🌳 Atlanta Developer Files $343M Hayti Plan
TL;DR — 3 Things to Know This Week
An Atlanta developer filed plans for Tribute Rising, a $343 million, 907-unit mixed-income development on the Hayti site where Forest Hills Heights public housing residents have already moved out ahead of demolition.
Hillside High dismissed students early after its HVAC system failed during a 104-degree heat index, the school's second heat-related shutdown of 2026, as DPS faces a $2 billion facilities backlog.
Four baby goats from a traveling petting zoo, three confirmed and one presumed rabid, exposed attendees at two private Durham County events in August; anyone who touched them should contact their local health department.
Atlanta Developer Files $343M Plan to Rebuild Hayti Public Housing Site
Forest Hills Heights residents have already moved out, and in their place a 907-unit development is coming to a 15-acre Hayti site just across the Durham Freeway from the Bulls ballpark.
The Integral Group's Tribute Rising would replace Forest Hills Heights public housing with a mixed-income community, and construction could start as early as next year now that residents have vacated ahead of demolition.
Phase 1 alone brings 332 units by late 2028, split between 139 affordable, 85 workforce, and 108 market-rate homes, plus a 55-unit senior building expected to open first.
The project qualifies for expedited city review because its first phase includes at least 100 affordable units, a threshold that speeds up what is otherwise a lengthy approval process.
Sixteen townhomes and new commercial space round out Phase 1, signaling the developer wants street-level activity, not just apartments.
What to watch: The full 907-unit buildout runs well past Phase 1's 2028 completion, so how the affordable and market-rate mix holds up across later phases will shape whether Hayti sees genuine mixed-income housing or a slow drift toward market rate.
Hillside High Sends Students Home as HVAC Fails Amid Excessive Heat
Classrooms at Hillside topped 80 degrees before the school sent everyone home at 1:15 p.m., the second time this year heat has shut the building down.
Durham hit a heat index of 104 degrees Wednesday, and Hillside's broken HVAC system forced an early dismissal while central North Carolina sat under an excessive heat advisory.
This is a repeat problem: a similar heat-driven shutdown hit Hillside and Lakewood Montessori Middle School in May, when students and staff had to relocate to cooler parts of each campus.
The failures trace back to a districtwide maintenance backlog. DPS has flagged a $2 billion infrastructure crisis, including roughly $965 million needed just for HVAC and roof replacements across its 57 schools.
Why it matters: More than 31,000 students attend DPS schools with aging infrastructure like Hillside's, so a hot afternoon in one building is really a preview of a bill the district hasn't figured out how to pay.
Quick Hits
Three petting-zoo goats tested positive for rabies and a fourth is presumed infected after two private Durham County events in August. Anyone who touched them needs a health department assessment.
Durham Public Schools posted a 4.8 percentage-point proficiency gain to 53.2%, its largest single-year jump since 2014, and no district school received an F, down from two last year.
Former councilwoman DeDreana Freeman is petitioning to expand Durham City Council from seven to nine seats as the city's population tops 317,000, adding one ward seat and one at-large seat.
The new Durham School of the Arts campus is 60% complete with opening pushed to fall 2028, after current students graduate from the century-old building.
Durham Public Schools unanimously approved nearly 2,000 classroom touchscreen displays costing up to $5.3 million over five years, plus $1.1 million in boiler replacements using expiring pandemic relief funds.
A research blog says Duke professor Dan Ariely fabricated data in a widely cited 2002 procrastination study; his co-author has requested a retraction, calling the evidence convincing.
Duke will lead a $24 million Army research effort to develop science for disrupting and seizing control of enemy drones, drawing on lessons from Ukraine's drone warfare against Russia.
Durham's water supply dropped from 147 to 125 days after cutting purchases from Cary and OWASA. Stage 2 restrictions remain in effect with no end date.
Two students face juvenile petitions after deputies found a handgun and ammunition during a lockdown at Southern High School. Superintendent Anthony Lewis said DPS will weigh metal detectors.
Dillard Street has been closed between Roxboro and Pettigrew since Aug. 31 for waterline work, the first full street closure since the American Tobacco District project began.
Events
PLAYLIST Concert Series: Africa Unplugged
Fri, September 4 · Durham Central Park
Beats and Bars Fest
Sat, September 5 · Durham Fruit and The Rooftop at The Durham Hotel
Grupo Frontera
Sat, September 5 · Red Hat Amphitheater
Melissa Etheridge: RISE
Sat, September 5 · Carolina Theatre
Movies in the Park: DPR’s Fall Film Series
Sat, September 5 · Durham Central Park
Poets' Playground: Harvest Picnic
Sat, September 5 · Boxyard RTP
Duke Symphony Orchestra: Pops Concert
Sun, September 6 · Baldwin Auditorium at Duke University
16th ANNUAL DURHAM OKTOBERFEST
Sat, September 12 · Motorco Music Hall
Real Estate
2523 Baptist Rd
$995,400 · 2 bed, 3 bath, 3,919 sqft
A private log home on wooded acreage, with fruit trees and water views.
3241 Rowena Ave
$564,900 · 2 bath, 2,098 sqft
1949 home plus detached accessory structure on a third-acre lot, per tax records.
3920 Old Chapel Hill Rd
$550,000 · 4 bed, 3 bath, 2,471 sqft
1947 house with basement apartment potential in a sought-after Durham location.
Jobs
Signal Processing Engineer
CoVar · Durham, NC
Designs RF algorithms for electronic warfare and tracking, testing simulations on FPGAs and software-defined radios at a Durham AI firm.
Community Specialist – Civic Resource Center
El Centro Hispano
Runs bilingual naturalization workshops and civic engagement outreach for Durham-area immigrants at El Centro Hispano.
Youth Fellow
World Relief · Durham, NC
Tutors refugee and immigrant students after school and interprets at parent-teacher conferences across Durham Public Schools.