I have only been to Raleigh Iron Works on weekdays and it was quieter a few people here and there. Today it was packed with people. Glad to see it as it a great project. They need to begin the next phases.
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The private equity equivalent of:
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I think the original owner divested from Jaguar Bolera not too long after opening it IIRC. Still very odd, but nothing with Jaguar Bolera ever felt sustainable to me. That TBJ article about how things were being run at Jaguar Bolera for months leading up to their closure was wild.
I went to Punch Bowl in Arlington, VA a number of years ago. Thought that Jaguar Bolera felt like the exact same concept, but like if all the “decor” had been bought en masse from Amazon. Not even sure if they engaged in any kind of promotion after they opened. Will be interested to see how this one fares.
The unfortunate thing about this change is that I bet they’ll replace all the interior decor to match the Punchbowl vibe, which as you said is generic and boring - whereas Jaguar Bolera actually had cool, more unique design. If they can blend the vibe/aesthetic of Jaguar but with less expensive (read: insane) prices, they’d be so much better off.
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Very amusing from a leasing perspective.
Reminds me of this: https://youtu.be/hFmCyZ6epB8?si=Ukn5BWQp2Zzz0ZVo
It’s definitely still a construction site right now, but a lot of people have moved in and I believe this will be really nice when complete.
For reference for people that don’t get around here, the condo building at the bottom in yellow is nearing completion. The brownstones to the right of that are just starting. Most of the single family homes are done now, so it’s just the apartments on Oberlin (which this concept actually shows as Hayes Barton Place, seems those are reversed), and the retail spots.
I think one of the concepts I saw had some housing above the retail spots but I’m unable to locate that and they’ve done a very good job of scrubbing their websites of old concepts. So perhaps don’t hold your breath.
Either way some more retail here is going to be great. Most concepts do well around here with the exception of Mandolin, but they honestly seemed to do fine business.
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This is the “Brightbury”. Website shows 13 of the 18 units sold.
The “City Homes” are the brownstones. 2 of the 8 sold so far.
The corner buildings say coming soon.
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While I welcome the density, and certainly prefer Raleigh to grow inward and more densely than forever expand into suburbia, I have reservations regarding this redevelopment vis-a-vis some of the intended benefits of missing middle housing. Nothing here really falls into what might be considered affordable to the vast majority of people, and the context of the project is far from being considered terribly walkable. I don’t imagine that this fully occupied development is going to fill the sidewalks around it with bustling activity.
We need more of these types of developments envisioned adjacent to pedestrian oriented retail, services, and commercial corridors, not just carved into upscale low density residential districts.
Ironically, this development actually replaces a much more modest “missing middle” neighborhood with ultra luxury condos, townhouses, and SFHs costing millions each.
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They’re stunning, but they’re $3.5m+ townhomes so I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Thanks for finding those plans for the retail buildings. I wish we had some sort of order of operations to what is coming next, seems as soon as one thing is 75% done they move to the next.
Would assume that the corner retail/condo buildings would start when the City Homes near completion and then the apartment might be the last push afterwards.
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“missing middle” refers to the building density type. not the price point.
I think it fits well here. And would also fit well in other urban-adjacent districts.
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The affordability aspect of “missing middle” is the whole reason why the idea exists. John has a very good point that shouldn’t be ignored. Households with enough money for $3MM homes are not struggling from the housing crisis.
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I actually asked AI about it and the response does refer to intended impacts around affordability and walkability.
I am not saying that this is inherently bad, I’m just saying that it could be more. The city should be looking for and greasing better location opportunities, or the city should be pairing developments like this with more substantial commercial development.
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I agree that’s the goal and an added benefit. But that’s just not the definition. Usually linked together but not always.
The city has done a pretty good job at making it easier to build MM housing. Developers are staring to bite from the cake that the City baked around the New Bern Corridor.
There are so many great examples of older and now more affordable MM housing. The city just needs to continue to make it easier for developers to build smaller MM Housing like this:
.
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Is there anything that the city can do to preserve the more affordable and existing missing middle we have in the city? I worry that these existing parcels will be sold and way more expensive units will replace them.
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It would be nice if there were an ordinance that stated that SFHs cannot replace multifamily housing but denser multi-family housing can. I believe Austin and other cities have an ordinance like that.
@JLambertMelton do you think something like this could be supported by Council and the Mayor or at least looked into by staff?
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Careful… LiVaBLe RaLeiGh will blow a gasket if this is proposed.
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