That’s good stuff, thanks!
I’ve done some bush whacking down along those banks looking for signs of the old bridge or roadway but nothing yet. Only been on the west/south bank though. There is at least one homesite along the greenway right at Milburnie and a stone at the greenway gate with man made auger holes in it…I am guessing mill related since I seem to remember Bevers map showing one over here. Also where the CVS is now, a house of about 1920 vintage was demolished. It faced Milburnie (not NewBern) so may have been a last vestige of Boushell. Anyway, its an area i’ve been wanted to explore more but I seem to always be in the middle of a long run when coming through.
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@Mark Bushwhacking around the wakegov.com real estate site is also interesting. The deeds on some of the properties go back a ways; and others, not so much. To get a better picture of what is/was Boushell would require a trip to the county records and look at deed books further back than are available online. And, the City Directories, which can sometimes be quite helpful, go out to the edge of Raleigh only so far.
That being said, an interesting void did appear on the Raleigh imaps page nearby…
Look at how the property lines widen along the path of the NCRR just south of New Bern Avenue. To my eye, that looks like the spot where a station and house track could have been located. Like you, I’ve wanted to go rambling in the weeds to see if there are any traces of former structures.
But, I would also need to get the valuation maps which had been surveyed by the former Interstate Commerce Commission, to get a better picture of what railroad properties may have been there at the time. However, they are located in the National Archives. And, you have to pay ~$83.00 to have a particular item scanned from their collection, with only a select few agents who have approval to handle those records. I haven’t felt large enough yet, or curious enough, to pony up the bucks.
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Been thinking more about this project. Looks like Loha architects put together the master plan/ feasibility study and could be relatively shovel-ready. What if it was marketed as a co-op development and 37 homeowners acted as a group to be the ‘developer’. Eliminates the need for massive capital upfront, so they basically would just pay their portion of the land + site work + construction costs and no developer profit. And there would still be ~$500k left over for someone to act as an administer of the project and/or some construction contingency.
[rough estimates…]
| # | Type | SF | Bd/Ba | Market Rate | Co-op Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Flat (studio) | 325 | 1 / 1 | $85k | $80k |
| 8 | Flat | 520 | 1 / 1 | $145k | $105k |
| 10 | Loft | 780 | 1 / 1.5 | $195k | $155k |
| 2 | Townhouse A1 | 1265 | 2 / 1.5 | $305k | $285k |
| 6 | Townhouse A2 | 1325 | 2 / 1.5 | $350k | $295k |
| 2 | Townhouse B1 | 1520 | 2 / 2.5 | $370k | $325k |
| 6 | Townhouse B2 | 1560 | 2 / 2.5 | $425k | $350k |
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You think 37 people can act as a single developer? Try getting a group of actual developers to agree on construction design, financing, etc and see how easy it is. Apply that to 37 people who know little to nothing about real estate development…
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Yea I mean they would essentially have to defer all major decisions to the administrator(s). But that’s what they would sign up for at such a lower cost?
Yes, it’s been done successfully all over the country, and we have several local examples. There’s still hierarchy to the organization; i.e. it’s not like every single party has a hand in making every decision. Durham Central Cohousing was completed a few years ago (and won several AIA design awards), and Bull City Cohousing is under construction right now. A bit more about their set-up:
We are a self-developing community using the LLC as the legal structure under which this will happen. We have hired Christine Westfall, an experienced project manager who helped develop the Durham Central Park Cohousing Community in Durham, to server as our project manager to handle day-to-day development activities.
Why is being a self-developing community advantageous?
Under this structure we are able to avoid hiring a private developer, and therefore we save on development fees that would add substantially to the cost of the development. There is also no incentive to sell the units for more than their actual cost as there is when working with private developers. Therefore we anticipate offering units for sale at prices substantially below what is being asked in the downtown Durham market.
What will make self-developing this community possible?
Assembling at least ten households committed to purchasing units and joining and investing in the LLC and the Bull City Commons Cohousing Community will make this possible. Currently, 20 of 23 units are accounted for! Twenty committed households have invested in the LLC!
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I know these are estimates, but just wondering how you came to these conclusions for cost?
Just comparing condos from Bull City Commons Cohousing, a 690sf 1 bdrm cost 272k, and 1220sf condo cost 481k… not nearly as affordable as I’d hope.
Yea super rough… $130-145/sf construction cost… design seems somewhat modular pods and the moderate size should give some economy of scale savings. But maybe underestimating. Either way, seems like a decent spot and interesting this exact idea has been done before!
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It’s gotta be about the land costs. The only way to solve for that is to go tall. Spread the cost of the land among more units.
Probably true in many cases for Raleigh, but I don’t think it’s the case here. They bought the land for 290k… well below market rate.
Interesting. I may brave the homeless camp and go take a look. Just browsing around with google, I see what looks like a home site near a trestle. If you go back to map-view you can see the structure shadow over the square cleared spot…I guess somehow google thinks something was there, supported by the rocky stuff I see in satellite. The trestle doesn’t seem to have a creek under it going down to Crabtree Creek so maybe there is some road bed under there…a WPA trestle maybe? Who knows. Communities like these tended to have cemeteries too, such as both Macedonia and New Hope (removed for the US 1/401 project 25 years ago). The greenway council owns the whole tract now so bushwhacking should be ok. Edit: There is a creek under the trestle, but I’m still going to take a look since this is the spot old Milburnie/Tarboro Road would have have crossed.
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The upcoming Raleigh transit committee meeting’s agenda includes a resolution to combine the sidewalk improvement project for New Bern Av. with the BRT project along the same path.
If you’re like me, you may have kept thinking they’re the same thing (rather than two separate projects), so I guess that’ll no longer be a concern, soon.
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Looks like this project (625 New Bern Condos) is full steam ahead, I’m still surprised they decided to build all 18 units as 1 bedroom condos with a garage and roof top deck. Looking a Legacy Homes’ portfolio I can’t imagine any one of these selling for less than 400k. Given the push to build the first BRT line along New Bern we despeartly need the density along this street, but a select few will deem a 1 bedroom worth 400k+.
Here is an example of Legacy Homes work :
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Count me among those who think that 1 bedroom can work if it’s thoughtfully designed, has enough storage, and there’s a natural place to work from home. If so, this product could support a childless couple and give them a lifestyle that they want for an attainable price. I think that you’ll find enough buyers just by offering the rooftop terraces alone.
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I think there might be an error on the plans/applications:
Let’s compare the footprint on the plans with a similar development: The brownstones at Lenoir/West - turns out both are 16’ by 40’ footprint with a single car garage and roof top. Depending on configuration 2 or 3 bedrooms.
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That’s a very good point Niko.
These screenshots are from the plans themselve on Page 15 so they are kinda blurry. Shows 18 units total and only has 18 bedrooms total. I also provided another screenshot detailing the parking spaces for each bedroom which also list 18 rooms. But after looking at the plans you posted there is a good possibility these could also become 2-3 bedroom units
They are demolishing 8-10 very historic bedrooms for this weak project. A progressive city would have built 2-3 units in between the existing buildings, gotten the same number of bedrooms, retained organic affordable units and not tossed all that perfectly good material in the landfill. F-.
