Live in College Park
The blocks beside Saint Augustine's University that the City assembled and had rebuilt as 92 new houses, 60% of them sold to buyers under an income limit and every one held to a 10-year deed restriction, across the street from a campus whose owner is now in bankruptcy.
College Park was subdivided from 1912 beside Saint Augustine's, a Black neighborhood where most residents owned their houses and many worked at the college. By 1974 the City's own planners counted it, with Idlewild, as holding most of the deteriorating housing in Raleigh, and in 1998 the City adopted a redevelopment plan for its eastern 30 acres that authorized it to acquire property, by eminent domain where negotiation failed, and to relocate the occupants. Between 2016 and 2023 the City had 92 single-family houses built on its lots, 60% for buyers under 80% of area median income, each under a 10-year deed restriction. This guide covers the City's registry area for College Park, where the 2020 census counted only 210 people, before many of those houses were finished.
Rebuilt by the City, facing a college in bankruptcy
The College Park area in the City's Neighborhood Registry, about 27 acres: Oakwood Avenue on the north, Waldrop Street on the east, Boyer Street on the south and Hill Street on the west. It is nearly the same ground as the City's 1998 East College Park redevelopment area, which runs from Oakwood Avenue down Waldrop Street to Boyer Street and on to the rear of the lots facing New Bern Avenue, with its western line in the middle of the blocks between Hill and Maple streets. The historic College Park subdivision was larger: the City's 1994 neighborhood plan quotes the 1942 city directory placing it between New Bern and Oakwood avenues, east of Saint Augustine's to the city limits.
College Park began as a Black suburb at the edge of Saint Augustine's. D. J. Fort Jr. started selling lots in 1912 on land between the college and the Lincoln Park subdivision, and the City's 1994 neighborhood plan describes what grew there: a community of African American homeowners, many of them employed at Saint Augustine's, annexed in 1929. By 1974 the City's own planners reported that College Park and Idlewild held most of the deteriorating and dilapidated housing in Raleigh, and in 1975 parts of both became the City's first redevelopment area.
The eastern blocks were rebuilt on the City's terms. Its 1998 East College Park Redevelopment Plan covered about 30 acres between Oakwood Avenue, Waldrop Street and Boyer Street, gave the City the power to buy property, by eminent domain where negotiation failed, and bound it to relocate the people it displaced. How many households moved, and on what terms, is in no document this guide found. What was built is recorded. Between 2016 and 2023 the City had 92 single-family houses put up on its lots, and the county's file shows 95 of the area's 134 houses built since 2016. The City's own pages disagree on the total: 92 on the project page, 98 on another.
The terms come with the house. The City reserved 60% of the houses for buyers under 80% of area median income, $105,850 for a household of four in 2026, and put every owner under a 10-year deed restriction and a rule to live in the house. The City's pages do not publish the restriction's wording, so the recorded deed is where a buyer learns what it limits and when it ends. The county recorded first sales of 92 new houses at $186,500 to $640,000, 83 of them at $300,000 or less, but it assesses them at a median of $533,767, and the bill follows the assessment: about $4,850 a year at 90.91 cents per $100, before Wake revalues on 1 January 2027 (citywide figures are on the Raleigh page). Only three houses in the area have sold since January 2024.
The census has not caught up. The registry area's eight blocks held 222 people in 2010, 207 of them Black, and 210 in 2020, of whom 111 were Black and 69 white. The 2020 count came while many of the new houses were still being finished, so how many people live here now is not known from any published figure. The City's housing department puts the surrounding block group in the middle of its scale for both vulnerability and displacement pressure, 106th of 293.
Across Oakwood Avenue is the open question. Saint Augustine's, founded in 1867, lost its accreditation on 15 May 2026, filed for Chapter 11 and held no classes this fall. It reports $74 million of debt, and its leaders plan to hire a real estate firm to market part of the 105-acre campus. What would be built there, and when, is unknown. The zoning at the neighborhood's edge is already looser: 37 parcels along Oakwood Avenue and the eastern side are zoned for mixed use of three to five stories, inside a transit overlay that lets height rise by half where a fifth of the added units are affordable. Route 15 on New Bern Avenue runs every 15 minutes while the bus rapid transit line is built along it.
- Ask for the recorded deed restriction and the date its 10 years began
- Budget the tax on the county's assessment, not the price: about $4,850 a year on the new houses' median
- At or under 80% of area median income, ask the City about restricted houses and its $60,000 Enhanced loan
- Follow the Saint Augustine's bankruptcy: part of the 105-acre campus may be sold
- Check the parcel's zoning: Oakwood Avenue and the eastern edge allow mixed use
- Look up the school by exact address before you rely on Powell, Ligon and Broughton
How College Park got here
- 1867Saint Augustine's is incorporated on 19 July by the Episcopal Church to educate Black teachers. By the end of 1868 it has 46 acres of the Seven Springs estate east of the city, and in 1897 it buys the rest of a campus of about 110 acres.
