Raleigh’s long-empty former Division of Motor Vehicles headquarters on New Bern Avenue is finally inching toward a second act, and the sequel looks heavy on housing and community space. The city-owned block sits on the planned New Bern Bus Rapid Transit corridor and has already been the subject of months of neighborhood meetings and visioning sessions. City staff say they are lining up market and design studies, along with a two step procurement process, to match the site with a development partner.
As reported by the Triangle Business Journal, staff are weighing plans that would turn the former DMV campus into a redevelopment anchored by housing. According to a City of Raleigh fact sheet, the core parcel at 1100 New Bern Avenue spans about 5.37 acres, or roughly 5.88 acres including parking across the street, and the city paid approximately $20 million for it. Federal ARPA dollars have been set aside for demolition, environmental abatement and planning work.
What city staff and neighbors want
Staff briefings and neighborhood feedback have consistently pushed for affordable and mixed income housing, community gathering space and room for small businesses on the site, especially given its location on a high frequency transit corridor. A briefing that also highlighted a demolition contract and upcoming asbestos abatement was reported by WRAL.
Timeline and procurement steps
The city has issued a call for a market and design study that will set the stage for a two step RFQ/RFP process, identified as RFP #274-PLANDEV-2025-MS. Per a City of Raleigh RFP notice, that study will shape what the RFQ and RFP ask developers to propose and help determine the overall timetable.
Community engagement and concerns
City materials outline a roughly 20 month engagement process that featured dozens of events and hundreds of survey responses. Affordability, jobs and neighborhood-serving retail rose to the top of resident priorities, according to a City of Raleigh community engagement report. District C Council member Corey Branch told WRAL, “We’re putting back into the community what the community desires and would like to see to help uplift it and move it forward.”
For now, the project is still in the study and procurement phase, with staff expected to return to City Council once the market work wraps up. The next year will reveal whether the cleared DMV block becomes a showcase for transit-adjacent affordable housing or simply the latest mixed income project on a rapidly changing New Bern corridor.
