Nah you’re exactly right though. Most ppl on this forum probably don’t care because they’re already homeowners, but I think we’ve all noticed the shift even over the last 2-3 decades alone. When I was a kid, a middle class family bringing in $50-60k/year could afford a decent single family home. Now you can’t even get that out in the country smh. And I know someone will mention inflation, but the fact of the matter is that if wages kept up with inflation, that same average American family would be bringing in $150-180k/year right now. And we all know that ain’t happening.
6 Likes
That’s just a stunning number of units. What number of residents do we typically associate with each unit? I’d presume that the number is under 2 for apartments and a bit over 2 for each house. Do you know?
2 Likes
Yeah inflation alone def doesn’t explain the price differentials between back then and now. Unfortunately wages for the working / middle class really haven’t kept pace with inflation. Part of this is the disparity between the type of jobs / skills that are valued. Tech as a paradigm shift changed this in mass. The people who are on one side of that shift have benefited tremendously, the other side stagnated. Housing prices is a reflection of supply and demand as everyone on this board knows all too well. On one hand you can’t build them fast enough, on the other because there are still enough people that can afford the high prices so the prices remain high.
With AI another shift is coming and more jobs / wages will be disrupted. So the problem may get worse unfortunately for the ones on the wrong side of the shift or unable to adapt. Not sure how you solve that.
5 Likes
I don’t know anything other than “Housing unit vacancies and average persons per household were from the 2020 Census & American Community Survey”
1 Like
Berkadia’s 4Q pipeline report:
Downtown
Lease-up: 791
Under construction: 3218
ITB outside downtown
Lease-up: 395
Under construction: 1548
Cary & West Raleigh
Lease-up: 1294
Under construction: 5199
Wake County total
Lease-up: 9093
Under construction: 19,906
I’ve had some arguments with Chuck about housing in the past; Chuck’s lived experience has been in slow-growing, middle-income Brainerd, so sometimes his understanding of how markets work aren’t applicable to fast-growing, high-income places like Raleigh. He’s learned a lot from having Daniel Herriges on board, so I’m more excited about that half of the byline.
My mind is boggled by this: money buys things. “I don’t really need $5, I need a cup of coffee,” said nobody, ever.
There’s basically free federal money that will pay ~1/3 of the cost for subsidized housing construction. The problem with it is that it only pays for 1/3, and someone needs to come up with the rest, because cheap rents won’t pay those bills. But what if the city suddenly had $5.65M? That could be the city’s contribution for 1/3 of the cost, and the last 1/3 can be supported by rents (if it’s mixed-income), housing choice vouchers, or assorted subsidies (e.g., supportive housing, historic tax credits, various specialized federal programs, donated land, etc.). So $5.65M in cash can leverage $17M in total money to create maybe 85 affordable units off-site.
So instead of 308 market-rate units + 85 affordable units, they get… nothing, because city council members don’t understand that cash is gloriously fungible.
A better project team would’ve partnered with a subsidized-housing developer to offer the tower + the offsite units. But alas.
15 Likes
Yep and also I found out recently that it’s expensive to convert office space to apartment. So subsized housing for developers would be nice especially in areas here in DT or ITB that are zoned from 20 to 40 stories.
lol, right? The most charitable way one could interpret that statement is that she feels the city doesn’t have the time, resources, and expertise to actually make affordable housing happen, even if the funding is there (we still have a good chunk from the affordable housing bond, after all). And DHA is a hot mess.
Having developers incorporate affordable units into their projects instead of handing that money over to the city ensures that units are spread out geographically, in locations where the city can’t afford to acquire land, and it lessens the burden on the city to manage new projects/staff.
But, yes, it was a mind-boggling comment even if I don’t know what its context or intent was. Freeman is prone to those.
2 Likes
Wasn’t sure where to post this. I honestly don’t know how accurate this info is. But I know someone that works at one of the local landscape architecture firms. Him and I were talking yesterday. He’s claiming there’s people at his company working on plans for a condo building on the triangle lot next to the 400H building.
9 Likes
Was that the lot that was potentially going to be an outdoor dog park and bar at one point?
1 Like
Any idea on how large the condominium is planning on being? That’s a pretty interesting location and I’d potentially be interested.
1 Like
If it’s being run by CityPlat I wouldn’t get my hopes up
2 Likes
They need to stop buying property and worry about finishing their current projects first
1 Like
Yeah that’s the one.
I just did some digging. Looks like CityPlat & Modalia Capital are partnered on this one. Boo CityPlat. But on Modalia Capital’s website, they have a mention on 504 Hillsborough as an “activate” project, tho no real info other than the screenshot below. So this might potentially be legit. My friend said his coworkers were actively working on designing the project.
14 Likes
And after more digging. I realize Modalia Capital is the one that also holding the lots for that future shipping container park on Glenwood & the lot next to the Target by NC State. So maybe there’s not much hope. Let’s hope. Downtown could really use some more condos!
5 Likes
Since CityPlat is involved, we know what to expect. They will spend a lot of money on cool renderings and making a video to introduce the concept. There will probably be a news article or two hyping the project, and then they will never mention any of it again. In a few years, the cycle will start over and a new video will be made for a new concept that also won’t ever see the light of day.
2 Likes
Legitimately wondering if CityPlat is a money-laundering operation at this point
4 Likes
Here you go: https://cityplat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2510-Hillsborough-St-Downtown-Raleigh-2.pdf
There are rumblings…….seriously
2 Likes
I mean… I wasn’t even joking around, I’m seriously wondering that. They literally do nothing lol