You are absolutely correct. Site will sit vacant for another 5 years for endless studies. True story
Combined, they reckon the properties are worth $43 million. Old Rex is more valuable, could be office space, but with the hospital building dating from the 1930s it is probably a tear down for a project like Budleigh East - mix of apartment/condos/town-homes/sfhs and maybe some retail. Tear down price of $30m.
DMV is a smaller property and will have to come down because of the asbestos and such, tear down sale price of $13m.
Both cannot be sold until all the employees are gone - some 300 at old Rex, and 100 or so at old DMV.
Look for N&O sales, I think I got it for $12 a year on a black friday sale a couple years back. The subscription rolls now but only my wife is allowed to look in our check book. She always says its about operational security or something.
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I would hope the Old Rex building could be renovated and reused… it’s nearly 100 years old and probably the oldest remaining healthcare facility building in the city, that’s history. Could definitely be repurposed for condos/apartments or even a boutique hotel with new-build apartments/homes around it.
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The Old Rex lot is so well located it should justify some really attractive, high-quality architecture/fit-and-finish.
In that neighborhood it’ll be pretty conservative (which is more than fine by me) so I’m thinking The Wade writ large.
EDIT: And as said above saving even a piece of the hospital would be ideal if possible.
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Uhoh… sounds like Coker Towers 2.0 (I followed this closely back in the day b/c I lived in Cameron Village)
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see this property redeveloped into something awesome, but the neighborhood around it has deep pockets to fight the property being “over developed”.
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Hah, I meant large in a square acreage sense, I have no illusions we’re getting meaningful height here.
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what? You clearly have no clue how real estate development works. Nobody will pay $25-$30MM for a parcel of land & put up a strip mall in that corridor. A) You still have to gain approvals from the City, especially if rezoning is required. B) Highest & best is what developers financial goals are with developments.
Not to mention this is NOT a ‘public asset’ of Raleigh. Its a public asset for the State of North Carolina
Didn’t say it was the City’s. And the old Kroger site is a prime example of how naive it is to think private always means highest and best use.
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They didn’t pay $40 Million for the Kroger site. Also, are you aware of the demand in this market for life sciences space? Highest & Best is very applicable……
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There’s more than one definition of “highest and best use”
is there a caped CAC crusader swoops in?
what if a grocer was placed within a storied mixed use plan? providing the delivery trucks could get in and wouldn’t cause a noise issue.
The one thing I’ve not seen in the discussion about the DMV site is the repercussion of having a real job generation center on this property.
Historically, the original state fairground was near there. Then, there was the hospital for the state militia which evolved into the Old Soldier’s Home. This was later replaced by the current DMV structure.
Over time, the east side plantations were replaced by the freedman’s villages, and now there is the present housing stock.
So, if (and this is a big if) the DMV site is repurposed as another employment center, like a life sciences tech hub. What’s to keep it contained on that super block, and not morph out to swallow up the neighboring residential mass? Nothing like success begetting success.
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Zoning would prevent that, right? Much harder to completely rezone a neighborhood’s use than just add stories or flow in some light mixed use plots.
Oops. This got popped into the wrong discussion.
Paywall for this article is down, at least for me.
https://amp.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article271084552.html
Not a ton of useful info. There are still employees in the dmv building and no timeline for the sale.
I thought it interesting the legislature ordered it for sale but without a timeline. I am always impressed by how much land in this area is unused, I mean on the new bern corridor around Tarboro and new bern.
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The big thing is that the DMV is a virtual, empty island in the midst of a solid, low-density residential zone. Through bureaucratic munificence, a job site was created in the void after the Confederate Soldier’s Home closed in 1938.
Languishing after abandonment in 1948, the property was upfitted when the DMV was built in 1970. By placing it up for sale, the State has seemingly thumbed its nose to the surrounding residents.
Granted, it’s not the state’s job to help out Raleigh. But, there doesn’t seem to be any agency stepping in to shepherd this process through to the next iteration of the property. (If it has, I apologize. I’m just sad to see this play out after having worked in SE Raleigh for 12 years.)
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I’m also reminded of the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, looking like a beached whale washed onto the shore.
Is this what the DMV site will evolve into?
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I highly doubt that is going to happen, this lot will most likely be rezoned to TOD, if it hasn’t already been rezoned. Once the BRT project is underway, a few bids will probably come in.
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It’d be nice though.
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