Construction crews at Chapel Hill’s South Creek project hit a major milestone this week, topping off the 95 Market building, the first full structure in the new neighborhood. To mark the moment, the team hoisted a U.S. flag from the rooftop, sealed a time capsule and, in a bit of extra buzz, announced the project’s first confirmed ground-floor tenant: Sounds and Colors Early Learning Villages. For anyone driving U.S. 15-501 and wondering when all that grading would turn into actual buildings, this is the clearest sign yet that the long-planned mixed-use community is shifting from paper plans to real walls.
What South Creek will include
Developer materials show that South Creek is planned to deliver roughly 798 homes in a mix of formats. The 95 Market apartment building will hold 92 rental units, while the broader plan calls for about 606 for-sale condominiums and roughly 100 townhomes, along with about 52,000 square feet of commercial space. According to Beechwood Carolinas, the for-sale homes will span starter-level pricing up into the seven figures, and the full buildout will unfold in phases over several years.
How the topping-off played out
At Wednesday’s topping-off ceremony, project partners led small tours of the completed structure and invited participants to tuck photos and handwritten notes into a time capsule that will be embedded inside one of the building’s walls. Lee Bowman, serving as the local liaison on the project, thanked contractors and town staff, then confirmed that early-education provider Sounds and Colors will take one of the ground-floor spaces, as Chapelboro reported.
Design, retail and amenities
Bowman is listed as a principal with the Legion Company and is working with Beechwood on local coordination and development management. Developer materials describe the first apartment building as wrapping around retail space, with roughly 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial uses and a nearby 6,000-square-foot standalone restaurant site. Residents are expected to have access to multiple amenities, including pools, fitness areas and community gathering spaces. The Legion Company team page outlines Bowman’s role, and Beechwood Carolinas provides additional project details and an amenity list.
Affordable housing and preserved green space
As part of the town approval, developers committed to reserving about 15 percent of the for-sale homes at lower price points and to preserving roughly 80 acres of woodland next to the buildable parcel. Those terms were outlined in the developer’s press materials and in earlier coverage of the council’s vote. For a deeper dive on the affordability set-aside and the nature preserve component, The Local Reporter summarizes the agreement.
Timeline and what’s next
With 95 Market now topped off, project listings and broker materials project first apartment move-ins for the third quarter of 2026, with marketing and leasing expected to ramp up as interior work and site infrastructure are completed. The development team has said vertical construction will roll out in phases so that early residents are not surrounded by years of heavy construction. Commercial leasing is expected to follow as shell spaces are finished, and the team says interested businesses are already in early conversations about potential locations. LoopNet lists the property and carries the timing projections used by brokers.
How the project fits local planning goals
Town leaders have pointed to South Creek as a case study in Chapel Hill’s "Complete Community" strategy, which calls for denser, mixed-use neighborhoods near transit and greenways while conserving significant natural areas. The Town’s Complete Community materials lay out the planning framework that guided review of projects like South Creek. The Town of Chapel Hill offers more detail on the policy goals shaping this kind of development.
Developers say the topping-off at 95 Market should speed up retail leasing and set the stage for resident move-ins later this year. Sounds and Colors is expected to anchor weekday foot traffic in the building, and the team plans to roll out additional tenant announcements as interior buildouts progress and the leasing cycle gets underway.
