North Hills / Midtown area developments

[RALNATIVE]

18 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Today at Midtown at North Hills and it appears the 20 story office tower is starting.  They were doing soiling testing or starting the footers.  this is the spot where the Tower 4 will rise.   (like the astroturf yard by Chuys that grass looking really real)   As I have said before this is the most dense mixed use project in any suburban area from DC to Atlanta.  There is nothing this densely developed in Charlotte outside of Uptown and the immediate area. 

Nice photos. FYI, that site will be two joined towers called the Walter. One 32 stories and the other 20 stories.

https://visitnorthhills.com/directory/walter/

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by RALNATIVE

[Trent Y]

Excellent pictures

[KJHburg]

20 story office tower 4 may have a huge anchor tenant according to this report.   This is great news the quicker it fills up the quicker another building will start.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/10/16/kane-close-to-tenant-deal-for-newest-north-hills.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2018-10-16&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1539715369&j=84434081

[RALNATIVE]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

20 story office tower 4 may have a huge anchor tenant according to this report.   This is great news the quicker it fills up the quicker another building will start.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/10/16/kane-close-to-tenant-deal-for-newest-north-hills.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2018-10-16&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1539715369&j=84434081

The article also says that occupancy at NH is close to 100% and office space is in high demand, which is why Kane decided to build on spec.

[ctl]

Kane is taking some risk, but only the insiders know how much risk. Perhaps it's low. And all developers take a degree of risk. It's possible he could overextend himself if the economy goes to rot very fast, as it did in 2008-09, but he's a big boy and not inexperienced in what he does.  

[RALNATIVE]

2 hours ago, ctl said:

Kane is taking some risk, but only the insiders know how much risk. Perhaps it's low. And all developers take a degree of risk. It's possible he could overextend himself if the economy goes to rot very fast, as it did in 2008-09, but he's a big boy and not inexperienced in what he does.  

Very true. It seems that he's a very calculated risk taker, but so far it's paid off handsomely for him. I've got to think that the fact that he has purchased more land in the Warehouse District, is planning a phase II for Sleepy Hollow and is aggressively moving forward with development at NHE all at the same time, he has done the necessary feasibility planning and the results point to long term growing demand in these areas.

[orulz]

I am neither a real estate nor financial analyst, but from my completely naive, highly speculative point of view... if his business practices are what I suspect, the risk to him is practically zero. Even if the economy turns down for a few years, this is still a high growth area. So, as long as you have enough reserves to weather a downturn, zero risk. And I think that his performance through the Great Recession shows that he likes to keep enough reserves.

His reputation of being able to execute does mean something, for sure, but there's probably more to it than that. Recall if you will that he (and basically nobody else in town) kept building right on through the Great Recession. You can't do that on reputation alone - you need cash on hand. So to me, that says that he favors an approach that keeps more (relatively) liquid capital in reserve. He has also been selling off some components of NHE (especially residential) to varios REITs as he completes them, re-captializing and realizing some profit from each transaction, which plenty of developers do, but nonetheless it contributes to his reserves.

Again, I don't really know what I'm talking about so I could be completely wrong here.

[Green_man]

Sorry I'm late to this, but who decided it was a good idea for the behemoth parking deck of Park Central to overhang the sidewalk and basically have zero setback from the street?  There's three retail spaces under there that are essentially dungeons - especially when a building goes up in the parking lot.  This wouldn't be allowed anywhere else in the city - why here?  And no screening required of the parking deck facade??

[jtmonk]

This probably isn't public right of way, that's why they could do it here and not anywhere else in the City without obtaining a variance or approval. 

[KJHburg]

^^Correct all these internal streets are private roads pretty sure so they can do what they want.  

[Green_man]

5 hours ago, jtmonk said:

This probably isn't public right of way, that's why they could do it here and not anywhere else in the City without obtaining a variance or approval. 

 

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

^^Correct all these internal streets are private roads pretty sure so they can do what they want.  

Yea, I kinda assumed that was the reason.  Still seems like terrible design and terrible practice anyway.

[ctl]

Orulz is right, but I would point out that in the past Kane has had contracts in hand on at least some of the SF before he built. This time he doesn't... at least, not that he's disclosed. He could be self-financing construction 100% but more likely part of the money is coming from elsewhere.  

[KJHburg]

If I recall correctly he Kane has already sold  some of the apartments in this part of the Midtown at North Hills.  KBS their financial partner is well funded and is from Newport Beach CA   https://kbs.com/   They can indeed go on spec but they also have 3 office towers at North Hills at full occupancy basically and plenty of interest as that Business Journal noted they may already have a huge anchor tenant for their latest tower.  

