Today we’re wrapping up our three-part mega update series:
Part 1: Raleigh’s Townhome & Condo Market Is Under Extreme Distress (8/18) - here.
Part 2: Are Chappell and Concept 8 Hitting Hard Times? (9/15) - here.
Part 3: 908 Williamson court case(s) update - <YOU ARE HERE>
Quick recap. In Part 1 we showed Raleigh’s townhome and condo market flashing red: inventory at multi-year highs, days on market climbing month after month, and “attached product” as the soft spot. In Part 2 we zoomed in on The Three Developers (Chappell, Concept 8/DevPointe and their LLCs) and found a stalled, rebranded 908 Williamson, project after project with zero or near-zero sales, and an entire 16-home community listed on the MLS as a bulk wholesale package.
**NEW** Update on Chappell and Concept 8:📉
In Part 2 we detailed all of the struggling Chappell/Concept 8 properties. Well, it’s not getting any better - on Friday 10/2 Chappell cut prices across the board:
IDYLE (501 S Bloodworth): #102 $1.149M → $999k (−13%); #104 $1.239M → $1.099M (−11%); #101 $1.299M → $1.199M (−8%); #105 $1.249M → $1.179M (−6%)
Oberlin Heights: 1302 $1.225M → $1.099M (−10%); 1307 $1.375M → $1.345M; 1308 still $997.5k (open house Fri 10/9)
Mitchell Mill bulk: $5.7M → $5.65M (fourth cut since $5.999M in April); listing now says 3 units leased at $2,100–$2,295/mo through summer 2027
That’s about $700k in discounts in one day!
Now the part everyone has been asking about: the lawsuits. Short version - we have a hearing date, the courts keep letting us proceed, and every month the developers keep paying to hold an empty lot. Let’s dig into the details, but one more thing before we do….
Fundraising Update
We’ve raised $60,000 toward our $100,000 goal, and we still have a $10,000 match open - so the next $10,000 given turns into $20,000 and gets us to 80% of our goal.
If you’ve read this whole series and thought “somebody should do something about this,” this is that something. Every dollar goes to the legal effort to fight the City and The Three Developers and hold them to the rules the rest of us have to follow.
A Quick Refresher: Two Fights Running in Parallel
For newer readers (welcome! 👋), there are two separate legal matters, and it helps to keep them straight:
Main Suit - The civil lawsuit against the City of Raleigh. This is the big one. It challenges the “missing middle” text changes, including TC-5-20, the one passed July 6, 2021 in the wee hours with no real public input (Part 1 covered why that policy isn’t delivering what was promised). These are the rules that made it possible to cram 17 townhomes onto a single 2.42-acre lot in the middle of Hayes Barton. This case is bigger than our block: when it went up on appeal last December, the City itself warned the court that roughly 4,369 units could be affected.
Administrative action - Our fight against the 908 Williamson approvals themselves. The City approved a plan, we appealed, a judge reviewed it. Judge Collins reversed the first approval in July 2024. The City approved revised plans in April 2025, the Board of Adjustment affirmed that in September 2025, and neighbors took it back to Superior Court in October 2025. That second ruling is still pending with Judge Collins. At the time of this writing this matter is still under consideration with Judge Collins and there is no news here.
Main Suit Update: The City Struck Out Once. Now It’s Swinging Again.
The City’s first move was to make this go away before anyone had to defend how these rules were passed. It filed a motion to dismiss - essentially arguing that even if everything the neighbors say is true, there’s no case here. The judge rejected it on all grounds. Not trimmed, not narrowed. Rejected.
So the City has moved to Plan B: a motion for summary judgment, which asks the judge to rule in its favor without a trial, on the theory that the facts aren’t really in dispute. That hearing is set for October 26 and will be via WebEX at 10:30am . The WebEX link is here.
