So that’s kind of a big milestone for the project that all big, heavy lifting is done,” he said. 

About 90 percent of the interior scaffolding was removed, Belanger aid, and now interior framing, plumbing, electricity and HVAC work is being completed.

“I know when I first started with the Town, you’d walk in and it was all just temporary scaffolding everywhere, so it was like a jungle of steel poles,” Belanger said. “And now with all of that gone, you walk in and you can start feeling spaces like, ‘Wow, this is a really great building.'” 

Belanger said the only setback on the project was a drainage issue very early on that pushed the timeline for completion back a month and a half. Now that most workers are working inside now, he said weather is not expected to be an issue.

“When a project’s this big, of course you always have little hiccups here or there,” Belanger said. 

For the parking deck on-site, Belanger said both levels still need concrete poured, and that the lower levels need insulation and a rubber roof installed.

Donald Brumfield Jr., the board chair and president of the Public Gallery of Carrboro — the nonprofit that oversees the WCOM Radio Station — said he has not received a move in date yet, but recognized the construction is going well.

“It’ll be a great place, so we can continue what we’re doing with educating the community about media and about radio,” he said. “That’s our number one goal.”

Brumfield said the station will use their new location as a training facility for residents interested in broadcasting and conducting shows. The goal would be to make the space interactive for the community, he said.

Marie Parker, the Town's interim manager, said many of the organizations being relocated to the building are excited to move in.

Parker said there has not been a lot of negative feedback sent to the Town by residents throughout the project. She said there have been some traffic concerns on the roads around the construction, but the Town has worked to address those as they come up.

Updated information about the project can be found on social media, on the Town website and through newsletters, Parker said.

“We try to keep the community acutely informed of everything that’s going on that may potentially impact them in any way,” she said. 

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