Friday, May 29, 2015
Editor’s note – an earlier version of this post identified the new store on Wake Forest Road as a Benjamin Moore. It will be a Sherwin Williams.
Due to the holiday, it was a bit of a short week here on the Development Beat, so we’re going to toss in all the new building and renovation permits into today’s post.
Well “all the new building” permits is kind of misleading; there was only one, for a Sherwin Williams store on Wake Forest Road. The space was formerly occupied by Bali Hai Chinese Mongolian Grill, although their building was torn down in December of 2013.
The store will be located conveniently close to Capital Cash and Pawn, for all those times you need to sell off your jewelry to feed your room repainting addiction. The struggle is real.
James Borden / Raleigh Public Record
The site of the new Sherwin Williams
The new 3,924 square foot store will be owned by the Arden Group, who will be building out the location themselves at a cost of $900,000.
Although we’ve already written about hotels this week, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the extensive renovations set to take place at the Crabtree Marriott. IDC Construction received 15 permits on May 19 totaling $9,419,763 for various interior renovations and additions.
Also receiving multiple permits last week was the PNC Arena — although it was for work on a much smaller scale. Five permits totaling $50,000 were issued to Riley-Lewis General Contractors for work described as “Upgrading Existing Railings” phases 1-5. We’re sure those things can get pretty grimy and worn down, so visitors will likely appreciate, if not directly notice, this upgrade.
James Borden / Raleigh Public Record
The railings at the PNC Arena are getting an upgrade
The last project we’ll mention — because it happens to be the largest single renovation permit from last week — was an $896,351 job at the First Citizens located at 100 E. Tryon Road. Balfour Beatty Construction will be handling the work.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
We wrote recently about the high number of sales of apartment complexes in the region; basically, they’re good investment vehicles for large firms.
However, there’s another type of property that often houses a large number of people that can make for some good returns as well — there’s just not as many of them in the area.
We’re talking, of course, about hotels. Three of them have been sold this past month, although since one of them was in Cary we’re not entirely sure it counts.
On May 12, the Sun Suites Extended Stay Hotel located conveniently behind the Food Lion at 3215 Capital Boulevard, was purchased for $6.9 million by Starwood Capital out of Greenwich, Connecticut. Interestingly enough, this is the same company that purchased the Mission Capital Crossing Apartments for $25 million in the beginning of May.
James Borden / Raleigh Public Record
This hotel was just sold to a Connecticut developer
The Westmont Hotel Group out of Houston, Texas was behind the other two recent purchases — both Red Roof Inns. The Raleigh location, at 1813 South Saunders Street, was purchased for $5.26 million, while the Cary one, located at 1802 Walnut Street, was purchased for the relative bargain of $3.6 million.
Wake County
The Red Roof Inn on Saunders
According to their website, Westmont currently owns 500 hotels across three continents. They partner with chains including the InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton, Starwood, Wyndham, Radisson, Best Western and more. We’re sure they’ll do good by these Red Roof Inns. At the very least, they’ll always remember to leave a light on for you.
Oh wait, that was Motel 6. Whatever. One of the other brands Westmont partners with is Accor, which owns Motel 6. Check and mate.
Motel 6, owned by Accor
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Today on the Development Beat, we’re going to take a look at a pair of rezoning cases — one that will allow a health care provider to sell off some property, and another that will likely lead to a new office building.
Case Z-18-15, filed May 14, concerns a piece of property off New Bern Avenue near the Wake Tech Health Sciences Campus.
Bing Maps
Alliance Medical Ministry hopes to rezone this parcel of land, highlighted in red, in order to sell it
By rezoning the land from Office & Industrial to Office Mixed Use, owner Alliance Medical Ministry will be able to sell its gymnasium building, as current zoning restrictions prohibit church or recreational uses; although this is how the building is currently being used.
The ministry held a public information session on the rezoning on April 20, and minutes show that around eight people turned out. Some expressed concern about the land being used for group housing; however, the zoning application lists among the many prohibited uses of the property “multiunit living, group living, boardinghouse, dormitory, fraternity, sorority” and so on.
It doesn’t seem as if the ministry should have too much trouble getting this approved, and it’s likely it won’t affect the neighbors in a negative way. Win win!
Case Z-19-15 is a little more mysterious. The property in question is located on TW Alexander Drive, right near the WakeMed Brier Creek Healthplex.
The application itself contains few specific details; it appears to call for either office or a mix of office and residential use. At one point, it notes that the maximum development intensities shall be “201,300 square feet of office land uses” or “any land use or mix of land uses permitted on the property so long as the overall development does not exceed 412 A.M. peak hour trips and 440 P.M. peak hour trips.”
Google Maps
The area highlighted in red could be rezoned to allow for a mix of office and residential use
It also states that “7-story building heights are consistent with Core areas” although nowhere does it delve into the specifics of the height/number of stories for a new development.
None of this matters much, apparently, to the surrounding neighbors, as the minutes from a meeting held by the developers on March 11 contain only the following:
“Summary of Issues: None. Developer representatives waited approximately 30 to 45 minute [sic] and no neighboring property owner attended.” Ouch. But hey, we’ve all been stood up at some point, so there’s no reason for Messrs. York, Lasley & Wilson to feel bad.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
It’s Teardown Tuesday here on the Development Beat, and today we’re going to be looking at the demolition of a city-owned apartment complex in South Raleigh.
First built in 1972, the two-story, 3,990 square foot garden-style apartment complex once housed 8 residential units.
Wake County
Not surprisingly, this building is scheduled for demolition
We’ll be honest — we couldn’t find a lot to say about this place. The city hasn’t filed any formal plans on what they want to do with the land, at least that we could find, and we do try to make these posts longer than 200 words, so we dug back into the book of deeds.
Specifically, the map section. Way back in the 1890s, the plot of land on which this apartment complex now sits/will have sat was known as “Watson’s Addition to the City of Raleigh.” This name still appears on current ownership records, where it’s referred to as “Lot 097, Watson Addition.”
Check out these two maps, drawn up, apparently, in 1896 or so:
The second one may contain the lot in question, but we honestly can’t make heads or tails of these things. The roads on there that still exist today, at least in name, don’t seem to match up with anything on these maps. A lot can change in 120 years, we suppose.
Speaking of the present day, the property was purchased by the city in November of 2013 for the low-low price of $160,000.
The city is now spending $29,999 to tear it down. Eastern Carolina Demolition will be handling the project.
Wake County
The apartments in ah, happier days? Circa 1996
