Southeast Raleigh

[RiverwoodCLT]

On 2/14/2018 at 11:31 AM, Scotchman said:

I was thinking should be more densely developed.  Like 5-6 story, first floor or so for commercial/ office with apartment/condo over (would let the developers do their hideous wood frame over commercial deck buildings). Also could see a couple of maybe 10 story or maybe more office buildings on counters where the two building with fake towers are shown, with maybe an arched connection of upper floors over Wilmington Street. Kind of like (I think) Landmark at North Hills. Make it look like a true gateway into downtown.  Also use parking decks in place of surface parking to allow green courtyards in center of blocks for apartment/condo residents. I think it would make much more interesting space and provide enough residents to support restaurants and shops with out depending on people driving in.   Just my 2cents worth.

It is a way to waste good land by building too small.  It not like the island of Hawaii that has a volcano that is adding land now.  Vote in a city council that will zone for taller buildings.

[Green_man]

On 6/22/2018 at 8:21 PM, Jones_ said:

If anyone keeps up with the townhouse (townhouse style condos technically)  infill stuff, 10Arros Ph II has foundations going in. I am not totally sure if this phase is in fact the same style as Ph I as I never saw site plans for it...but nonetheless, denser, expensive, infill continues to be absorbed around the edges of downtown proper. 

Same group also submitted site plans for:

• 625 New Bern Ave for a 24 unit condo building.
• 901 E Edenton St for 5 unit townhome building

[Jones_]

2 hours ago, Green_man said:

Same group also submitted site plans for:

• 625 New Bern Ave for a 24 unit condo building.
• 901 E Edenton St for 5 unit townhome building

Ah thanks. 625 is the Disabled Veterans building. 901 is a vacant lot, next to one of very nicely rehabbed Victorian cottages off Idlewild. 

For those who don't frequent the area, streets with notable numbers of large new or extensively rehabbed homes in the last 24 months  include east Lenoir, Davie and Martin, Fort Alley, Bart, Tarboro, Pettigrew, and Battery. Essentially everything north and east of Roberts Park is being swept up and the Wynne/South elbow is 100% rehabbed or newly built, including a rehabbed house that appears to have been bought, and immediately a second rehab begun that is adding two stories to the rear. East from downtown to Swain is essentially 100% gentrified with home prices in that swath being upwards of 250-275 a sqft and stuff out near Tarboro cresting the 200-225 range. Not long ago lots were $20,000 out here and livable houses under $100,000. (under $100 a sqft, as was my house as recently as 2008)

Neither defending nor criticizing, but just keeping folks up on the area. 

 

[Jones_]

Greenman I think you mentioned a while back seeing a something related to 10 Arros phase II being 6 single lots/plats. Anyway, that's confirmed with the project website.

Two great prices to choose from. $750,000 or $815,000 with one of the higher priced ones sold already. 

I used to enjoy browsing homes for sale and imagining living in the various places I could afford. In the box roughly surrounded by St Mary's, Peace, Tarboro and MLK/Western I can afford perhaps 10% of the homes listed for sale even with the equity in my existing house within that box being liquid. In other words, while I could cough up a 20% down payment from equity and savings, my salary, growing at a modest 2-4% a year, isn't coming close to covering the mortgage on the remaining 80% at the levels prices have skyrocketed to. 10 years ago, 50% of the homes on MLS were within my reach in this box. Same job. State Government engineering supervisor with a staff of 5. 

A sizable number of people who live at these financial levels are preferring downtown settings, forcing everyone else to the the 'burbs. Non-walkable, non-mixed use, no transit etc. The big picture is getting out of control rather quickly. Tolerance for just a few more buses as our transit plan, tolerance for continual development of disconnected sub-divisions in the exurbs and no real policy for addressing affordable housing (maybe that policy is just build some transit to the affordable, farthest reaches of the region...different discussion), is creating a massively unsustainable situation. The next economic downturn will likely yield blight in places not accustomed to it. I mean, it's happening already....subdivisions on Perry Creek Road have houses with roofs falling apart and siding coming off. You'll have HOAs that end up like towns in eastern NC trying to cope with shrinking populations... they start out seizing homes that dues are not paid for (legal right of HOAs) and before you know it they have 20 such houses, no money to fix them and no buyers. 

So sure, downtown is in demand, and that might be fine on the surface....fine within this tiny little boundary we all focus on. But's its a symptomatic cog in a very unhappy and overheating machine with, weak, ungreased axels churning, everyone assuming we'll make it to Valhalla instead of the head gasket going out on the salt flats.