I wanted to highlight this September 2026 article about the potential development of housing by land owned by one of downtown’s historic churches. Edenton Street United Methodist Church owns land that is zoned for development up to 20 stories tall, and it is partnering with nearby St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on what comes next. Today, Edenton Street United Methodist uses it for surface parking, and they are in talks about doing something else with that land. The Dawson Lot Project is the name of the effort behind this. This is just an introduction to what’s been posted, but I do think it’s something worth watching.
Their website states:
WHY NOW?
Our church family has expressed a willingness to explore development possibilities, and leadership recognizes the value in doing so now in the absence of immediate pressure to develop for financial gain. We can take our time dreaming and discerning how God wants us to steward the resources God has given us for the flourishing of our church and our community.
I am not a member of United Methodist, but as a frequent downtowner and longtime writer and follower of development, from the outside, it of course sounds easy. Parking can be accommodated in a variety of ways on that much land while also offering other things like housing, retail, etc. It seems like a no-brainer here.
At the same time, keeping the surface parking is just so easy, and you don’t want to jeopardize the viability of an active community in the future. The worst outcome would be for a faith-based community, honestly any community, to take on a task they are not specialized in that could lead to the detriment, or even dissolution, of that community. So I respect their humble approach to this work as we navigate the ongoing housing crisis.
I think this is really interesting, not just because it could remove surface parking, but it potentially brings in new people to the housing conversation. Variety and mix of uses is downtown’s strength so the more mixed it gets, I believe that it helps everyone.
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