Really close to the MST if you’re a trail runner or something. I mean, I can’t go out with an 8 month old baby anyway…may as well set up a compound by the Lake…
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Quarantine party at Mark’s house! 
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Wow, that’s beautiful! Got that 80’s contemporary vibe going!
We’re building a house on Birch Falls right across Possum Track right now.
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Currently growing out a Burt Reynolds just in case
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So I was perusing the web today out of boredom and took another look at The Lynde website and noticed a couple of things: 1) the prices seem to be missing from the plans now (ahem…overpriced) and 2) only two are shown as sold.
Given the virus and the current economics, I am not giving this one much chance of actually getting out of the ground. I can’t say that I’m disappointed though because I think that it’s not a worthy project for downtown, that site, and certainly not at that price point. I’m sure that this post will receive lots of thumbs down, but I am happy to expand on why I think the project is bad. Let’s just see what happens.
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No thumbs down here. The price per square foot they had for wood framed construction was a stretch at best.
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At this point we’ve had the dirt pit for so long I’m down to wait further if we can get a revised project that includes ground-floor retail!!! That area South Street could absolutely be a thriving live-work-play neighborhood.
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It’s actually better (grassy) now. It’s more palatable if it’s going to sit.
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That’s an excellent point and just adds to the reasons why I won’t be sad to see it not happen. While the project is adding residents to the neighborhood, the form of the project with its wood construction, lack of addressing the street in any meaningful way, and the surface lot parking is enough reason to be disappointed, and that’s not to mention the really tight floor plans that are often filled with practically unusable tiny rooms. I might be able to buy (figuratively) all of that if the product was half its price and provided real opportunity for young first time buyers, but it clearly isn’t intended for them.
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Imagine if there’d been no pandemic-induced slowdown, and they had moved forward with construction on this project as intended. Because it’s relatively cheap construction and lacks community awareness, but still probably would have had enough buyers to start construction, it could have led other developers to reassess what the market would handle in terms of pricing and quality, and that could have had worse impacts on future development and housing costs than the pandemic has and will.
I grew up in Florida in the 80s and 90s and I saw how when growth (and hence development) continues nonstop for long enough the incentives to developers end up divorced from reality, and the entire region suffers, even if it continues to grow. Maybe we should be thankful for this pause, as unfortunate as the reason for it is.
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We considered this project because of the location. But at the end of the day just could not justify the price per square foot. The layouts for the rooms were just too small. Wood construction was not what we wanted for a multi family building. I do think there is (will be) demand for condos in the downtown area. Hopefully developers can reassess and find a way to move forward that is in line with the market and the community needs.
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We had the same thoughts and concerns. They missed the mark.
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I have been on this particular soapbox for quite some time. I was as well for that failed project that was going to out by Wake Med.
I’d invite everyone to go grab their tape measures and go into their existing bedrooms and living rooms and measure out some of these really small dimensions in many of their plans.
To be sure, one can buy a small amount of tiny streamlined furniture and make it work, but that’s not how people buying $500/ft2 condos actually live their lives.
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I love the idea of micro units with less or no “luxury” finishes to keep the $/sqf down along BRT routes. The Longview Condos were headed in the right direction but still priced too high. They were still geared towards luxury, not affordable.
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I agree. If you are going to do a micro unit, do it correctly & price it accordingly. If you are truly going for the micro-unit community, then you have to implement the sort of shared resources that are often associated with such communities. Longview used micro-unit sizing while billing it as a standard condo community.
Also, if you are going to have super small spaces, you have to be very careful to make sure that the spaces are hyper-usable, and placement of doors, traffic patterns and wall space becomes very important. Not all 10x10 spaces are created equally. There are a lot of shitty residential designers out there. I’ve seen more than my fair share of bedrooms with no wall to place a bed, and small cut-up living rooms with so many traffic patterns, doors, and adjacent open plan space uses that they were nearly impossible to furnish in a way that most people use them.
Many moons ago, I was a NYE party in a new condo in South Beach. This was a 1.3M condo at the time and hyper high end. The finishes in the condo were spot on but the kitchen didn’t have a single drawer in it. It was only door cabinets. I asked the owner where they put their cutlery because I was helping set up the party, and was directed to the top drawer of the master bedroom dresser.
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I’d guess they had to pivot on the plans for this property after running into significant environmental issues (and costs) before they even started. They’re probably doing what they can to still make it a worthwhile investment, but it doesn’t make practical sense for buyers.
I’m curious what your thoughts are on the micro-units popping up around downtown Durham. I’ve been keeping an eye out as a possible investment (too small for my wife and I to live in personally) and they seem to be doing really well. City Port’s studios just sold out last week but were 404-411 sf and priced between 160k and 190k depending on the floor/orientation, without a parking spot. Parking spots added 30k to those prices. Plans & Pricing - City Port Durham
They just started construction on another condo project that is going to offer many more sub-200k studios. There seems to be high demand in this market, and I’m curious why Raleigh isn’t following suit.
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Raleigh has never been a trend setting city. It prefers to let others (Durham/Charlotte) try things out first and see how it works out. Then if Raleigh decides to do it too, it costs twice as much (transit) and has a ton of redtape to fight through. #KeepRaleighBoring
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We set some trends this past weekend regarding statues and renaming buildings!
I’ll agree with you that the public sector and real estate development world are more conservative in Raleigh, but the small business community is pretty dang inventive
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I think that, if you are going to go really small, thoughtfully designed studios like those are a much better option. Also, if you are going to go for $400/ft + pricing, then keeping it under 200K will create your market for you. Clearly by foregoing parking, you can significantly reduce the cost per foot. I think that’s a great idea. Those plans are also much much better in terms of how people can actually use space. I wonder what their strategy is if the parking spaces remain unsold? Also, do we know the construction type of the building?
On the downside of that project, I am not sure that I’d invest in a 3 bedroom there with well over half of the units being studios and one bedrooms. To me those feel out of place and none of them are on the top floor of the building. That’s a head scratcher of a decision. That said, the 3 bedroom is a nice livable plan.
Lastly, I wouldn’t personally buy a condo in a new building without a terrace/balcony, or some sort of personal outdoor space, but that’s just me.
What I’d like to see is a building with all small studios and terrific common area resources like a full kitchen, game room, event room, etc. for residents to share. This way residents can socialize in those spaces and host larger gatherings that they can’t do in their units. Sadly, at $400-$500 a foot already, it seems as though the developers have driven the market to where they don’t need to offer those things to make a killing. The baseline seems to be the rooftop terrace these days. Give them one of those and call it a day.
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