community news & updates
Press Release Highlights
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County had a lot to celebrate this past weekend around its newest community Weavers Grove.
Weavers Grove is a mixed-income community offering affordable homeownership to Habitat families as well as market-rate homes. Buying a home at the lower end of the market is difficult in Chapel Hill. Of the 238 single-family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and condominiums, 102 will be Habitat homes owned by people who live or work in Orange County. The remaining market-rate homes will offer new opportunities for Chapel Hill homebuyers, at or slightly below today’s median home price.
Oak Foundation donates $1 million dollars to Habitat for Humanity of Orange County to support the construction of Weavers Grove, the largest gift toward the $7.5 million capital campaign to date. This gift was announced at Habitat for Humanity’s 24th annual House Party fundraiser Sunday and almost a year to the day since the official groundbreaking of Weavers Grove on October 17, 2021.
With a historic groundbreaking at Weavers Grove on Sunday, October 17, 2021, Chapel Hill is a step closer to having 237 more homes at affordable prices in a neighborhood where people can live close to where they work.
Weavers Grove is a first of its kind mixed-income community offering affordable homeownership to Habitat for Humanity of Orange County families and to market-rate homebuyers. Of the 237 single family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and condominiums, 101 will be Habitat homes owned by people who live or work in Orange County. The remaining market-rate homes, built by Garman Homes and White Oak Properties, will offer new opportunities for Chapel Hill homebuyers, at price ranges lower than today’s median home prices.
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County has announced the two homebuilders, Garman Homes and White Oak Properties, who will be building the market-rate homes in its Weavers Grove community. Weavers Grove is Habitat for Humanity of Orange County’s newest neighborhood, a mixed-income community located in Chapel Hill off of Weaver Dairy Road.
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County recently received a $500,000 donation, the largest gift in the organization’s history.
The donation came from the F. M. Kirby Foundation and is one of $7.7 million in grants given by the foundation over the first four months of 2021. While early grantmaking included many grants in support of COVID-19 relief, increased contributions were also made to nonprofit organizations in the arts and humanities, education, environment, health and medicine, human services, public policy, and religion. This gift is in addition to a $50,000 grant to support Habitat’s ongoing work through its annual fund.
Weavers Grove Media Highlights
On Saturday, a celebration took place at Weavers Grove to recognize the hard work of those who made the community possible. Attendees ate, drank, played games, and toured the site off of Weaver Dairy and Sunrise roads in Chapel Hill where many new houses will be built.
A perspective from Jennifer Player
For more than 20 years, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County has worked towards building a development off Sunrise Road in Chapel Hill. You are invited to join us on May 20 to celebrate as we set a new precedent for mixed-income living with the successful launch of Weavers Grove.
Aaron Keck chats with Laine Staton of Orange County Habitat for Humanity, which is now accepting applications for prospective homeowners in the new Weavers Grove mixed-income development.
You’ve probably heard of Habitat for Humanity, but there are so many common misconceptions about what Habitat is all about. For example, Habitat does NOT give away homes – it provides a path for affordable homeownership and building equity. Today, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County President and CEO Jennifer Player talks to Marcus Ginyard about the mission and the exciting new community in Chapel Hill, Weaver’s Grove.
Everybody is yelling about the lack of affordable housing in the Triangle, but few leaders and developers have offered sustainable solutions. A project coming to fruition in Chapel Hill may provide a path forward.
After years of debate and planning, the Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County Habitat for Humanity broke ground on the Weaver’s Grove community on Sunday. The mixed-use development will provide 101 affordable homes, additional market rate housing and other amenities to the Chapel Hill community.
Since 2002, the 32-acre plot of land off Sunrise Road has been the site of the Weaver’s Grove community. The development received unanimous town council approval for conditional zoning of the site in June of 2020. So, 19 years after the land was first purchased by Orange County Habitat for Humanity, the construction of the 237 total housing units is finally under way.
After years of planning, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County will break ground Sunday on a neighborhood in Chapel Hill for low- and moderate-income families.
The Weavers Grove community, on 17 acres off Sunrise Road south of Interstate 40, will include 100 homes and 237 total residential units when its completed in 18 months. The neighborhood also will include a basketball court, a dog park, a fix-it shop, a splash pad and a community garden for residents to grow their own produce.
For 18 years, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County has been working with the town of Chapel Hill to build a mixed income housing development. It seeks to address the affordable housing crisis. In June, the Town Council approved a change in zoning, moving the project ahead, but Habitat still faces barriers.
Affordable housing continues to be one of the top issues in the Chapel Hill community, with many pushing for years to improve and expand living options. Before it began its summer break, the Chapel Hill Town Council acted on several proposed housing developments, with even more planned in the coming years.
At its final meeting of the first half of 2020, the town council approved a conditional rezoning permit for the Weavers Grove community to be located off Sunrise Road in northern Chapel Hill. The approval means the Orange County Habitat for Humanity, the non-profit heading the project, can begin to find a developer for the affordable housing community.
Habitat for Humanity is back with a proposed subdivision near East Chapel Hill High School, but this time, the Orange County nonprofit wants to build a neighborhood that serves the very poor and market-rate families.
The timing didn’t work for a concept plan submitted last year — to build senior housing in partnership with the Carol Woods retirement community on Sunrise Road — said Jennifer Player, Habitat president and CEO.