They are the premier developer in Raleigh in my opinion by far.  

[KJHburg]

On 10/16/2018 at 2:47 PM, KJHburg said:

20 story office tower 4 may have a huge anchor tenant according to this report.   This is great news the quicker it fills up the quicker another building will start.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/10/16/kane-close-to-tenant-deal-for-newest-north-hills.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2018-10-16&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1539715369&j=84434081

Here is the follow up and yes they do have a 61,000 sq ft anchor tenant for this building.   Insurance company already in the market but moving to North Hills

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/10/24/its-official-kane-inks-first-north-hills-tower-4.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2018-10-24&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1540424269&j=84613111

[Green_man]

Cardinal Retirement Community Phase 2.  18 story, 240' building. 192 units.

[plus2]

3 hours ago, Green_man said:

Cardinal Retirement Community Phase 2.  18 story, 240' building. 192 units.

 

 

Can we call it Capital Towers 2?

[Jones_]

3 hours ago, plus2 said:

Can we call it Capital Towers 2?

Fire there today BTW.  Edit: Sorry, that was Glenwood Towers. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Jones_

[orulz]

Somebody over on DTRaleigh was talking about rumors of a First Citizens tower and mixed use district over by North Hills. No specifics though. Given that they own quite a bit of land and have some pretty big offices up there it would make sense but it was the first I've heard of such. Anybody heard of this before?

[RALNATIVE]

1 hour ago, orulz said:

Somebody over on DTRaleigh was talking about rumors of a First Citizens tower and mixed use district over by North Hills. No specifics though. Given that they own quite a bit of land and have some pretty big offices up there it would make sense but it was the first I've heard of such. Anybody heard of this before?

I wonder if First Citizens is planning to be the main tenant or at least lease space in the Walter tower? That may explain why Kane is not wasting time getting this project off the ground.

 

[Merthecat]

9 hours ago, RALNATIVE said:

I wonder if First Citizens is planning to be the main tenant or at least lease space in the Walter tower? That may explain why Kane is not wasting time getting this project off the ground.

 

I believe the Walter is only hotel and residential, and I was under the impression that it was starting construction separately from the office tower.  But I might be wrong.  Can anyone clarify this?

[Trent Y]

5 hours ago, Merthecat said:

I believe the Walter is only hotel and residential, and I was under the impression that it was starting construction separately from the office tower.  But I might be wrong.  Can anyone clarify this?

That's how I understand it. The "tower 4" and Walter tower are connected by the parking deck but are being built on separate but similiar timelines. The tower 4 construction has technically already begun and the Walter tower is supposedly starting this fall. But who knows when exactly since it's already almost November. The Walter is also only residential and hotel.

 

I have also heard rumors of First Citizens building a 40 story tower in North Hills but I have no idea how legitimate those rumors are or if it was just an idea being kicked around. I could definitely see it happening though.

[Jones_]

The last I knew anything about a First Citizens plan was back when they built that little round branch office and were going to build a slightly taller arc shaped building around the round one. That obviously never happened and I want to say that plan dated to the mid 90's. (around the time of the robotic uprising....)

[ctl]

Yes, I think the original site plan for the "round branch" (4400 Six Forks) built in 2001 did include a tower on that tract. But in 2005 FCB decided to purchase the 4300 building and renovate it instead. 4300 had been the HQ for BTI (remember "BTI Center for the Performing Arts"?) and I think it had First Union Mortgage offices before that. Don't know who the building's original occupant was in 1969.

Edited October 27, 2018 by ctl

[Jones_]

3 hours ago, ctl said:

Yes, I think the original site plan for the "round branch" (4400 Six Forks) built in 2001 did include a tower on that tract. But in 2005 FCB decided to purchase the 4300 building and renovate it instead. 4300 had been the HQ for BTI (remember "BTI Center for the Performing Arts"?) and I think it had First Union Mortgage offices before that. Don't know who the building's original occupant was in 1969.

Oh right...they skinned 4300 down to the girders and demolished a smaller, identical design/architecture, building either right next to it, or where the round branch went. Man, that was a prototypical 1960's stretch from the belt line to Millbrook back then. 

[Merthecat]

On a trip to Trader Joe's, I saw that construction is underway at Midtown East, the site of the Wegmans shopping centre.  It's still a long way from completion, though, and the only major progress that could be seen was the parking deck.

 

EDIT:  Also, does anyone know what is going on with Hodges Road where it ends in the Hanna Imports parking lot?  The road is closed after entering the lot, and it looks like a trail has been cleared behind it, perhaps for a road extension.  I don't see anything about it on the City's website.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Merthecat