South Park Neighborhood - Warehouses, Old Greyhound, and Cargill Site

andddd its a smoke shop lol

Not the worst thing in the world - will keep it occupied/“occupiable” while those condos down the block come online - maybe once residents start moving in it can flip to a bodega/coffee shop/deli/something more useful

It is to the developer, who gets 100% efficiency – every single square foot is sold, and the condo association doesn’t have to pay someone to vacuum those shared stairs. Even a walk-up is only ~95% efficient, and both are way better than the 80-85% efficiency in a two-stair, double-loaded elevator building.

There’s also no commercial elevator needed, and in the US those are absurdly expensive – for something that people may not use all that often. (I’m 40-something, live on the 5th floor of a high-rise, and use the stairs 90%+ of the time.)

I agree that 2-over-2s result in really large upper units, but hey, they’re popular with someone. In suburban DC, many of those have some kind of balcony so there’s usable outdoor space just outside.

2 Likes

@paytonc Would you say there are situations, like carrying groceries or on extremely hot days, when you prefer using the elevator instead of the stairs? How many of your neighbors on the 5th floor would you estimate use the elevator at least once a day?

1 Like

For most people, elevators are a nice-to-have, not a must-have, and if they cost nothing of course I’d prefer one. But they do cost something, so given the cost of a commercial elevator – and the FHA requirement (see #4) that any elevator access means all units need elevator access – I’m not putting them into my two multistory residential developments.

4 Likes

I live in a condo and am probably 50/50 between the stairs and elevator. One thing that I did when buying my condo 20 years ago was think about aging in place in the event that I stay in my condo well past retirement and into my later years. Not having elevators pretty much seals the deal for many retirees. Without an elevator, many can’t age in place. While this might not be the case for everyone, and in particular those who only have 1 flight of stairs to ascend, having to ascend multiple sets of stairs is going to be an obstacle/deal breaker for a lot of people.
Don’t get me wrong. I fall clearly in the camp of using one’s feet as I age, but I think it’s unrealistic to think that I am in the majority here.
If I ever did leave my one floor condo, I’d likely look at townhouses with 3 story+rooftop & an elevator. The problem then becomes $$$.

3 Likes

Pittsboro has you covered. See you soon.

2 Likes

You go ahead and wait. Have fun with that.

3 Likes

Cargill site recently sold for $12m. No announced plans, but the buyer wants to rezone and said the project will help fill the gap between downtown and DTS.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2024/12/02/former-cargill-raleigh-site-sold-development.html

18 Likes

I thought the city had plans for affordable housing at the Cargill site. Anyone know if that is a different lot, will be scrapped, or is a condition of the purchase?

2 Likes

It looks like they weren’t able to foot the bill and a private developer was. Either way this is good news but I do hope that designated affordable housing is included so that they don’t receive too much blowback from the community.

9 Likes

Thanks for the info! And yes, if the BRT zoning applies to this site, there is the requirement for affordable rates above a certain story threshold. Agreed, either way good for this area.

3 Likes

There really wasn’t any information regarding what kind of affordable housing would go up at this site. That left open the possibility of a bunch of single-family homes.

The quote in there saying they were looking to fill the gap between downtown and downtown south is huge to me. This could be a major win.

3 Likes

Well, they are applying for a rezoning anyway. For example, they could just rezone to 20 floors and build all 20 floors of market-rate units.

3 Likes

Bragg St Townhomes:

24 Likes

City Hike

These look nearly finished

19 Likes

Summit at Sawyer

I believe these are done done. Looks like some folks have moved in!

Toulon Place

Finishing up road work. Otherwise, from the exterior, these look finished to me.

19 Likes

South Heights

Everything in this neck of the woods seems to be nearing completion around the same time. These are no exception.

21 Likes

This “style” with such undersized white vinyl windows just looks so incredibly cheap :grimacing:

3 Likes

The South Heights projects have struggled to achieve even 30% sales and City Hike has only sold one of their 12 units. However, Stanley Martin’s nearby development has performed much better. It seems the appeal might lie in their larger units priced at under $220 per square foot.

Up on New Bern City Pointe hasn’t reached 50% sales either with 9 of their 20 units, but fully delivered in mid 2024.

3 Likes