A developer wants to rezone 13 acres off North Roxboro Street in northern Durham to build 321 apartments and townhomes, and residents who watched a nearby project win approval just months ago are already bracing for another fight over roads, flooding and emergency response times. Northpoint Development's proposal calls for 248 apartments and 73 townhomes across six parcels at 5368, 5360 and 5354 North Roxboro Road and 119, 201 and 211 Infinity Road, near the intersection where the site borders the Durham Police Department's district station.
The project, still in its early stages, must clear neighborhood meetings before it can move through the city-county approval process, according to the News & Observer. A second neighborhood meeting is set for Tuesday, September 1, held virtually on Zoom from 6 to 7 p.m., with phone-in access available at 646-558-8656. Company spokesperson Karen Guinn said Northpoint is focused on listening to the community and understanding questions about infrastructure, traffic and housing mix, the paper reported. If approved, it would mark Northpoint Development's first residential project in North Carolina; the paper describes the firm as South Carolina-based, while other corporate records reviewed for this story show the company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and note it has built more than 6,800 Class-A apartment homes nationally since 2012, including a recently completed $85 million, 342-unit transit-oriented project.
Kaitlyn Becker, a nine-year resident of the Hickory Ridge neighborhood, told the News & Observer that the roads cannot handle the housing projects already stacking up in the corridor. She pointed to slower 911 and hospital response times and warned that adding more than 300 units without infrastructure upgrades will make the problem worse.
An Intersection Already Under Strain
The North Roxboro Street, Infinity Road and Latta Road intersection is heavily congested, and the state Department of Transportation has suspended a planned update for it, according to the seed reporting. That aligns with state planning records showing NCDOT developed a capital project, known as STIP U-5516, years earlier to study reverse superstreet and quadrant road design fixes for the same congested junction next to the police station, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. Whether that shelved project will ever be revived remains an open question as more housing proposals pile onto the same stretch of road.
Becker also worries about further deforestation and storm impacts near northern Durham neighborhoods and the Eno River, a concern rooted in recent history. Tropical Storm Chantal caused damage to northern Durham neighborhoods last year, and Durham's Environmental Affairs Board has warned that property near the North Roxboro and Infinity intersection contains steep slopes and sensitive stream corridors draining into the Eno River basin, raising the risk of runoff and erosion during heavy storms, according to the 9th Street Journal. Neighbors in the adjacent River Forest community needed boat rescues during that storm.
A Neighbor Already Approved Nearby
This isn't the first contentious rezoning fight on this stretch of Infinity Road. In April, the Durham City Council approved the Preserve at Infinity, a 90-unit housing project, by a 4-3 vote despite the same resident objections over traffic and flooding. That approval allowed up to 90 multifamily units and 5,000 square feet of potential office space on 15.8 acres, converting the site from low-density suburban zoning to multifamily housing, per the 9th Street Journal's earlier coverage of the vote.
The Northpoint proposal sits roughly two miles from a newly opened Publix grocery store on Guess Road and near the planned Latta Park, which is set to feature 20 acres of green space, local shops and public art. The proposed townhomes would include private driveways and garages, and the broader project would link walking trails and open green space, according to the News & Observer. Northpoint has completed developments in South Carolina, Georgia and Colorado, the paper reported, though the company has not previously built housing in North Carolina.
Durham's Shifting Rulebook
The proposal arrives as Durham's own zoning framework is in flux. City officials indefinitely suspended work on updating the city-county Land Development Code in February after receiving a legal threat from convenience store owner Marvin “Lee” Barnes Jr., who claimed proposed rules violated a 2024 North Carolina law against unauthorized property downzoning, according to INDY Week. That rewrite of the city's 2006 Unified Development Ordinance had followed adoption of a new Comprehensive Plan in 2023.
Then in August, the Durham City Council voted 4-3 to remove “D” designations from several Comprehensive Plan policies, ending formal planning staff consistency grading on those criteria during rezoning and annexation reviews. Council members split over whether the change streamlined technical reviews or reduced developer accountability. City staff will conduct its own review of the Northpoint proposal before it goes before the Durham Planning Commission for an advisory recommendation, part of the city's standard process for planning, rezoning and development.
Part of a Broader Building Wave
Northpoint's pitch lands amid a wider surge of multifamily proposals across Durham as the city grapples with population growth that reached an estimated 317,467 residents as of January 2025, with Durham County topping 367,000. In July, developers proposed 440 total homes along Farrington Road, offering turn lanes, shared-use paths and a $15,000 donation to Durham Public Schools to offset traffic concerns from residents along that two-lane corridor. That same month, JPI acquired 12.6 acres in northwest Durham for a $150 million project called Jefferson Watts, planning 398 apartments and 42 townhomes near Duke University Medical Center. In March, construction began on Vara Trinity Park, a 267-unit apartment community near the former Northgate Mall with a 20 percent set-aside for lower-income households. Whether Northpoint will offer similar infrastructure concessions to win over skeptical neighbors is likely to become clearer at Tuesday's neighborhood meeting.
