10 Comments

1. 

   A quick update on the sales for some of the townhouse (townhouse-like) developments in the greater downtown area (based on their websites)
   220 The Saint 4/17, 24%
   West+Lenoir 8/12 (phase I only), 75%
   Hargett Place 8/19, 42%
   10Arros 4/10, 40%

   41% overall absorption rate. Seems like a good rate to me such that projects will continue to be proposed (like 414-418 St Marys just was) without prices spiking even worse. The fact that the highest priced project’s units are selling the slowest should help flatten the price increases even more (I know…everything is already stupid expensive…I just don’t want it even more stupid expensive…)

2. 

   @Mark – I feel the price of these townhomes are in line with downtown Raleigh. I think the prices are good as long as we get good design and quality. This is a price to pay if you want to be in the heart of the city. Also, the more expensive units are over 4,000 sqft. I’m really excited to see these built. Look great! My only concern is when we get apartment complexes that are cheaply built with horrible design and with high rent.. annoying to me.

   Wahlburgers – anyone have any updates on the Wahlburgers that was supposed to come to Fayetteville St? The paper has been up on the windows for quite some time now with no information.

3. 

   Meanwhile, up the street on St. Mary’s (and directly east of Broughton High School), a developer is planning a 4 story apartment building with 55 units. This apartment is slated to replace an existing 4 story office building that exists on its site. I suspect that this is just the first step in redeveloping most of the block bounded by St. Mary’s, Brooklyn and Clay.

4. 

   Nighthawk, I agree the prices per sqft are the going rate across the board…220 The Saint, I think, is just building too big per unit…most townhouse people aren’t seeking huge places…in my mind it’s more of an efficient living, downsize sort of thing just as much as it is a getting into the core of a City thing(which itself is part of the efficient living idea if you also work and “play” downtown).
   John, that apartment building is a head scratcher to me…a worrisome one…how economical can it be to buy a 4 story building (albeit an older one, built like a hospital..I’ve been in it..feels creepy ish) and build another 4 story building. I really hope that whole block doesn’t get redeveloped. Brooklyn (not the gridded part that is part of Glenwood-Brooklyn’s plat) is a cool little area that existed before the Glenwood area developed. It was anchored by a church that stood about where the Clay St curve is now, and later became the current Jenkins Methodist Church at Boylan/Devereux. I *believe* the entire community sat along the old Upper Hillsborough Road (as termed in Elizabeth Reid Murry’s book on Wake County) which has quite a bit of original trace left north of the area..McDonald Road, Oberlin, Leadmine, Town and Country, Millbrook, Leesville etc. This 1935 precinct map can be overlaid against a modern google map and it become very evident what I am talking about. http://web.lib.unc.edu/nc-maps/interactive/Cm912c_R163_1935r.php

5. 

   @Mark, the way the property is zoned on that block, only the few SFH’s on Brooklyn are still zoned as such. The remaining Clay Street property will support more of these 3 story townhouses that seem to be so popular today and, frankly, there’s one really crappy apartment building existing on the road bend.

   As for The Saint, I looked at the floor plans and am baffled by the ones that either don’t have separate dining rooms or natural places for that function to occur.. For me, that’s a huge miss. Elevators would suggest that their market is wealthy retirees from ITB, wealthy burbs or from out of state. I would think that these wealthy retirees would have dining room furniture. I can’t see spending several hundred thousands of dollars and then being asked to ditch dining furniture.

6. 

   I agree 100% with the target market you described for Saint. Heading to look at floor plans now! (had not done that much yet)

7. 

   @Mark, It’s the units with the square-ish living rooms that don’t seem to make any sense in terms of how it could be effectively furnished with a real dining room. This may be fine in less expensive condos geared for the younger crowd but I just don’t see it working in this product. There are definitely some good layout options among them but there are also some head scratchers.
   In all cases, the emphasis in these units is in the master suites. In some of the cases, the master floor alone would be big enough to be a separate condo or apartment.

8. 

   Based on what I’ve seen, the construction specs and installation quality on hargett place and West St. Townhomes are not the best. Seems that location driving up acquisition and development cost is forcing sacrifices in areas like exterior wall assemblies, insulation quality and windows. I have heard concerns from some experienced builders that the boom of flat roof modern homes being built as fast as possible by builders with little experience in that area is (possibly) going to lead to serious water issues 5-10 years down the road. I would want to see flashing and waterproofing details before buying.

9. 

   In a similar vein, 10Arros is being built with two solid OSB layers between each unit…no penetrations, and hence no hearing your neighbors every private moment through the walls.

10. 

    If all of 10Arros units had rooftop terraces, it would be sold out. It’s at the right price point and size for the market in my opinion.

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