With only three months left to find new homes, residents of Chatham Estates mobile home park in Cary are demanding that companies with plans to redevelop the property contribute $2 million to an ongoing relocation effort.
The property, home to more than 700 people, was put up for sale in 2023 by owner Curtis Westbrook Sr. Then, in January of this year, families got the news they were dreading: a notice to vacate by June 30.
Although Chatham Estates was still owned by Westbrook as of this story, “Cary’s understanding is that Toll Brothers and the current property owner intend on closing the sale in June 2026,” read a staff report posted on social media by Cary Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush.
A proposal to redevelop the site was initially submitted last year by a civil engineering firm “on behalf of Toll Brothers,” according to the report. The proposal, also associated with real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson, is currently under review by town staff, and shows plans to build 330 new multifamily units and 97 new town homes on the site.
None are likely to be within the price range of Chatham Estates families, most of whom are currently paying about $400 per month to rent the land their mobile homes occupy. At two Toll Brothers’ communities outside I-540—one in Morrisville and one in Apex—single-family homes start at $1.4 million.
Residents held a press conference Saturday to call on the developers to help families being displaced and ask for donations to a relocation fund managed by nonprofit NeighborUp.
“We are here today to say our lives are not only construction debris,” said Chatham Estates resident Abigael Dawah. “If Toll Brothers can afford to build million dollar houses, then they can afford to make sure that they don’t leave about 600 people homeless in the process.”
“To a billion dollar developer like Toll Brothers, $2 million is like pocket change,” Dawah added. “To us, this money is the difference between a future and a complete disaster. It’s the cost of moving our homes, security, keeping our children in their schools, in their neighborhood, with their friends.”
The Chatham Estates Neighborhood Association, led by Dawah and other residents, is also demanding a face-to-face meeting with the developers or their legal representatives, who have yet to communicate directly with residents. They are also asking the developers to build new affordable housing on the site. (The INDY reached out to Toll Brothers for comment.)
Priced Out
Moving, already a difficult process, is a nearly impossible prospect for Chatham Estates families. Many would like to move their mobile homes, which they’ve poured money into renovating and improving. But the majority of the homes are too old to move, and the cost of moving newer homes is around $15-25,000.
The other option, finding a new apartment or home to rent in Cary, is just as difficult. From 2020 to 2024, median rent for Cary was $1,738, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
At the press conference, some 40 families, mostly Latino and working-class, pleaded for help in Spanish. Accompanied by their children, several people broke down in tears as they described being forced to leave the neighborhood where they have raised their children and enjoyed a sense of safety.
“We keep going on with our lives—continuing to work, taking the children to school, doing the shopping, going to church—but we also carry the added pressure of finding a new place to live,” said Emidia Roblero in a speech that was translated into English.
“Those of us who can’t move our homes will lose everything we have invested: the money we used to buy them and what we spent on improvements,” she continued. “Our neighborhood will be gone and our sense of community gone with it.”
Seventeen-year-old Leidy Diaz Morales, who has lived in the community for seven years and attends Cary High School, said at the press conference some residents face losing jobs nearby when they have to move away.
“This situation, it’s not only our household, it’s our financial stability,” she said. “Our lives are here in Cary, it’s our home, and it’s very painful to think about having to leave it.”
Donations Needed
In an effort to help Chatham Estates families, the Cary Town Council created a new fund in 2024 dubbed Stable Homes Cary. Nonprofit NeighborUp has been charged with managing the fund under the direction of Ande Curry, senior director of community services.
Curry has said that all $800,000 currently in the fund will be used to help Chatham Estates residents with moving costs, including paying security deposits and for the first month of rent. But with 144 families in need, it isn’t enough.
“The news that the mobile home park was going to be redeveloped was devastating,” Cary Town Council member Michelle Craig, who represents District B and Chatham Estates, said at the press conference. “There is nothing we can do at this point to make these families whole … There’s nothing we can do to make it OK. This is not going to be OK,” she added, her voice breaking.
“We need the community to step up,” Craig said. “There are almost 200,000 people in Cary. If we all could give $1 that would bring our $800,000 up to $1 million.”
Carissa Kohn-Johnson, an at-large town council member who lives only a few blocks away from Chatham Estates, also entreated Cary residents to donate to the relocation effort.
“I grew up in a mobile home community,” she said. “I ask that anybody here in Cary, who grew up without much and now has a lot, to remember what that feels like. Go out and donate. If you can do $20, that’s fantastic. But a lot of us are doing a heck of a lot better, and we can do better than that.”
As of Monday, NeighborUp had raised about $28,000, a fraction of its $250,000 goal. To donate, visit neighborup.org/chathamestates/.
Comment on this story at [email protected].
You must be logged in to post a comment.