How the town is built
Chapel Hill carries a wider property mix than any other Orange County town we serve because UNC anchors the center of the town and the historic, medical, planned-community, and student-rental cycles all run alongside each other. The historic blocks around Franklin-Rosemary, Cameron-McCauley, and Gimghoul carry late-1800s-through-1930s homes on narrow lots under both historic and tree-ordinance protection. UNC-adjacent student rental housing fills the blocks east and south of Franklin Street. Mid-century residential sits on standard lots further out. The planned mixed-use communities at Southern Village, Meadowmont, and East 54 run modern walkable density. The Weaver Dairy / Timberlyne area on the north side carries traditional subdivision character. On the commercial side, Franklin Street handles the campus-edge retail, UNC Hospitals runs the medical side, and the US-15/501 strip south of town handles regional retail.