Durham’s Southside primed for more lofty raises and praises

The official groundbreaking on Tuesday.Photo byAlex Bass/Tribune

By Alex Bass

Alex.bass@triangletribune.com

DURHAM – History could not be silenced Wednesday, even when the sound system plug was pulled by a disgruntled tenant, at the groundbreaking for the Lofts at Southside - Phases III and IV. “We knew where all the outlets were, so we just kept moving,” said Reginald Johnson, director of Durham’s Community Development Department.

For Johnson and Vincent Bennett - president of McCormack Baron Salazar and the project’s developer - the journey actually began 36 years ago. Johnson and Bennett first met in 1988 as participants in a summer public policy program at the University of Washington.

“We both had labors of love and passion for economic development with cultural competence around how the work is done,” Bennett said. “(Johnson) had a passion and love for the community of Hayti, and said, ‘This is not just about the bricks and mortar. But it’s about the families, and it’s about the community.’”

Phases III and IV will add 100 affordable housing apartments among six buildings to the 217 leased units constructed in two previous phases. The most notable difference of the III and IV phases is that all units will be earmarked for affordability.

“We don’t need any more market rate, because the market is taking care of itself,” Johnson said. Twenty-five percent of 56 Phase III units will be earmarked for residents earning 30% of area median income, while 60% AMI is the standard for the remaining units. Among Phase IV, nine units are for 30% AMI earners.

Needed gap funding will be helped by support from Durham County, which supplied $1.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds in its first affordable housing partnership. “For too long, this area has been overlooked,” Durham County Commissioners Chair Nida Allam said. “But together, we are laying the groundwork for something transformational.”

The newest 100 units - with total costs surpassing $31 million - will be cabled, with either one or two bedrooms, major kitchen appliances, and a washer and dryer.

Also present for the groundbreaking was U.S. Representative Valerie Foushee (District 4), who helped secure $500,000 for the project, along with Durham Mayor Leo Williams. “We do things that are not traditionally done in other places,” Williams said. “We hear the outcry of our residents, and we find the most possible way to make it happen.”

Williams led the short walk from the ceremony’s tent in the Phase II area to a nearby spot for the groundbreaking. He was joined by Curtis Barnes, among Phase II’s original residents. Williams, Barnes, Johnson, Bennett, Allam and others stopped at the entrance of the Phase II buildings for a ribbon cutting that, per timing and other constraints, never happened seven years ago.

Days before the Oct. 23 ceremony, Barnes wondered what was happening in the area where he saw construction equipment. “If I get the opportunity to move over here on the ground floor,” he said, “I’ll take it.”

Barnes said he was down on his luck when he arrived at Southside, after which he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was offered a first-floor apartment but decided to stay put.

“I’m the only one that’s ever been there,” Barnes said of his current place, about which he noted another measure of success. “I have never been behind on my rent, ever since I’ve been here. I always pay it on time, going on seven years. God has been good.”