No one can convince me they’re not a money laundering scheme posing as a development firm.
3 Likes
I had thought that Trammell Crow / High Street Residential were the actual developers and CityPlat was just the land owner? That was the only thing giving me hope that it would actually happen.
1 Like
I know nothing about the details of CityPlat. But there is a niche in the development world for middleman firms like they appear to be.
In the 80’s there was a firm known as Harlon that performed a similar function. They were responsible for many land assemblages (or at least contracts to purchase), rezonings/masterplans, and ultimately sales to the actual developers of those projects. Beautifully rendered plans but none of which they built themselves.
Members of that firm went on to found successful landscape architecture firms, head building firms, become super-brokers, one even serving as president of the homebuilders association. It was a talented bunch.
Point being sometimes an interim owner has to solve the problems that are scaring everyone else off and/or obtain the rezoning required for more financially stronger firms to step in and carry the project forward. Many of those such firms are just not going to go through the risky time-consuming zoning entitlement process. They want a project that is ready to go.
But the incentive for the middleman firm is the steep valuation curve that process delivers.
6 Likes
Hey give City Plat credit… they’ve built their fair share of parking lots around town!
4 Likes
We’ve all talked about CityPlat in the past, and it’s clear that they are only interested in the plats in the city. It’s right there in their name folks.
3 Likes
So it appears the “CityPlatPlot” is to buy a property, get it upzoned using a “planned” redevelopment proposal, do a small amount of demo/construction, sit on it for however long, remodel what was already there, and finally after all that sell it for a profit.
3 Likes
For purposes of being optimistic, CityPlat has done a good job up fitting the KMart site for new tenants. If they do the same here, it’ll inject some life into this corner. Legends is only open late at night and all of the activity is inward and not visible from the street. A new concept (or concepts) here that serve more purposes and increase daily foot traffic would be an improvement on a short term (or likely long term 
) basis.
18 Likes
For the purpose of building upon your optimism, it would certainly be better than plowing the site for a temporary gravel parking lot. 
9 Likes
Yes let’s hope if they’re not building a residential tower here they at least upfit the space for new tenants instead of a surface parking lot. Especially with a surface parking lot already across the street.
7 Likes
It would be nice if CityPlat could build upon its contacts and relationships from the old Kmart location they renovated and put in a nice little retail center for the neighborhood to augment Weaver Street on the next block.
3 Likes
2 Likes
The City just can’t get out of its own way. I hate it for Legends and the community as a whole. But hope they are able to finally get settled into their new home without any further delays.
8 Likes
FWIW I saw @JLambertMelton commented on their post to get in touch with them about this, and they seemed grateful for that. I hope the new City Council will be a faithful steward for further permitting reform.
4 Likes
Sometimes it is at least partially on the design consultants for not adequately addressing comments during previous review cycles and then blaming “the City” for the length of the next round of comments. Happens all the time.
Also linked to that is proper management of client expectations. Just like construction takes time so does permitting.
1 Like
I’d agree if this kind of thing wasn’t so damn common. Every restaurant/serving busienss I see that goes up has said the entire permitting process is a complete and total nightmare.
2 Likes
Yet somehow the trash bars all over Glenwood seem to open quickly like mushrooms in the forest after a storm.
5 Likes
I think local businesses that try to do things themselves often find it very challenging, likely in part b/c it isn’t what they are in the business of doing and they have never done it before. In my experience, developers who do projects across a variety of markets indicate that Raleigh’s process isn’t bad relative to other places.
I will also note that I have heard directly from a number of government employees that some of the delays in recent years are due to staffing shortages. They just don’t have enough people. And they can’t really hire more people without an increase in budget, which would likely come from higher taxes, which people generally don’t want.
I don’t want to sound indifferent to the challenges or pretend like it is an easy, super-efficient process, but I do take some of the complaints with a grain of salt. Undoubtedly, it could be better, but you also have to be realistic about constraints.
4 Likes
They could increase the fees for doing the work, so it would only affect development stakeholders and not the public. I would bet most developers would be happy to pay more to get stuff moving faster, resulting in less inflation costs from delays.
4 Likes
My wife is a project coordinator for a local GC firm and their biggest delays are with the permitting/inspections process, not materials or labor, but red tape. They’ve ventured outside of Raleigh to complete quick projects because of this. Speaking of doing it themselves, we added a small addition to our home and each inspection or permit would take a week to 10 days from the phone call and she has their personal numbers. By then your plumber or framer has moved onto another project which incurred another delay.
You nailed it right on the head, they’re understaffed. It is what it is. But it’s not due to our lack of tax collections. It’s not a priority for the city like overpaying for an affordable housing pipe dream.
2 Likes
Many years ago Raleigh was the first (and maybe only) jurisdiction to offer an express review option:
Mostly large projects with seasoned consultants that knew what they were doing.
Everyone in one room for a lengthy session sometimes scheduled after hours.
Whole lot of dollars per hour tab for the applicant. But time-certain as all plan sets were very complete and could be red-marked, signed, and sealed on the spot.
Re-submittal was rare and very expensive. Goal was to walk with an approved set of plans. Pros only.
4 Likes