Palladium Plaza

[ChiefJoJo]

BTW, they've topped out the building (5 floors) and are now adding on the facade. I might have some time to do a bunch of DT pictures real soon, including this project. Paladium Plaza has been lost in the shuffle a little bit, but this will add a lot of life to an area that needs it when it's completed next year.

[carynative]

It's looking great over there. This will add a good amount of housing to the City Market area. I only wish they were another floor or two higher to match the height of the parking deck. When driving by there it's interesting to note how close to the road the condos are gonna be.

[JTsaysToYou]

I only wish they were another floor or two higher to match the height of the parking deck.

[Jones_]

hmm...jojo or anyone else here have a good background in concrete pouring or interior soundproofing? One of the walls against the CC parking deck did not fill up the mold and it looks like the bricks went up over it anyway.....plus some research on sound transmission makes me want to see independant walls for each unit instead of aparment style walls on a common stud base....btw I have heard the Alexan has terrible noise issues between units...anyone know anybody living there?

[carynative]

JT- while the outside is coming along nicely, there's still plent to be done inside. My guess is that the place will be done mid-to-late 2007 at the earliest.

[dmccall]

hmm...jojo or anyone else here have a good background in concrete pouring or interior soundproofing? One of the walls against the CC parking deck did not fill up the mold and it looks like the bricks went up over it anyway.....plus some research on sound transmission makes me want to see independant walls for each unit instead of aparment style walls on a common stud base....btw I have heard the Alexan has terrible noise issues between units...anyone know anybody living there?

[JTsaysToYou]

I drive by there everyday, and don't worry about it, you can't see any of the side of the parking deck thats empty.

[ncwebguy]

Walking by, it looks like they "forgot" to do another floor above. I'd guess that they only go up three stories of units (five stories total) because of the *outdated* density restrictions in place at the time the project was proposed.

This is why the density bonuses for affordable housing, appearances, proximity to transit, etc. need to be in place ASAP. Condo buildings will never be "best use" under current guidelines -- density restrictions that probably scared Boulevard Centro away from Hillsborough/Glenwood.

It looks like a sore thumb sticking out above the top of Palladium. Brick will be better, but not great. It *could* have looked like cohesive block along Blount, Davie, and Wilmington.

[carynative]

Agreed. Driving down Blount, the upper reaches of the deck certainly stick out as a sore thumb above the building. Maybe it won't be as noticeable once the building is completed.. Maybe.

[orulz]

The original developer for the parcel (forget whom) was going to build an 8-story building, but they couldn't make the numbers work or couldn't get enough reservations or something. The building was supposed to be done around the same time as Progress II, but nothing ever happened, so Progress found another developer who would build something there, even though it wasn't as nice as originally planned. There was some sort of incentive deal from the city (parking spaces, maybe?) so Council was frustrated at the decrease in scale and the lack of "traditional" ground floor retail space. Needless to say they approved it anyway.

[ChiefJoJo]

^ That's right. I was looking at buying my condo at the time this stuff was going on and I believe the previous developer could not get the prices down--just too expensive for the arket at that time. Remember, we are talking about 2-3 years ago before the RCC and Fay St were even started, and the DT buzz was very much in it's infancy. White Oak took over the project and has made it work, albeit at a smaller scale than originally planned.

This is why the density bonuses for affordable housing, appearances, proximity to transit, etc. need to be in place ASAP.

[carynative]

That's great news. Maybe we'll hear news of some new affordable housing for us common folk down here.

[JTsaysToYou]

You wanna know what would look actually halfway decent?

Some trees/plants on the top of the building or jsut shrubs, and then some ivy or something growing up a brick wall where the building downt meet up. It would give the apperaence of a rooftop garden and look pretty cool.

Just an idea.

[ChiefJoJo]

More photos of my evening tour:

NE corner

SE corner

[urbanvb]

nice photos. and according to the site only 17 units remain unsold. DT is really in high demand.

[Justin6882]

I wanna see a pic of that site before Progress I and Palladium were built.

[ncwebguy]

It is interesting that the late sun that hits the south end of Palladium plaza will go away once Site One goes up, and the north end gets little sun (in the fall/winter/early spring sun location) after about 3 or 4 pm. People will be living there more to be in the center of it all -- City Market, Fayetville Street, etc. and not to work on their tan.

