After years of waiting on a plan from Fayetteville State University that never materialized, Fayetteville is turning to a private development team to build affordable housing on city-owned vacant land along Murchison Road.
The City Council voted on December 8 to allow JBS Developers to build Central Park Villas, a garden-style, 84-unit community serving low- and moderate-income households.
The agreement gives developers and the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority an exclusive option to buy 6.32 acres of land for $545,000, the appraised fair-market value. The sale would move forward only if the developers secure a 4% Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit award from the state, complete environmental reviews, and meet conditions tied to a previously approved $2.88 million city loan commitment—the first allocation from the 2022 voter‑approved housing bond.
The debate over the project began an hour before the regular meeting started. During the council’s dinner meeting—a gathering that has drawn scrutiny for allowing members to discuss public matters largely outside of public view. Council members spent about 15 minutes arguing over whether to move the project forward.
Council member Deno Hondros questioned whether the project was the best use of the land, saying he envisioned a multi‑purpose development that would extend downtown’s footprint toward FSU.
Council member D.J. Haire and Mayor Mitch Colvin pushed back, highlighting how the land has remained vacant for over a decade and how previous attempts to attract other uses have fallen through. Both emphasized the importance of affordability and warning that higher‑priced development could gentrify and push out longtime residents. “You want to encourage residents who live there to stay there,” Colvin said.
He also noted how the timing aligned with another priority: strengthening the city’s next application for a Choice Neighborhoods grant, a federal program that would support affordable homeownership opportunities in the surrounding neighborhood.
Chris Cauley, the city’s director of economic and community development, told members that after being passed on in the previous round, Fayetteville was encouraged to gain “leverage” by having a housing project already underway—showing tangible progress rather than waiting for federal funding to arrive.
During the regular meeting, some members again raised concerns about how the project fits into the city’s broader goals for homeownership. Council member Lynne Greene said the development “doesn’t really promote homeownership,” noting that while the community needs more housing, she worries the city may be “leading people into always being renters and not helping them move forward.”
Colvin pushed back, saying “revitalization starts with housing.” He said the project does not prevent the city from pursuing homeownership opportunities elsewhere on the land or in the neighborhood.
In the end, the council unanimously voted in favor of the agreement.
The decision also represents a quiet pivot away from the city’s earlier partnership with FSU. In 2023, the university was the only respondent to the city’s request for projects and was granted exclusive rights to study and propose a full development plan for all 15 acres within a three‑year window.
The university has described the site as a cornerstone of its long‑term student housing strategy, citing record enrollment and a shortage of housing. In July, the university said it was conducting a student housing study to determine how the site could help meet that demand. But it has yet to submit anything beyond conceptual ideas and generalized statements about wanting to build housing on the site.
To allow the Central Park Villas project to proceed, FSU amended its memorandum of understanding with the city in September, clearing the way for a portion of the land to be carved out for the new development.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com or 910-988-8045.
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