By Alex Bass
Alex.bass@triangletribune.com
DURHAM – For James Montague and F7 International Development, the biggest opportunity is yet to come.
Montague, who has planned and implemented mixed projects throughout the Triangle, has the opportunity to develop five acres at 505 W. Chapel Hill St. The still unnamed development has a rough timeline in the 2026-27 fiscal cycle.
F7 will partner with the Peebles Corporation and Legacy Real Estate Development in this endeavor. CEO Don Peebles is a groundbreaking real estate mogul and business leader based in Miami Beach. He will be honored at Black Enterprise’s 2024 Black Men XCEL Summit in November.
“You’ve got to think big. You can’t come in here thinking small,” Montague said of working with Peebles and Legacy, the latter led by Peebles’ son Donahue. “This is a good entry point for them, and a great partnership for us.”
This project is the first Triangle venture for the Peebles’ entities. Montague said it will be distinguishable from previous F7 projects, including Raleigh’s Montague Plaza and Legacy Place, and Durham’s Fayette Place. The new Durham venture will include 92 affordable housing units, among 380 total units, for tenants with annual incomes of 30% to 60% of Durham’s Average Median Income range.
Donahue Peebles said his family’s philosophical alignment coincides with Montague’s initiatives.
“We have an opportunity to place affordable housing in a high resource area,” Donahue Peebles said. “The goal is to move away from affordable housing policies of yesterday.”
The younger Peebles said preserving the area’s sociocultural and architectural history is paramount. The area includes Durham’s previous police department building with creative imprints of city legends Milton Small and Phil Freelon.
The Montague team’s plan includes redeveloping the old police headquarters into a five-star hotel. Before Montague and his collaborators were tapped by the Durham City Council, previous studies said approximately $20 million was needed to preserve and revitalize the old police headquarters in some form.
The tract’s proximity to the historic Mutual Tower and Durham’s West End and Hayti districts is noteworthy, too.
“Both of the communities have unique, strong and incredibly well-respected identities that not only need to be preserved but need to be amplified,” Donahue Peebles said. “The opportunity to provide a place for small businesses is one of the best, most long-lasting seeds we can plant for any sort of project.”
More than 150,000 square feet of commercial and lab space, and 5,000 square feet of incubator space will be included in the redevelopment project. Particular emphases, Montague said, will be placed upon “scaling up” opportunities for minority- and female-owned businesses.
“You’re not pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps if you don’t have a system in place to help you get to that point,” he said.