- 1895The stone chapel is built, its cornerstone laid on 15 July and the building first used on Christmas Day, by Black stonemasons with stone from the campus and from near Henderson. The City made it a Raleigh Historic Landmark in 1969.
- 1912D. J. Fort Jr., who had been buying land beyond the city limits between the school and the Lincoln Park subdivision since 1911, begins selling lots in College Park. It grows into a Black neighborhood of homeowners, many of them employed at Saint Augustine's.
- 1915About now the Curtis family builds the William A. Curtis House at Poole Road and Carver Street in Lincoln Park, a block south of New Bern Avenue. It was listed on the National Register in 2008.
- 1929College Park is annexed by the City, with Fisher Street as its easternmost edge. The 1942 city directory shows Waldrop Street laid out but not yet built on.
- 1975A year after a City planning report finds that Idlewild and College Park hold most of the deteriorating and dilapidated housing in Raleigh, the City Council makes parts of both the City's first redevelopment area.
- 1980The Saint Augustine's College campus is listed on the National Register as a historic district, with the chapel, the 1896 Benson Library and the 1909 stone St. Agnes Hospital.
- 1994The City adopts the College Park/Idlewild Neighborhood Plan for 89 acres and about 1,400 people, and its planning commission recommends rezoning most of it from Residential-20 to Residential-10 to match the houses already there.
- 1998The East College Park Redevelopment Plan is adopted on 21 October for about 30 acres east of Hill Street. It lets the City acquire property, by eminent domain where negotiation fails, names parcels on Maple and Fisher streets for purchase, and commits the City to relocate the people displaced, with $1.5 million of federal block grant money budgeted.
- 2010The census counts 222 residents on the blocks of today's registry area, 207 of them Black.
- 2016Building starts on the City's lots. By 2023 the City has facilitated 92 single-family houses with its builders, 60% for buyers under the income limit and 40% with none, each owner bound to live in the house under a 10-year deed restriction.
- 2020The census counts 210 residents and 111 housing units in the registry area, 111 of the residents Black and 69 white. Houses finished after census day were not in the count.
- 2022Fisher Street Park opens on Pender Street, and the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency gives East College Park its Home Ownership Development Award.
- 2025The City Council approves $448,733 of federal money to prepare land for six townhouses by Evergreen Construction, four of them for low- and moderate-income families, a contract first signed in 2020 and stalled by pandemic costs. Across Oakwood Avenue, Fisher Grove, 166 affordable rental apartments, is approved.
- 2026Saint Augustine's files for Chapter 11 in April, its accreditation ends on 15 May and its students transfer. It reports $74 million of debt, offers no classes in the fall, and plans to hire a real estate firm to market part of its 105-acre campus.
A new park inside, and the City's community centers a walk away
Inside the registry area the open space is new: Fisher Street Park, a quarter acre on Pender Street opened in 2022 with a playground, a basketball court, a picnic shelter and trellis swings. The City's older parks are a walk away. Tarboro Road Park, 3.2 acres to the west, has a community center, a gym and a teen center, and Roberts Park, seven acres across New Bern Avenue, adds lighted tennis courts, a ball field and a dog run.
What the map does not show: the biggest block of land nearby is the Saint Augustine's campus, which is private and part of a bankruptcy estate. Lions Park's 41 acres of fields and courts are about two kilometers north.
23 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 23 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from the population-weighted center of the registry area's census blocks, near Pender and Carver streets, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
There is no gym in the registry area. The City's centers do the work: Tarboro Road Park has a gym and a weight room, and Roberts Park a gym and a fitness room on the City's pass. The Southeast Raleigh YMCA on Rock Quarry Road has an outdoor pool.
- Tarboro Road Park, 121 North Tarboro Street: a weight room at $15 a month
- Roberts Park, 1300 East Martin Street: $2 a day or $15 a month on the City pass
- Lions Park, 516 Dennis Avenue: $12 a month on its own page, $15 on the pass page
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Tarboro Road Park open | The City's community center at 121 North Tarboro Street: a gymnasium, a weight room at $15 a month and the Saint Monica Teen Center's fitness and dance room. | 3–4 min |
| Roberts Park open | The City's community center at 1300 East Martin Street: a gymnasium and a fitness room on the City pass at $2 a day, $15 a month or $150 a year, open until 9 p.m. on weekdays. | 3–5 min |
| Lions Park open | The City's community center at 516 Dennis Avenue: a gymnasium and a small fitness room, which the park's own page prices at $12 a month for adults and the City's pass page at $15. | 5–7 min |
| Southeast Raleigh YMCA open | 1436 Rock Quarry Road: a six-lane outdoor pool with a water slide, a full gymnasium with an indoor track, two studios and a wellness floor. | 5–8 min |
The free option is the courts: Fisher Street Park's basketball court inside the area, and the lighted tennis courts at Roberts and Tarboro Road parks.
