FAQ: Development

The former Colonial Inn at 153 W. King St.

In September 2018, the town Board of Commissioners granted Allied DevCorp, LLC's request to rezone the property at 153 W. King St. from Residential-20 to Central Commercial Special Use. The approval included a special use permit to operate restaurant, bar, event, meeting and hotel services as well as a plan to build additional hotel guest rooms on the property.

The board has not yet made decisions on portions of the project that affect the public right of way, including creation of a loading zone for trucks, placement of a fire hydrant, the width of sidewalk in front of the building and possible changes to on-street parking.

The owners will need a Certificate of Appropriateness issued by the Historic District Commission and then will need to submit construction drawings for final staff approval before work on the project begins.

The former Colonial Inn, which dates to 1838, is a contributing structure in Hillsborough’s historic district, has been designated as a structure of statewide significance by the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In January 2015, the town contracted with the Development Finance Initiative of the UNC School of Government to determine which types of public participation may be necessary to renovate the structure and return it to economic use. The documents at the bottom of this section explain the results of the study.

153 W. King St. Executive Summary

153 W. King St. Presentation

The 58 acres extending from Interstate 85 north toward Food Lion, including the skating rink, but not Food Lion or the Boone Square shopping center, was acquired by Daniel Boone LandCo, LLC in September 2018. The sale did not include the KFC/Taco Bell, Autorific carwash, Wendy’s, or Daniel Boone Shell frontage parcels. Many of the same people are involved with Daniel Boone LandCo, LLC and Collins Ridge LandCo, LLC, but it is common for developers to establish a new limited liability company for each site. The town will review Daniel Boone and Collins Ridge as two independent projects. To date, the town has not received any plans from the owners to redevelop the Daniel Boone site. Discussions with staff indicate the owners are considering nonresidential development on the developed portion of the site, which is about half of the acreage.

Some of the businesses have relocated. We urge citizens to continue to visit them and support these local enterprises. As of May 2019:

• Pueblo Viejo is now open at 370 S. Churton St. (formerly Jimmy’s Hot Dogs and Pizza Hut).
• C & R Sports is moving to 654 N. Churton St. (North Hills Shopping Center).
• Colorado Burrito is now open at 6102 U.S. 70, near Buckhorn Road
• Open Sky Martial Arts is now operating out of Hillsborough United Church of Christ at 200 Davis Road.

Preservation North Carolina and Daniel Boone LandCo, LLC are in communication to see if a new home can be found for structures on the property with historic value. These include the Gatewood House moved from Yanceyville to the site by James Freeland in the late 1970s. These structures are outside of the local Hillsborough Historic District and not subject to review or comment by the Hillsborough Historic District Commission.

The town has no plans to change street capacity through downtown.

Alternative routes around downtown have been suggested and studied for years, but the community and the N.C. Department of Transportation have not been able to agree on any improvements that involve building additional lanes or new routes. The town remains focused on identifying intersection improvements and smaller projects that can be implemented more quickly or can be reasonably required from development projects. 

The state has funded improvements south of the Eno River to ease congestion through the commercial area south of downtown and toward the interstate highways. The town closely considers traffic impact while reviewing development proposals and generally discourages residential development north of U.S. 70, which would add commuters traveling through downtown.

Those living north of town who do not need to conduct business in town during their commutes are encouraged to use alternate routes to avoid congestion.

The town participates in regional transportation planning committees but does not have authority over the schedule for state and federal road projects. Scheduling of projects is based on a variety of factors, many of which are moving pieces, like the availability of contractors and subcontractors as well as materials. In the past several years, it has been difficult to find qualified available contracting firms as the market is flooded with work. For the Churton Street Access Improvements Project, the schedule also was set based on the preferences of downtown businesses, which were for the most disruptive work to occur over the summer.

As of May 2019, the town did not have any applications on file for chain restaurants.

As of May 2019, the town did not have any applications on file for chain grocery stores.