Heritage Park: Integrating Past and Future

New housing—and a chance to honor the community that came before

Raleigh’s newest affordable housing development isn’t just transforming a mixed-income community—it’s honoring a once-thriving neighborhood isolated by urban renewal.  

Recently breaking ground on the southwest side of Downtown, the long-anticipated Heritage Park project will add nearly 1,000 housing units. But its deeper significance lies in what Raleigh is trying to preserve in the process: the story of the Fourth Ward, a historically Black neighborhood gradually erased through decades of city expansion. 

“Heritage Park really represents an opportunity for the future—not just for residents, but for the city itself,” maintains Ashley Lommers-Johnson, CEO of Raleigh Housing Authority, which oversees 10 public housing properties across the city, all in need of redevelopment.

The redevelopment marks a shift from the past few decades. Built in the early 1970s, Heritage Park emerged from the era of urban renewal and served as affordable housing for generations of Raleigh residents. 

Over time, however, the property deteriorated beyond practical repair. Lommers-Johnson says the site became considered “physically obsolete,” meaning renovation costs would have exceeded the threshold that made rehabilitation viable. In other words, repairs were no longer feasible—full-scale redevelopment was the only path forward.

The scale is significant: The current 122-unit site is being reimagined as a mixed-income community, with Phase I bringing a 51-unit senior development, alongside a broader commitment to preserving at least 122 subsidized units. 

Lommers-Johnson describes the project as one of the most ambitious affordable housing redevelopment efforts in the state, made possible through tools like Section 8 vouchers, tax credits, bond financing and the Housing Authority’s investment-grade credit rating.

Ushering in the transformation are community advocates like Rosa Rand, who pushed to ensure the Fourth Ward remains central to the vision.

The Fourth Ward native was brought into conversations before redevelopment plans were publicly announced—an early consultation that proved meaningful. Encouraging the Fourth Ward Historic Neighborhood Association to be included from the outset, Rand sees the project as an opportunity to build not just housing, but a thriving, diverse community shaped by care, connection and continuity. 

Commemorating that history is still taking shape. Rand points to potential educational programming, gathering spaces and commemorative elements—signage, benches, murals—that would help tell the story of the once-standing neighborhood.

Lommers-Johnson says the exact form is still being finalized, but the commitment to storytelling remains clear. “We will find ways to ensure the Fourth Ward is not something that will go away with Heritage Park,” he remarks.

Future residents and visitors can also expect a site designed to feel less isolated. Today, Heritage Park is tucked within fast-moving roads and limited access points. The redevelopment aims to undo that separation, replacing it with what Lommers-Johnson calls “a community of opportunity”—think better connectivity, walkability and on-site destinations. 

Plans include retail and services, stronger street and neighborhood connections, and better access to jobs. Although the project will take years to fully take shape, its impact could stretch far beyond one footprint—serving as a “template,” says Lommers-Johnson. 

Heritage Park is the first glimpse of what a more connected, more ambitious future could look like—one that reshapes a corner of the city while honoring the community that came before it.