Despite a public notice posted by the village seeking more applicants, developers have not walked away from their proposal to redevelop the former Maplewood Elementary School property in Cary.

JM Developers requested a second extension in November to complete negotiations and finalize construction budgets for its plan to turn the property in downtown Cary into a multi- and single-family residential area. The Village Board is scheduled to consider the redevelopment agreement Jan. 12.

The village posted a public notice in the Northwest Herald last week seeking “proposals from qualified development teams with vision, experience and financial capacity” for the redevelopment of the almost 16-acre former District 26 school property located at 422 W. Krenz Ave. In the notice, the village requests that developers submit a proposal that aligns with the 2015 comprehensive plan and the 2021 downtown Cary strategic plan.

The village will accept proposals until Jan. 7, according to the notice.

The notice led some in the community to assume wrongly that JM Developers had dropped out of the project.

In fact, the notice was published as a legal requirement under the Tax Increment Financing Act, Assistant Village Administrator Nick Radcliffe said. Because the property is within the village’s Central Cary TIF District, the village is required to provide public notice at least 10 days before considering a redevelopment agreement.

The village first started negotiations with the developers back in March. Over the past eight months, open house meetings were held, and tweaks have been made to the plan following objections from some nearby residents mainly over plans for multifamily residences.

Plans were updated in June to include some owner-occupied single-family homes and a larger public park after many residents spoke out against the plans. However, residents’ concerns over density and building height remain.

The updated plan called for 12 two-story, single-family homes; 16 two-story townhouses; 22 three-story townhomes; two five-story apartment buildings; and one four-story apartment building, totaling 228 apartment units.

The property has been a thorny topic for years and resulted in a conflict between the village and Cary School District 26. The district originally planned to demolish the former Maplewood School and construct a $6 million transportation center on the property. After the village denied a rezoning request, the school district agreed to sell the property to the village for $5.5 million in 2024.

The village has had hopes for years of spurring development on the property and getting the area back on the tax rolls. Previous developers have proposed multifamily townhomes or apartments, but all ultimately stepped away.

In conjunction with the redevelopment of the school property, the adjacent Maplewood Road extension project continues to make progress in its planning stages. The new road would be an extension of Industrial Drive, running from Cary-Algonquin Road to High Road, parallel with Route 14 and south of the railroad tracks. Its aim is to improve mobility to downtown Cary.

The village is nearing the completion of the first of three phases of the road extension plan, with the next phase including land acquisition and plan preparation, which is expected to take about one year, according to the village website.