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Fayetteville staff and HR&A outline mixed‑use plans for Blount/Gillespie site, recommend rezoning and two‑stage solicitation
Summary
City staff presented HR&A’s market analysis and three mixed‑use concepts for the roughly 8½‑acre Blount (Blunt/Blount) and Gillespie site, all of which preserve the E.E. Smith House and include public open space; HR&A recommended rezoning before an RFP, a two‑stage RFQ/RFP, and study of a tax‑increment grant to fund public amenities.
City staff and consultants presented three concept designs and financial analysis for an 8½‑acre city‑owned property at the Blount/Gillespie intersection on Tuesday, laying out a path for the site to move from study to solicitation and, eventually, development.
Chris (city staff) told the council the site — assembled over the past decade and completed in 2024 — has been considered for several redevelopment ideas and that recent market shifts since 2020 make a fresh analysis necessary. HR&A Advisors, led by senior analyst Austin Amendolia, provided the technical presentation and financial outlook.
"All three concepts preserve the E.E. Smith House," Amendolia said, and "each design prioritizes public open space in different ways," language the consultants repeated to emphasize preservation of the historic property and the public‑space requirement. HR&A reported downtown Fayetteville has seen about 11% population growth since 2010, healthy vacancy (under 5%) and an average absorption of roughly 240 new apartment units per year since 2015 — figures the firm used to justify market demand for mixed‑use residential development.
HR&A showed three alternatives. Concept 1 is the least dense (about 100 multifamily units plus 25 townhomes and a 2.5‑acre park); Concept 2 increases housing density (about 200 units) with a 1.5‑acre park; Concept 3 is the most dense and concentrates development on the corner closest to downtown. Amendolia said the three options share three core elements — concentrating most development at the corner, retaining the E.E. Smith House and providing an activated public space — and that the city would likely need modest public subsidy to make the denser scenarios feasible.
"On its own, a purely private, market‑rate project is not feasible to also deliver the public benefits," Amendolia said, recommending a three‑part next step: a two‑stage solicitation (RFQ then RFP) to identify a qualified master developer, proactive rezoning of the site to a single zoning district to permit denser mixed‑use buildings, and analysis of a tax‑increment grant (TIG) to support public amenities such as open space and cultural space.
Council members and staff pressed on details: whether rezoning would eliminate residential opportunity (HR&A and staff said rezoning would enable higher‑density residential and mixed uses rather than excluding housing), how a homeownership component affects feasibility (staff and HR&A said for‑sale townhomes reduce residual land value in the firm’s pro forma), and whether acquiring adjacent parcels would materially change design options (staff said yes). Several council members favored rezoning before an RFP to reduce developer risk.
Councilman Hondros moved to receive HR&A’s report, authorize staff to refine rezoning and parcel recombination as appropriate to make the site "shovel ready," and to return with an RFQ for council review; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Staff estimated an RFQ and rezoning work could be ready for council consideration within approximately three months.
What happens next: staff will draft rezoning proposals and an RFQ process for council review. Any formal TIG commitment would require further study and later council approval.
