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- Heritage Square Rezoning Withdrawn
- Meet Raleigh’s #CakeJefe
- Ask INDY: Local Universities Edition
- ICYMI: A State of Durham Town Hall
- Marking Black Business Month in Durham
Good morning, readers.
Hundreds of residents descended on City Hall last night for a hugely consequential vote on whether to grant developer Sterling Bay a rezoning for the Heritage Square shopping center in Hayti, which would allow the developer to construct a life sciences campus. The public hearing didn’t start until 9 p.m., and everyone in attendance (especially council meeting veterans like myself) was prepared for an intense back-and-forth that would drag on late into the night.
That is, everyone except Sterling Bay, which, in a shocking heel turn, elected to withdraw its application entirely at the beginning of the public hearing.
The council voted 5-2 in favor of accepting the withdrawal. Gasps, whispers, and murmurs echoed throughout the packed chambers at City Hall. Mayor Leonardo Williams had to repeatedly ask for order in the chamber to quell the audience’s fervent response to the withdrawal.
Sterling Bay could still build on the land without rezoning it, or come back to council with a new rezoning request in six months. Opponents say local residents wouldn’t be the ones to benefit from development’s promised economic impact and fear what could become of the site if Sterling Bay decided to sell it off.
Read more below about surprise withdrawal, the council’s debate over the project, and the events that preceded Monday’s meeting.
—Justin
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CHARACTER STUDIES
Carlos Lemus Sr., Raleigh’s Cake Jefe
Lemus Sr. got his start as a cake decorator at the Cheesecake Factory in the 1980s. Now, he’s turning out mouthwatering confections at upscale burger joint LaGana, INDY’s Chloe Courtney Bohl writes.
ASK INDY
Send Us Your Local University Questions
Have questions about the impact of federal funding cuts? Wish someone would fact-check a bit of campus lore? Wondering which dorms and dining halls are the best? Send in your questions for the next Ask INDY.
ICYMI
Officials Discuss “State of Durham”
At a town hall this weekend, Durham government leaders talked about ICE, transit, public schools, and the legislature’s Republican majority, INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur reports.
If you’d like to advertise your business to The Daily’s 20,000-plus subscribers, please contact [email protected].
ORANGE COUNTY: Researchers at UNC are working on a robot—called Fetch—that can do simple lab and warehouse tasks using AI, WUNC reports.
DURHAM COUNTY: Federal funding freezes and investigations the Trump administration has lobbed at universities across the country are hitting community colleges, too—including Durham Tech, The New York Times reports.
STATE: An audit of the North Carolina DMV found wait times are averaging 75 minutes per visit, NC Newsline reports.
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- August is Black Business Month. Discover Durham has a roundup of Black-owned businesses in the Bull City.
- Cary’s 1870s-era Ivey-Ellington House, a rare example of Gothic Revival cottage architecture in Wake County, opens up for public tours tomorrow following restoration.
- People on Reddit are talking about the best local coffee roasters in Raleigh.
- And where to find abandoned places in Durham to explore and film.
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