Developer Closes $7M Land Deal To Begin Durham Apartment Project
Dallas-based developer Trinsic Residential paid nearly $7M for a pair of land parcels along Highway 751 so it can move forward with its multifamily project in Durham.
The parcels, located at 8116 Highway 751 and 102 Wayfield Ave., were the final pieces needed for Trinsic’s planned 339-unit Aura 75 apartment building, the Triangle Business Journal reported this week.
At 11.84 acres, the purchase price of the parcels came to about $586,500 per acre. The parcels have a combined assessed value of $277,715, TBJ reported.
Construction on the multifamily site will begin after the company completes the permitting process and closes with its capital partners, TBJ reported. Construction is estimated to take about two years, with Aura 75 slated to open in 2028.
The new residential community, near The Streets at Southpoint mall, will consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom units in four-story buildings. The buildings will have elevators, a two-story fitness center, a swimming pool, a dog park and wash station, coworking spaces, a clubhouse and a courtyard with firepits, according to TBJ.
While rents were not disclosed, the Durham multifamily market saw asking rents rise slightly to $1,556 per unit in the first quarter, according to a Lee & Associates report. Sale prices remained relatively steady at $217,873.
Because the property the Aura 75 community will sit on was rezoned in 2024, Trinsic must meet certain criteria for the new development, including offering 22 units as affordable housing for 30 years, adding 10 electric vehicle charging stations and building a new pedestrian sidewalk.
Earlier this year, Trinsic opened its mixed-use Aura Booth Park in Chapel Hill to tenants, after selling its Aura 509 site in downtown Durham for $52M last December. The developer had two other Aura projects in the works that it withdrew from due to leadership changes: one in Chapel Hill that Rockwood Development Group is now spearheading and one in Durham that JPI is now developing.
In Durham, construction activity expanded to 4,176 units in the first quarter, with total inventory reaching nearly 65,000 units, according to the Lee & Associates report. The market is “gradually rebalancing as new supply is absorbed and demand stabilizes across the submarket,” the report said.
