Northside residents worry the project will hurt their community, raising property values and taxes.

Developers say they want to work with residents, honor the area's past and protect its future.

Several community groups held a forum, "Sustaining Ourselves," recently at St. Joseph C.M.E. Church on Rosemary Street. The meeting was the first in a series sponsored by several groups.

"We've been wondering what the community thinks now that the cranes are up," said Delores Bailey, executive director of EmPOWERment Inc., just a few doors down from Greenbridge's future seven- and 10-story towers. "We do still have a voice."

Greenbridge representatives attended the meeting but did not speak. Developer Tim Toben said he's working on a follow-up meeting to keep getting community feedback.

Speakers, at times shouting in anger, expressed fear that the condominiums -- some over $1 million -- will raise property values and taxes in the historically black neighborhood of one- and two-story homes. Those in the church sanctuary -- filled with an even mix of almost 100 whites and blacks -- responded with amens and applause.

"What's happening across the street and what's happening with gentrification should be understood as violence," said Rob Stephens, a senior African American studies major and a member of United with the Northside Community Now, a UNC student group.

"The impact is a violent rupture from the past and the tradition," he said.

The block where Greenbridge is being built has been home to black-owned businesses for decades, most recently an Ethiopian restaurant that had to relocate to Timberlyne Shopping Center in northern Chapel Hill.

Developers said they plan to pay tribute to the area's past by including exhibits on black history in the Greenbridge Sustainability Center and dedicating a plaza facing Rosemary Street to Charlie Mason, who built the original Mason Motel and Supper Club on the site.

Eugene Farrar, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, said he's worried Greenbridge will lead to higher rents in the neighborhood.

"I wonder what's going to happen to the tenants still in that community," he said. "What's going to happen to their taxes?"

Developer Frank Phoenix sent a proposal to UNC-NOW in December. He said the developers wants to create a plan with residents that could include studying how other communities are dealing with gentrification and partnering with organizations like Habitat for Humanity to build more affordable homes in Northside. He said he has not yet received a formal response to the proposal.

"I remain hopeful that we will soon develop a positive dialogue and inclusive partnership to mitigate the changes coming to Northside," Phoenix said.

While the speakers at the forum noted the developer's environmental commitment, they said maintaining affordable housing and community is a higher priority.

"I guess sometimes green is more important than brown," said Kane Smego, a spoken word artist. "One cause cannot be fought at the expense of another. People are part of the environment."

To meet a Town Council requirement, the development will include 15 units priced between $85,000 and $96,000. Toben noted that it's difficult to balance social justice and environmental responsibility.

The Rev. Robert Campbell, a member of the Rogers Road community, suggested offering technical education to Northside residents so they can get the high-paying jobs Greenbridge's offices will bring. He said he doesn't want residents stuck mopping floors.

"Let us move to the technical side of the building," he said.

Toben said that the concrete firm working on Greenbridge hired eight employees who "walked in off the street" and several other positions will be available when the building opens in 2010.

Mildred Council, owner of Mama Dip's Kitchen, said residents need to take charge of future developments in the community. She declined to give her opinion on Greenbridge because it's already being built, but she said she's skeptical it will bring more customers since other nearby developments have not.

(Council's also disappointed that Greenbridge officials declined a request of hers due to safety. "I'd really like to go up there on top of that crane," she said.)

Others said government needs to step in to protect Northside and other black neighborhoods such as Pine Knolls and Ridgefield.

The Rev. Mark Royster Sr., pastor of Cedar Rock Missionary Baptist Church, said the neighborhoods need to become designated historic districts and the town council should impose a moratorium on special-use permits for these areas.

Chapel Hill Town Councilman Jim Merritt, a lifelong resident of Northside, said he probably won't support future development in the neighborhood in order to preserve it.

"I would hope that it would maintain the same sort of character that it has now," Merritt said. "It's a family-oriented type of neighborhood where you always help your neighbor when anything is needed. That's pretty much the way it's been for 60 or 70 years."

The next meeting in the community groups' series will be held March 19 at a time and place to be announced.