by Kennedy Carruthers
Carrboro Commons Writer

One would think that North Carolina’s most sustainable building would be applauded by Carrboro residents.

But for some concerned Carrboro residents, the Greenbridge development’s sustainable features have not outweighed its downsides.

“I see no positive side of this for the town,” Alderman Jacquie Gist said of the Greenbridge development.

UNC-Chapel Hill senior Jenna Nash, 22, stops en route to Carrboro, where she frequents on weekends, to survey the construction site of the future Greenbridge development.
Staff photo by Kennedy Carruthers

The $50 million Greenbridge project will sit on West Rosemary Street between North Merritt Mill Road and North Graham Street. Although the site is located between Chapel Hill and Carrboro, it falls in Chapel Hill’s zone jurisdiction. The project replaces properties that had been the Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant and the former Mason Motel.

Once completed, Greenbridge is expected to reach 136 feet—10 stories of condominiums with initial asking prices between $350,000 and $1 million. Retail space will assume the entire first floor, according to Greenbridge development’s Web site.

But Gist said Greenbridge is too tall and that it does not comply with Carrboro’s height standards.

“I do not like it. I feel it is right on our town line,” she said. “Carrboro will be greatly impacted…it’s just going to loom over Carrboro.”

Gist is also unhappy with the asking price and said the “10 stories of condominiums for rich people” will draw a different crowd to the Carrboro area.

“Yeah, it’s sustainable, but how can you call it sustainable if you market to elite?” she said.

Alderman Lydia Lavelle, who joined the Board of Aldermen in January, was on the Carrboro Planning Board when Chapel Hill presented Carrboro with plans for the development.

Lavelle said the Greenbridge developers came to Carrboro and sought the opinions of aldermen and planning board members.

“They talked about the scope of the project and asked for input,” she said.

Gist, however, said Carrboro’s concerns were not considered.

“How arrogant of them to come in and say this is what our town should look like; it affects downtown Carrboro more than Chapel Hill,” she said. “They get the economic benefits, we get the headache.”

Besides the height and expense of the Greenbridge development, Lavelle said that a “lingering concern” was the fate of the predominantly African-American businesses that had once sat on the Greenbridge lot.

“There was a lot of history on that lot,” she said.

William McDonough + Partners is the architecture and design firm that inspired the development. William McDonough, founding partner, is widely known for his green designs and his belief that buildings can be designed to “breathe” by incorporating sustainable elements into the design plans.

Among the sustainable features are green roofs that will create oxygen and trap rainwater for reuse. Onsite solar installations will provide five percent of the building’s energy, and a Building Management System installed in each condominium will monitor utility use and alert residents of their consumption, according to Greenbridge development’s Web site.

Attempts to reach McDonough were unsuccessful, but in an interview on National Public Radio McDonough said, “We’re looking at how to design buildings of the future that are like living things.”

Chapel Hill resident Tim Tobin is one of five developers who partnered with McDonough to develop Greenbridge. Tobin prides the development on its many green features. At the Feb. 20, 2006, Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, he said the only way the development will be successful is if it is sustainable.

Residents, however, remain skeptical of the development.

“No one is really excited about it,” said 23-year-old Mike Lebov, a UNC-Chapel Hill senior from Raleigh. Lebov, who lives at 112 N. Graham St., said he is happy to be graduating and moving out before construction begins.