The Fairweather Announces High-End Condos at 522 Harrington Street

Rendering of interior unit, The Fairweather

Rendering courtesy of Monarch Realty

A project that I highlighted here on the blog back in November 2016 is now in the presale phase. The Fairweather will be a five-story condo building with 45 total units. The location is in between downtown Raleigh and the future Dix Park. See it on Google maps here.

Site Plan map of 522 South Harrington

Location of The Fairweather according to its site plan.

From the press release:

Slated to open in early 2019, The Fairweather features five stories with approximately 45 units, ranging from 838 to 2,645 square feet. The first four floors showcase one, two and three bedroom units starting in the upper $300s to the $600s, while the fifth floor offers penthouse suites for $700 to $1 million. Located at the corner of S. Harrington, Lenoir and S. West streets, The Fairweather sits on a hilltop that affords owners views in every direction of Raleigh’s skyline. The development also offers immediate walking distance to landmarks, such as Dorothea Dix Park, the new Raleigh Union Station and the Warehouse District’s upscale restaurants.

Rendering of interior unit, The Fairweather

Rendering courtesy of Monarch Realty

New-construction condos haven’t been seen in downtown Raleigh in awhile so it may make sense that high-end units come first. I’ve been told this will be somewhat of a more distinctive building compared to what we’ve been used to in the apartment scene.

The exterior renderings will be most interesting to see.

Corner of West and Lenoir Street, October 2017.

Corner of West and Lenoir Street, October 2017

Similar Posts:

Comments

Comments are disabled here. That's because we're all hanging out on the DTRaleigh Community, an online forum for passionate fans of the Oak City.

19 Comments

  1. I am looking forward to this project in the hopes that it will lead to a resurgence of more truly mixed use buildings. Also, I know that it won’t happen but It sure would be nice to get rid of those overhead power lines. :-)

  2. Love the look of this.. very excited to see another condo building coming to the area… only wish it was a bit taller.

  3. @TheNighHawk those ceilings look pretty high though, so 5 stories of this might be a lot taller than you’re imagining!

  4. Just announced that the 3 acre N&O property at Nash Square will finally be sold off sometime soon at just under $22 million. Future tallest building in Raleigh here we come! I hope.

  5. It will be interesting to see how these condos are received in the market. With 1 bedroom condos starting in high 300s and, you can bet, not facing the view of DT, the building better be something really special because, despite the good view, there are hurdles to overcome based on that location. The site overlooks a substation which is immediately adjacent to the railroad tracks. It’s also a top of the market product in an area that’s still in the early years of its renaissance. Using their stated prices and sizes, we’re talking the smallest units starting nearly $500/ft2. That said, I do applaud them for putting their largest units all on the top floor of the building. A mistake that they can avoid (if it isn’t already planned) is to avoid having any larger plans on the lowest floors. I have seen this mistake made over and over and those type of units tend to be harder to sell. I’m also hopeful that this building will provide outdoor living space to all units, storage units, and amenities including a shared rooftop terrace and pool. That last amenity alone might be enough to secure buyers who are willing to invest at the top of the market in this transitional area.

  6. john, storage building is going up right now across the street and is topped out it looks like. quite tall for that area.

  7. @mike…..Yet another hurdle for their marketing. Unless that storage unit building is beautiful, it’s going to be perceived as negative. This isn’t even mentioning that, beyond the storage building, there’s still a public housing project a block away. When you are asking people to spend this sort of money, you can bet that all of this comes into consideration.
    I don’t know if anyone remembers but near/at this site was the proposed “The Metropolitan” that was being marketed before the housing crash. That project had more units that were more modest in size and price. I know because I looked into it then. They used to have their sales office on Peace between Glenwood and the train tracks in an old Victorian house.

  8. This area feels more like a quirky semi-industrial area that you see in other cities, than any other area in Raleigh. Its similar to say, RiNo in Denver or east Austin. For that reason, plus the small area to build in, and the fact it is already almost completely gentrified, makes me think these units will sell. The bigger hurdle in my mind is the fact they are condos which have different financing requirements than other properties and in particular, for new construction. If it is the same as things were in about 2010-2012, the builder will have to pre-sell or self finance 50% of the units and each buyer will have to have have 20% down…no more of this zero down on condos stuff.

  9. @Mark, “no more of this zero down on condos stuff”? what?
    I have purchased 3 condos in Raleigh in my life and two in pre-construction. In all of them I was required to put % money down well in advance of closing. At closing I had to bring more money. There wasn’t a 0 money down game.

  10. John, but when was the last time you did this? I dealt with this as an HOA president and extensively discussed the problems associated with declining property values because of the trouble selling them after the last crash due to financing. We did adjust our budget to meet the 10% capital replacement set-aside requirement otherwise nobody would lend for our building but buyers had a much higher bar to meet too. It does look like FHA finally loosened up it’s rules in 2015 http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/condo-loans-easier-to-get.aspx
    Anyway, without massive collateral, I don’t think a bank will finance a unit or a project at 100%, like I also was able to do back in 2003.

  11. @Mark, 2003 preconstruction contract, late 2005 closing. I’ve NEVER seen a zero money down scenario.

  12. Oh whoops, I misread your first comment as you always bought at 0% (I need glasses, actually). But I bought $0 by with the ol’ 80/20. The 20 subordinate mortgage had a worse rate, but 80/20 got rid of PMI so it sort of balanced out.

  13. @Mark. No worries. For my very first condo in the burbs, I put 5% down. I was very young and that’s all I could save. For each of the next 3 condo purchases, I have put more than 20% down. In my last purchase, the 2003 pre-construction contract, I put reservation money down initially, then 5% down at contract and eventually closed with nearly 50% down. I have only purchased condos in my life and have learned a lot about them and how they work.

  14. The TBJ has a article today on the 22 story FNB Tower ! Construction is suppose to start in February !

  15. It’s a shame that we still have above ground power lines anywhere near downtown. What’s the hold up with burying those lines?

  16. Paul, just an observation, and an aside to your question, but the non-mast arm traffic lights downtown all seem to be on DOT maintained roads. Most, if not all of the mast-arm intersections seem to be the City owned ones. The State has some mast-arm intersections around the government complex, but Dawson and McDowell look to be all wires. All those wires really clutter things up to me, along with the other utility wires you mentioned.

Comments are closed.