Chatham’s rapid urbanization: 1,500-plus homes slated for west Pittsboro
Roughly 500 acres of farmland is slated for a large, mixed-used community in fast-growing Chatham County.
Once a family dairy farm, Reeves Farm was recently rezoned to allow up to 1,500 housing units on the west side of Pittsboro between U.S. 64 Business and Alston Chapel Road.
The property will retain its name as a nod to the past. But small-scale developers are now planning to bring a mix of “missing middle” housing to the site, including townhouses, duplexes and single-family homes, ranging from 500 square feet to 4,500 square feet. They will target people earning 80% to 120% of the area median income.
Roughly 7.5% of the units will be reserved for “affordable housing:” households with annual incomes at or below 80% the AMI.
“We want it be an inclusive,” said developer Edward Holmes Jr., who was born and raised in Pittsboro. “There will be a wide variety of price points.”
Another priority is integrating the development with Pittsboro’s downtown.
To the east is Chatham Park, a 7,068-acre development that’s expected to bring thousands of homes to the community in the coming years.
Holmes said a variety of restaurants, grocery stores, entertainment spots, and trails are being planned for the west side.
“We think this balances the growth around town,” he said. “It will be the gateway into Pittsboro from the west side.”
Homegrown developers
Holmes, with father-son business partners Buddy and Carter Keller, bought the farm — 488 acres — for $19.6 million last December.
They’re already active developers in the greater Triangle. For years, Holmes ran Chapel Hill-based Holmes Oil Inc. — the parent company of Cruizers convenience stores — until it was acquired in 2020 by South Carolina-based Refuel Operating Company.
Separately, Buddy and Carter Keller are managing members of Sanford-based Carolina Commercial Contractors. Founded in 1998, the company is behind a number of projects and businesses throughout the region, such as the Refuel at Mosaic at Chatham Park and the Green Beagle Lodge for pets in Pittsboro.
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The developers initially bought the property with no entitlements in place, including sewer access.
But in July, the town of Pittsboro agreed to merge its water and wastewater facilities with Sanford County, fixing limitations in the town’s current system.
Holmes said they expect sewer lines to be installed in the next two years. With rezoning approval, they can now move forward with further site plans and expect to begin marketing lots in early 2026.
Changing landscape
Once a vast expanse of undeveloped land, Chatham County’s rural landscape has quickly given way to construction in recent years.
Data from the U.S. Census showed its population jumped more than 20% over the past 10 years, to 77,889 residents, as residential growth from Chapel Hill and Cary spills into its two biggest towns, Pittsboro and Siler City.
That figure is expected to climb as new projects continue to fill the pipeline.
Among them: Vietnamese carmaker VinFast is building a multibillion-dollar production facility on a 2,150-acre “megasite” in Moncure that it says will employ up to 7,500 workers. In Siler City, another 19 miles west of Pittsboro, Wolfspeed, a Durham silicon chip manufacturer, is pouring $5 billion into the rural county and creating 1,800 jobs.
