On June 3, the Town of Chapel Hill broke ground on the Trinity Court redevelopment project, an affordable housing development in Chapel Hill.
The Trinity Court apartments were originally built in 1975 as affordable housing, and all 40 units were designated for low-income households. The complex was vacated in 2018 due to structural issues.
In 2021, the Town partnered with Community Housing Partners, an organization that provides low-income individuals with homes across the southeast and mid-Atlantic, to begin the redevelopment process. In 2022, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved a rezoning that would permit 54 units of affordable housing.
The Trinity Court development will serve households earning zero to 80 percent area median income, and will replace the preexisting two and three-bedroom rental units while adding 14 one-bedroom rental units.
“In terms of our complete community goals and our vision, [Trinity Court] is the perfect example of it,” Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson said. “Having affordable housing right next to all these amenities people can walk and bike to, being able to be right next to a community center, the school, trails, greenways [and] downtown.”
On top of the Town's commitment of land and nearly $2.7 million in affordable housing funding, the project is leveraging more than $10 million in low-income housing tax credits from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency and nearly $1 million from Orange County affordable housing funds, Chapel Hill’s town manager Chris Blue said. The project also received a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which will cover 9 percent of building costs.
Blue was the first of six speakers at the ceremony. Next, Anderson spoke, followed by Scott Farmer, executive director of NCHFA. Farmer said that he likes to say affordable housing is a team sport.
“None of this happens without everybody sort of pushing in the same direction,” he said. “It’s an exciting time for Trinity Court. It’s the transformational moment — the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one.”
