Martin Street Luxury Duplex has picked up steam in the past few days. Windows were being delivered this morning. Based on the recent uptick in construction pace I would assume material prices have corrected to some degree.
In case anyone gets paywalled from that article, the map shows existing development as of 2001 (gray) vs places that got newly built from 2001 to 2019 (purple). It doesn’t just show houses, shops, and offices (though that’s obviously what we have tons of around here), but it also includes factories, mines/quarries, and power plants.
One important thing to notice: downtown Raleigh doesn't show up in this map. For good reason.
It’s interesting how you can see western and northeastern Wake County’s sprawliness -and, more importantly, how a lot of new development in Raleigh doesn’t show up on this map because we’re recycling land that was already developed. It really goes to show just how density can still get you cool, new opportunities.
Plus, we’re doing quite a bit to protect tons of green, natural spaces like Umstead Park and Orange County’s rural buffer, as well as water sources like Falls and Jordan lakes and southern Raleigh. We’re much less likely to face drought issues like California or floods like Miami, and we can keep our regional climate that way as long as we’re not reckless with how we use the land around us. I think this map does a good job at showing us just how well we’ve been doing at that -and how we can keep things that way.
Well, for one, the narrative of the article wouldn’t be bolstered by showing anything happening in city centers. Conveniently DT Raleigh and Durham are nothing by names and white space.
That said, west Cary, oh my! I have a co-worker out there and it’s a giant shit show of McMansions and strip development.
Wow, this is a really interesting map. We’re doing a much better job of keeping development hemmed in compared to other southern metros (looking at you, Atlanta).
That is not attractive - but in line with some of the other odd houses along Maywood. How is this area not limited to multi-family homes/apartments/affordable housing developments (assuming there is transportation for people that can’t afford cars - I leave that to all the well-informed bus experts on these boards). Being this close to DTR seems like exactly where you’d want that sort of density versus SFH.
I know most here don’t want to hear this part, but go 15 miles east and you can get that for less than half the cost! Until inner city prices equalize with the suburbs our problems will never get better. I’d love to live in the city but not at these prices.
True enough, but I come in with a real handicap in that regards. I grew up in the Fairmount/Rose Garden area, and even though the city has really expanded, I just can’t get my head around living outside the beltline, lol. I might as well live in PIttsboro as Wendell! We’ve got great friends in Pittsboro, so its might be an option. At this point, with the huge costs differences, I expect we will be staying right here in east Alabama where you can get a house for $70 a sq ft.
Wendell is way better than Pittsboro lol in a couple of years when built out, I won’t have to drive to anything, unless I want to go downtown Raleigh which is still just 15 min. Which even for a lot of places ITB, can’t say.
If we truly want to tackle sprawl, pricing is going to have to be addressed.
Thankfully with Raleigh, we don’t have many of the other issues pushing people out of cities (looking at you Atlanta) such as insane amounts of traffic, crime and crappy schools that are pushing people 50 or more miles out of Downtown. Here it seems to be mostly an issue of price.
Another thing we have going here, is the sheer amount of mega developments are done so much smarter than ATL and other cities I’ve seen. When we look at Chatham Park, Wendell Falls, Sweetwater etc all the mega suburb developments, they are all designed in a way that unless you NEED to go downtown, you honestly don’t have to leave the neighborhood. Things aren’t done like that in GA, they just plop the mega subdivision and call it a day. We have so many neighborhood town centers, trails, walkable areas, and actual connectivity (something else not done in other suburbs I analyze) which really sets us apart and sets our future up much better.
With all that said, there is so so so much more opportunity for density ITP. It just has to be worth it price wise.
DTR to Wendell is like 30 minutes which is enough for me to never go to Durham. I’ll pay the premium to live downtown, I don’t need 4,000 sf or an HOA up my ass.
Wendell Falls is closer than DT Wendell by a good 10 mins since it’s directly off the interstate but good and fair point about HOA lol
Also my house (and every house in WF for that matter) and most in the burbs are much smaller than 4000 sq ft. There’s a lot of false assumptions about the suburbs in general.
Again, I’d love to live downtown but me personally (and most others) are just unwilling to pay double for the same house. Especially when I can live the walkable lifestyle that a lot even ITB can’t if that makes sense!
Again to my main point though, if we ever want to get the general population to even consider in town living, things have to even out price wise at least some.
To think that when I first went under contract for a Cotton Mill condo back in 94, many people thought it was foolish. Boy have times changed! I remember looking at 1000+/- ft2 homes along Glascock and in Roanoke Park in the late 80s for $50-60K and wondering how I’d afford buying one and having enough money left for appliances.
