One of the biggest housing developments planned for Chapel Hill in years formally began its construction on Tuesday morning. South Creek will feature more than 800 residences. The site held a potting ceremony with project leaders and local officials on the soil of the future neighborhood. Instead of the typical shovels being put into the ground, leaders of the master builder Beechwood Organization and the Town of Chapel Hill marked the occasion by potting some ferns relocated from the forest by the North Carolina Native Plant Society with fresh soil. Eighty acres of that land will be kept as a nature preserve and park on one side of Obie Creek, while 40 acres will be used for a variety of for-sale and for-rent housing units. Steven Dubb, the principal and president of Beechwood, described South Creek as the “marquee” ongoing project of his organization and a stake in the ground for their operations in North Carolina. That is in part, he said, because of the Town of Chapel Hill’s co...