The problem with this project seems to be that while the initial developer did cost analysis, they probably used Founder's Row as a comparable at a time when those units were hard to sell with asbestos. It would have been nice to have either a planning department and/or council that demanded a structure at least as tall as the PE II deck or a developer who could anticipate the demand for downtown housing.

White Oak built Park Devarux (SW corner of Hargett and Dawson), which might be why Palladium feels like a "stretched out" version of that building. It is a suburban condo project that just happens to be downtown near city hall and a city square. Despite being across the street from Nash Square, several stories of occupied condos, and Joe's Place on the Martin Street corner, Daswon Street feels cold and dead between Hargett and Martin.

The "first floor" starts half a story up and had ZERO curb appeal before the ground floor units were allowed to have street entrances. And it appears only three of those are going in as far as we know. More could be rennovated later, but the planning commission allowed yet another blank face to be added so close to the activity in Moore Square.

[Jones_]

It is interesting that the late sun that hits the south end of Palladium plaza will go away once Site One goes up, and the north end gets little sun (in the fall/winter/early spring sun location) after about 3 or 4 pm. People will be living there more to be in the center of it all -- City Market, Fayetville Street, etc. and not to work on their tan.

The problem with this project seems to be that while the initial developer did cost analysis, they probably used Founder's Row as a comparable at a time when those units were hard to sell with asbestos. It would have been nice to have either a planning department and/or council that demanded a structure at least as tall as the PE II deck or a developer who could anticipate the demand for downtown housing.

White Oak built Park Devarux (SW corner of Hargett and Dawson), which might be why Palladium feels like a "stretched out" version of that building. It is a suburban condo project that just happens to be downtown near city hall and a city square. Despite being across the street from Nash Square, several stories of occupied condos, and Joe's Place on the Martin Street corner, Daswon Street feels cold and dead between Hargett and Martin.

The "first floor" starts half a story up and had ZERO curb appeal before the ground floor units were allowed to have street entrances. And it appears only three of those are going in as far as we know. More could be rennovated later, but the planning commission allowed yet another blank face to be added so close to the activity in Moore Square.

[ncwebguy]

*No* Dawson on Morgan condo units are getting sidewalk access. There are three "retail condos", with one sold (The Borough).

In Palladium Plaza, owners of "first floor" units can choose to have sidewalk access. So far at least three such units exist. One could be the rumored Moonlight Pizza, one is a salon and/or real estate agency for downtown's favorite flipper, and the third is unknown.

I don't know if there are any covenants, but other first floor units *may* be converted to sidewalk-approchable units if these three have already started the trend.

[Jones_]

*No* Dawson on Morgan condo units are getting sidewalk access. There are three "retail condos", with one sold (The Borough).

In Palladium Plaza, owners of "first floor" units can choose to have sidewalk access. So far at least three such units exist. One could be the rumored Moonlight Pizza, one is a salon and/or real estate agency for downtown's favorite flipper, and the third is unknown.

I don't know if there are any covenants, but other first floor units *may* be converted to sidewalk-approchable units if these three have already started the trend.

[dmccall]

I wanna see a pic of that site before Progress I and Palladium were built.

[ncwebguy]

When will google update their satelite maps? It's not like they are hurting for cash...

Those pics are pre-PE II (not I, on F Street) construction, which makes them at least three or four years old, but not too much older, since the deck on McDowell and South is in place.

Google's pictures illustrate how much downtown has added in the last few years -- PE II, F Street, Paladium in that immediate area, the old CC and building on the SW corner of McDowell and Cabarrus are still standing, the new CC's land is still a parking lot, the Quorum and Paramount's land still has the old structures on it, etc.

[Justin6882]

I don't have one, but here it is on Google Maps. Looks like a pretty exciting piece of land we ruined with this development.

[Flash]

Surprisingly, I actually do have a picture of that location I took in Dec of 2001:

Heres Progress II under construction, Oct of 03:

However, the Wake county property search can do even better, from 1996:

and 99:

And, Yahoo maps beta is the first I've seen to have a post-Progress II aerial:

http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/#mvt=s&maxp...77596&mag=1

[dmccall]

Thanks so much, Flash! Gosh, that Yahoo image looks exactly like a SimCity screen shot.