Proposed Durham Housing Authority Project raises concerns involving broken promises.

When Durham Housing Authority (DHA) board members were tasked with replenishing housing after the demolition of Fayette Place, a collision between a painful history and affordable housing goals converged during a public hearing.

The tension of more than 50 years of neglect became the central topic of a Durham City Council Public hearing to discuss plans to develop the 19 acres in the heart of the Historic Durham Hayti neighborhood.

The DHA board selected Durham Community Partners – a venture team of F7 International Development, Greystone Affordable Development, Moseley Arcitects, BL Wall Consulting and Gibane Development – to build 774 housing units where Fayette Place was demolished in 2009.

“Displacement of the people is a crime of which the city of Durham will repeat if this process to reward this developer the contract doesn’t stop now,” Angel Dozier, curator of Be Connected Durham, said. “After 60 years of the unaddressed harm done to this community, by a highway having been built straight through the downtown of the Hayti community of East Pettigrew St, a contract offered with no connection to the history of this community, or the lived experiences of the people, will only cause further harm with worse consequences we have yet to see.”

Protest erupted after DHA board members rejected North Carolina Central University Professor Henry McKoy’s proposal. Members of the community submitted a petition asking DHA to rescind the approved plans in favor of Hayti Reborn’s hub for Black businesses.

“We’ve done thousands of surveys and hours of community conversations,” McKoy said. “What came out of that conversation is people want more than to be housed. What came out of those conversations is people want opportunities for upward mobility. What they wanted most of all are opportunities for kids to have a future. A future that provides for economic prosperity.”

McKoy said his criticism of the $470 million approved development plan shouldn’t be construed as him being a sore loser. Of the proposals graded on a 100-point scale, McKoy’s received 52 points, the lowest among the ten submitted to the board.

The DHA developed Fayette Place in 1967 as “replacement housing” after Durham Freeway 147 displaced residents of Hayti. DHA sold the property to Campus Apartments, a Philadelphia based acquisition, development, and management company, in 2007 for $4 million after DHA needed money to pay back Housing Urban Development (HUD) for improper use of funds. Campus Apartments planned to convert Fayette Place into housing for North Carolina Central University students.

After receiving numerous complaints from residents due to the vacant property, former Mayor Bill Bell pressured Campus Properties to demolish the buildings in 2009. Due to a series of crimes at Campus Crossing, a Campus Properties development housing NCCU students, the developer backed out and sold the property back to DHA in 2017 for the same amount sold in 2007.

The site became the focus of conversations involving affordable housing during the 2019 city council election. A $95 million affordable housing bond was placed on the same ballot. Members of Durham Congregation, Associations, and Neighborhoods (CAN), an Industrial Area Foundation faith and community-based organization, pressured Anthony Scott, chief executive officer of DHA, and candidates for elected office to commit on a timeline for construction on the Fayette Place site.

An Overdue Conversation

“Seems like in the late 60’s or 70’s the City of Durham along with the Department of Transportation drove a knife through the chest of Hayti and Hayti has been bleeding ever since,” Dewey Williams, a 15-year Durham resident, said during the public hearing. “What I see in Hayti tells me the city does not care about Hayti. If you would compare the community around Duke with the community around central (NCCU) you would see a great difference.”

Stories about good old days in historic Hayti are the common theme of the night. The 19 acres of vacant land conjures thoughts of what used to be and what can be with the proper vision.

What took so long?

The site wasn’t elevated in conversations regarding Black business revival before being sold to Campus Properties in 2007. No one raised the topic before Bill Bell forced the demolition of buildings in 2009. After sitting for more than 10 years, members of CAN, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and concerned residents failed to mention the possibility for Black business renewal during the movement to endorse affordable housing on the site.

Affordable Housing led the list of vital concerns among Durham voters. Black economic development failed to generate interest among voters during Farad Ali’s campaign for Mayor against Steve Schewel in 2019. Ali, president and chief executive officer at Asociar, campaigned on a platform to enrich Black equity and inclusion in business.

The Historic Fayetteville Street Master Plan

Denise and Larry Hester lead conversations regarding economic development concerns in the Historical Hayti district. The Hester’s own Phoenix Square Shopping Center and developed the failed Rolling Hills project before the city took over to rebuild a gentrified nightmare.

The Hester’s opposed Southside development where houses sale for more than $500,000. The couple warned the Duke University backed project would lead to higher taxes for Black residents, forced displacement and gentrification. Their outrage followed efforts to classify the area blighted – the first step in decreasing the value of the housing market. Self-Help Credit Union backed labeling the area blighted in a plan to use Southside and Rolling Hills as a template for a white takeover of Black spaces.

The Hesters envisioned the coming of out-of-town developers altering the landscape of Historic Hayti. Members of the city council rejected their request for $25-50 million for a streetscape project on Fayetteville Street. The council blamed the Hesters for the failed second Rolling Hills project.

“I believe that in the past, past decisions made about Rolling Hills were made by well-meaning people – but the fact of the matter is, it’s a failed project,” Elaine Armstrong, a former Rolling Hills homeowner said during a December 2007 city council meeting. “And I think that now, after about four years, people who live there have reason to believe there’s some new hope with the discussions about the new development.

During that 2007 city council meeting, the council approved $6 million to buy up Rollings Hills and properties in St. Teresa’s and the Southside neighborhood. The city budgeted $3.7 million for property acquisition and $1.2 million for relocation cost.

The Rolling Hills project mirrors the proposed project across the street at Fayette Place. The Hesters continue mobilizing business owners and residents in the Fayetteville Street Corridor.

Check out the Fayetteville Street Corridor Report

Where is NCCU

Absent from Monday’s meeting are sanctioned representatives from NCCU. It’s critical to imagine the Hayti district between Pettigrew Street and Hillside High School. This area includes significant pillars of Historical Hayti – St. Joseph AME Church, White Rock Baptist Church, Hillside High School and NCCU.

Foreseeing a project aimed at recapturing the once vital Black district involves more than the Fayette Place site. Building on the dream of a revitalized Hayti is best served in partnership with NCCU.

Time to Breathe

Aidil Ortiz, a principal at Aildisms, a consultancy focused on supporting government departments, non-profits and communities, encouraged people in the crowd to breathe – much needed after a long night of considering the sway of a tainted history. The breaths began a new process. More than healing – a chance to envision new possibilities.

“We have to find a way to get to the yes,” Mayor Elaine O’Neal said after recounting her own memories of walking down Fayetteville St. during the heydays of Hayti.

Those streets paved with Black business. A place nurturing the dreams of Black children. A home enriched in the pride of Black hued brothers and sisters.

DHA offers a proposal for a small area in historic Hayti. Henry McKoy provides a vision for more than public housing. Others arrived with the burden of their memories – stories of displaced families and businesses.

The story is left to be told.

Next step, the emergence of an empowering Black agenda.