One set of schools, and a closer high school you apply to
The Wake County Public School System assigns each home one base school by address. On its 2026-27 maps all eight blocks go to Powell Elementary on Marlborough Road, Ligon Middle on East Lenoir Street and Broughton High on the far side of downtown. All three are magnet schools on the traditional calendar.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Powell Elementary School | Wake County Public School System | The base elementary school for all eight blocks of the registry area on the 2026-27 maps, a magnet school on the traditional calendar at 1130 Marlborough Road, to the northeast. |
| Ligon Middle School | Wake County Public School System | The base middle school for every block, a magnet school on the traditional calendar at 706 East Lenoir Street, south of New Bern Avenue. |
| Broughton High School | Wake County Public School System | The base high school for every block, a magnet school on the traditional calendar at 723 St. Mary's Street, on the far side of downtown. |
| Enloe High School | Wake County Public School System | Not a base school for any block here, although it is closer than Broughton. It is a magnet school, so a seat comes through the choice application window, which for 2027-28 runs from 15 October 2026 to 21 January 2027. |
Run the exact address through the school system's lookup before you commit. Enloe High, a magnet school on Clarendon Crescent, is closer than Broughton but is the base school for no block here; its seats come through the choice window, which for 2027-28 runs from 15 October 2026 to 21 January 2027.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Wake County's revaluation takes effect on 1 January 2027, on new houses the county already assesses at a median of $533,767
- Highs near 11 °C and lows just under freezing at RDU, with 18 nights at or below freezing in an average January
- The magnet application window for 2027-28 closes on 21 January, and it is the way into Enloe High instead of Broughton
- Highs near 13 °C and 3.6 cm of snow on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- With the leaves down, the 1895 stone chapel is plain to see from Oakwood Avenue
- Most of the 95 new houses were finished between 2018 and 2021, so their roofs and systems are still young
- Highs near 17 °C and 104 mm of rain on the normal
- Spring listings: ask when a house's 10-year restriction began, since the county's file shows first sales from 2018
- Only three single-family houses in the area have sold since January 2024, so there is little resale to compare
- Highs near 23 °C, and 1.1 frost nights on the normal, the last of the season
- Saint Augustine's filed for Chapter 11 in late April 2026, with $50 million to $100 million owed
- Lions Park's tennis lights, on a timer from March to November, run from dusk to 10 p.m.
- Saint Augustine's held its commencement on 9 May 2026, and its accreditation ended on 15 May
- Highs near 27 °C and no frost on the normal
- Fisher Street Park's trellis swings and picnic shelter are a few minutes' walk from any house in the area
- In June 2025 the City Council approved $448,733 to prepare the land for six townhouses on City lots, four of them income-restricted
- Highs near 31 °C and 99 mm of rain on the normal
- Roberts Park's dog run and lighted youth ball field are across New Bern Avenue
- The hottest month at RDU, with highs near 33 °C and 128 mm of rain
- RDU averages 52 days a year at or above 32 °C
- The Southeast Raleigh YMCA on Rock Quarry Road has a six-lane outdoor pool with a water slide
- In August 2026 Saint Augustine's said it would hold no classes in the fall, and the bankruptcy judge called it essentially closed
- Powell, Ligon and Broughton all run the traditional calendar
- Highs near 32 °C and lows near 21 °C
- The wettest month on the RDU normal, at 131 mm; the City's floodplain map shows no mapped flood area within about 400 meters
- Highs still near 28 °C
- Route 15 WakeMed on New Bern Avenue runs every 15 minutes while the bus rapid transit line is built along it
- The school system's magnet and year-round application window for 2027-28 opens on 15 October 2026
- Highs near 23 °C and lows near 10 °C
- The Tarboro Road center's teen room opens at 2 p.m. on weekdays, after school
- Highs near 17 °C, and 7.8 frost nights on the normal
- November is the last month of the season for the Lions Park tennis lights
- Leaves drop over lots of about a tenth of an acre at the median
- Highs near 13 °C and 2 cm of snow on the normal
- The last month on 2024 values; Wake's new assessments take effect on 1 January 2027
- At 90.91 cents per $100, the median new house carries a bill of about $4,850 a year, whatever it sold for
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds 5 photographs and the page has already printed all of them, each once. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near College Park, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Raleigh library.