Reeves Farm Project Near Downtown Pittsboro Aims to Expand Connectivity and Town Character
- Keller Group
- Jan 11, 2024
- 2 min read
Much of the development in Pittsboro getting buzz is in the Chatham Park area east of downtown – especially as the major project recently announced a partnership with Disney to develop on hundreds of acres of land.
But a project on the other side of Pittsboro, around one mile west, recently received town approval and is set to similarly bring an array of new housing options within the next decade.
Edward Holmes Jr. grew up in Pittsboro, and he says he remembers when his parents were renting a property on the expansive Reeves Farm in the 1960s. A businessman who ran the Holmes Oil Company for many years before its sale in 2021, he says he has fond memories of running around the farm animals and believes the land provides a beautiful scene as people drive toward the historical downtown on U.S. Hwy. 64 Business.
Holmes was approached by the remaining family and landowners of the farm in 2021, when they told him they planned to sell it. He shared some advice with the family about retaining real estate attorneys and seeking national bidders.
But, as Holmes told the Pittsboro Planning Board last July, he kept thinking about Reeves Farm and his own idea of how the land could be used.
“And I decided I want to come and make an offer to buy the property,” Holmes said, “and I want to create a development that would be something I would be proud to be part of Pittsboro. I also want to integrate it into the character of Pittsboro and not have it as a separate, free-standing community – but have it as part of the fabric, just an extension of Pittsboro going west.”
The Reeves family eventually accepted the offer in December, approving nearly 500 acres of land for a $19.6 million sale to Holmes and the father-son pair of Buddy Keller III and Carter Keller. Now, that project’s concept is taking shape: hundreds of housing units, of varying types, across 360 acres of the property.
The Pittsboro Board of Commissioners approved a conditional zoning request for the Reeves Farm project in mid-November, allowing for neighborhood-style construction and mixed-use development to be built over the next 10 to 12 years. According to concepts presented to the commissioners, the developers plan to build at several levels of density, ranging from single-family homes to duplexes to multi-family buildings.
Among the conditions negotiated between the town and developers, 7.5 percent of those residential units – which do not have a confirmed amount as of November – will be priced as affordable housing, while most of the neighborhoods will be priced for residents of varying income levels.
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