Apartments proposed for growing Durham neighborhood

The Durham City Council is expected to consider Tuesday a request to rezone a vacant 5.65-acre parcel behind the Lakewood Shopping Center so a developer can build 78 one- and two-bedroom apartments.

At least a quarter of the units in the proposed development on House Avenue would be designated as "workforce housing" aimed at city and county employees and local teachers. The developer has promised to maintain affordable rents – people with an average salary locally could pay them – for at least five years.

Residents in the Lakewood community have mixed feelings about the project, but they know more development is coming to the growing area.

"I think there's pros and cons. I'm kind of 50/50 about it," resident Castle Frame said.

Frame said she worries that development will eventually make the "very artsy neighborhood" too pricey for longtime residents, so she said she's encouraged by the idea of mixing in affordable units.

"Make it affordable so people can live here and it doesn’t become this high-end neighborhood if it’s only super-expensive apartments," she said.

Scrap Exchange, which provides artists and crafts people with materials that had been destined for a landfill, backs up to the proposed development.

Executive Director Ann Woodward said the neighborhood has changed dramatically since the Scrap Exchange moved in four years ago.

"There’s a lot of activities related to new businesses," Woodward said. "There’s a lot of interest in this neighborhood."

Woodward said she supports the planned apartments, saying they would stabilize a neglected part of the community.

"I think density is really good. I know that 5 acres has been sitting there vacant quite a while," she said. "I think it goes back to sort of stabilizing parts of Lakewood that have been abandoned and just not taken care of. I pick up garbage here all the time on a daily basis, and that is one of the places where people are just littering as well. I would like to see a cleaner, safer neighborhood, and I think that’s going to add to that."