Pembroke Downtown Master Plan

Pembroke, NC

Prior to joining Rivers, Senior Landscape Architecht Project Manager, Allison Platt led a team to develop a master plan for downtown Pembroke, NC.  Although the community is small (3,000) it is home to University of North Carolina Pembroke and the largest population of Lumbee Indians in the country (~86% of the population).  The master plan delineates streetscape improvements, improved bike and pedestrian connections, relocated overhead power lines, and suggested improvements to historic building facades.  The plan also includes design guidelines to help ensure appropriate development and site planning, and cost estimates for recommended public improvements.  Rivers is now preparing construction documents for Third Street improvements, and the Town was awarded a BUILD grant of $5.2 million in September of 2020 to assist with further public improvements.   

The sketch view above illustrates Third Street streetscape improvements.

The overall plan for the downtown is also shown above.  The UNC-Pembroke campus is on the west, and the Lumbee Tribe headquarters are off the map to the east.  Key infill commercial buildings along Third Street will improve the image of this important street and make it more pedestrian-friendly.  Bike routes between the university and the downtown are shown along the railroad tracks to the north where there is less vehicular traffic. 

A developer prepared the building sketch illustrating improvements on Union Chapel Road near Third, directly across from the Business Incubator in a historic building recently renovated and run by UNC-Pembroke.