Hearing Announcement
Here is the announcement for the hearing from the Wake Civil Superior Calendar:
Why the judge matters
The hearing has been assigned to a judge from Reidsville - not Wake County. Cases like this get sent outside the county specifically to keep local relationships and local politics away from the bench. When you’re suing the City in the City’s own backyard, having an outside judge hear the arguments is a good thing.
If the motion is denied, our case against the City keeps marching toward trial. If it’s granted, we appeal - more on that below.
Developer Legal Fee Boomerang
One other update - many people saw Mr. Chappell crowing to anyone in the press that would give him the time of day that they were going to get their legal fees in the main lawsuit covered.
Well, the reality shows who we’re dealing with.
After the trial court dismissed The Three Developers from the case, they didn’t just walk away - the developers came after our neighbors for their attorney’s fees. Remember, this is the same team whose principal publicly accused us of trying to make it “financially difficult to hang on.” Apparently that’s a strategy they admire enough to try themselves. It didn’t work. The fee award against our neighbors was reversed on appeal, and when they went back for a second bite with another fee motion, the Court of Appeals denied that one too. Zero for two. A development team that promised shovels in the ground by early 2026 has spent its time trying to bill the neighborhood instead and losing. The Three Developers feel desperate, we’re tenacious - big difference!
Administrative Action Update: Amend the Permit, Break a Different Rule
Meanwhile, on the 908 Williamson administrative side , there’s a pattern our neighborhood knows well by now: the City approves something (rubber stamp), the court finds a problem, and the developers come back with an amended plan that fixes the one thing they were called on - while changing other things they weren’t that breaks a bunch of other rules they choose to ignore - all in service to jamming as many townhomes into 908 as physically possible.
That’s where we are again. In amending the permit, the developers altered elements that had nothing to do with the original defect, and in doing so ran into other provisions of the ordinance.
The centerpiece of the current round of the fight is open space. The ordinance requires it. The question is whether the open space on this plan is what any normal person would call open space - a real, continuous area - or whether it’s been assembled out of slivers, including strips a couple of inches wide, stitched together to hit a number on a spreadsheet in total, but not what any reasonable person would call a contiguous open space.
If you’ve ever wondered why this has taken four years, that’s why. Each round, the plan gets adjusted just enough to keep the approval alive, and each round a court has to look at whether it actually complies.
The Long Game (and Who It Favors)
Between hearings, a possible trial and the appeals that follow, full resolution could be years away, and October 26 will not be the end of the story no matter which way it goes.
Two things about that.
First: appeals are where our arguments are strongest. The core of this case - whether the City followed its own rules and the law when it rewrote 98 years of zoning - is exactly the kind of question appellate courts exist to answer. A loss on a motion is not a loss on the merits. We are never quitting, even if we lose today.
Second: the clock costs them far more than it costs us. Compare the calendar next to what we documented in Parts 1 and 2 and updated today hasn’t changed and if anything is getting worse:
The market for $1M+ attached homes in Raleigh has dried up, and the supply glut keeps growing every day. Chappell is dropping prices as much as 13% on top of existing discounts. Interest rates are rising and discounting isn’t working. This market is getting worse not better.
908 Williamson has produced zero revenue since December 2022 while carrying property taxes, demolition costs, legal fees and financing - which Part 2 estimated could run as high as ~$24K a month.
Interest rates and carrying costs have gone the wrong way for them, not for us.
Across their portfolio: price cuts, re-listings, an investor bulk-buy, and an entire community up for wholesale exit.
Our cost is legal fees shared across a neighborhood that isn’t going anywhere. Their cost is a fenced-off, empty, non-earning lot in a buyer’s market, month after month. This asymmetry is the whole ballgame.
Why We Need You Now 🙏
This is the part where the rubber meets the road. Beating the motion to dismiss, fighting off two rounds of fee demands, handling appellate work, and now preparing for an October 26 summary judgment hearing all cost money - and a round of legal bills has come in over the last 60 days.
Wrapping Up the Series
Thank you to everyone who has read, shared, donated and shown up. We’ll report back after the October 26 hearing.