What should Raleigh do with the former DMV headquarters? Here’s how you can weigh in

The City of Raleigh bought the former N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters on New Bern Ave. for $20 million earlier this year.

Now it’s trying to determine exactly what to do with it.

This weekend, the city will hold a community event to find out what residents would like on the site , which covers nearly six acres at the corner of New Bern Avenue and Tarboro Street.

City staff will set up tents in the parking lot to solicit ideas from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. People can also speak with members of a “project working group,” residents with deep roots in the community who will help the city create a vision for the property. There will also be bouncy houses, food and Kona ice trucks and a DJ.

The DMV site has been largely vacant since the DMV moved its headquarters to Rocky Mount in 2020 . In addition to gathering ideas and suggestions, Saturday’s event will reassure residents the place hasn’t simply been abandoned, said Shakera Vaughan, a community relations strategist with the city.

“We want to let them know what is happening with the site, that the city is moving ahead with shaping the site’s future,” Vaughan said. “But we can’t do it without knowing what the community wants first.”

The DMV’s departure from New Bern Avenue meant the loss of hundreds of jobs and uncertainty about a prime piece of real estate in the heart of Raleigh’s historically African-American community. The area, just east of downtown, has been gradually gentrifying and will be served by a station stop on the city’s first planned bus rapid transit or BRT line .

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and other city leaders expressed some ideas when they offered to buy the property, including affordable housing mixed with offices and retail that serve community needs. Vaughan said possibilities include a grocery store, a hub for Black business owners, a health care facility and public green space.

“The city really wants to hear any and all thoughts that residents have,” she said.

Saturday’s event will kick off a process that will take several months and include other opportunities for public involvement, Vaughan said. The result will be a vision and goals for the property that the city would use to find a partner to redevelop it.

Whatever the city chooses to do, it won’t involve the two large office buildings once occupied by the DMV. The buildings are plagued by asbestos and fire safety problems that prompted the state to seek a new home for the DMV in the first place. They will eventually be demolished.

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