Morganton Development: Southern Pines Council Seeing New Growth Pressures

This article was published in The Pilot on June 21, 2022.

A first of its kind type of housing development is coming to Moore County.

A “build-to-rent” apartment complex — it looks like single-family homes but acts like leased residences — got approved in Southern Pines last week.

“It's a little different than anything you guys have seen before,” BJ Grieve, planning director for Southern Pines, told the council as he introduced the new development. “It's actually different than anything I've ever dealt with in my career.”

The Murray Hill Apartments will contain 149 detached, multi-family units on prime real estate between Morganton Road and U.S. 15-501, right behind where the proposed (though not confirmed) Target will go, which is itself behind the Kohl’s.

While not a part of the extensive Morganton Park South development, as its closest neighbor to the north, they will inform what that new development will look like.

With the price of homes rising above incomes, build-to-rent homes become an attractive option for those who want the experience of home ownership without the associated costs or long-term investment.

“A portion of the market it's attempting to serve is those who don't want to or are unwilling or unable to buy a house, but still want the experience of living in a detached single-family, residential home,” Grieve said. He explained that build-to-rent developments are becoming increasingly popular across the country and are “the hottest thing in multi-family right now.”

The Concept

Now a mostly empty trailer park, the property encompasses about 17 acres. The 149 units being proposed fall well below the maximum number of units allowed in the zoning.

There are three types of units being offered: two stacked on top of one another, a duplex and a standard single-family dwelling.

“It's a very cottage-style, very Southern Pines-looking type of product,” said Bob Koontz, the local land planner in charge of the development. He described the development as having the look and feel of a single-family home neighborhood.

“So you see the front porches, the sidewalks, really creating that traditional neighborhood feel so the residents can sit on their porches and talk to their neighbors and really build a community here throughout,” Koontz said.

Koontz said walkability is important and sidewalks will weave throughout the homes. The apartment complex would also include the infrastructure one would expect from a regular neighborhood, like street gutters and yards.

“One of the interesting aspects of this plan are the continual loops around and creating these open space areas throughout the plan,” Koontz said. “So you see lots of open space, lots of pedestrian connections and really making this a very walkable community.”

The developers agreed to help improve the existing streets that surround the property (Long Street and Short Street), which would also give it a more neighborhood feel.

The Future of Morganton Road

Morganton Road is teeming with new development, and many see its future as embodying the direction that town is headed. Those who came out to the latest council meeting were anxious to hear more about this development, alongside another, vastly different apartment complex proposed on the other side of Morganton Park South shopping center.

With development overwhelming the town, confidence in the Southern Pines Town Council seemed to wane among some residents at last week’s meeting, when these projects were presented publicly.

Tensions that have been rising for months were plain to see: nearly a dozen residents, mostly from West Southern Pines, turned up in bright green T-shirts with “Save Southern Pines” across the chest. Residents of the historically Black community say gentrification has encroached upon their once self-sufficient community, and the town has not done enough to address long standing safety concerns on its west side, among other concerns.

“Help West Southern Pines the way West Southern Pines helped East Southern Pines for all these years,” Ariadne DeGarr, who is running for a county commissioner seat in November, told the council.

The meeting also took place on the heels of a town-led initiative to develop another large parcel along Morganton Road, diagonally across the street from Morganton Park South. Located at a key gateway to the West Southern Pines community, the 36-acre tract of town-owned land is being developed as part of the town’s commitment to revitalize West Southern Pines. But most residents were disappointed with the latest drafts, saying they didn’t align with the community’s goals or ongoing plans for revitalization.

Next Steps

The council seemed to acknowledge residents’ broader development concerns, at least in regard to density, as they finalized amendments to the town’s zoning ordinances. The changes, which they passed unanimously last week, alter the process by which the large apartment complexes and condominiums can get approved.

Instead of acquiring a special-use permit, developers aiming to build more than 10 multi-family dwelling units will have to go through a planned development process. The change is designed to give the council more leeway to approve or deny large-scale residential development in Southern Pines.

Residents seemed relatively hopeful about the change, viewing it a step in the right direction.

The council also stood up for their zoning ordinances when the developer of the Morganton Park South Phase 2 Apartments tried to include more units in their plan than was either allowed by the town’s zoning codes or accounted for in the conceptual plan for the project.

The council plans to re-open the hearing for the 269-unit apartment at their next regular business meeting on July 12.