AIA Residential Architecture Tour

On October 2^nd the Triangle chapter of the American Institute of Architecture hosted its 2^nd annual tour, which was fabulous! I thought I would share a short synopsis of what I saw.

Stevenson-Thrower House 210 E Forest Rd, Raleigh

My kids and I walk by this house almost every day on our way to school. I watched the construction from foundation to landscaping so I was super excited to get a chance to see the inside of the house. I was blown away! I loved the blend of colors and materials in the kitchen/dining room. As with most contemporary homes, tons of windows let in natural light, but this house takes it a step further by varying window shapes and styles, drawing the eye to different levels of the home. The master bedroom is oriented to give the feeling of a tree house with views of the wooded park across the street. The home blends well into the urban neighborhood feel of Cameron Park. Although most homes in Cameron Park are traditional, E. Forest Rd is creating its own contemporary enclave expanding the theme of urban living within an historic framework. 
 

Taylor House 816 Graham Street, Raleigh

Graham Street in Cameron Village, like E. Forest in Cameron Park, personifies the modernist trend in these historically traditional neighborhoods. There are several contemporary homes in the neighborhood as well as a number of renovated mid-century homes. The theme of this home is Green Building and Sustainable Design. The roof collects rainwater, the solar thermal panels collect sun to heat the home and the home’s water supply. The orientation of the home provides shade from the trees in summer and sun in the winter to provide natural heating and cooling elements. I loved how the matching ‘butterfly wing’ patios on the second story of the home overlook the neighborhood.

Davis Residence 3105 Janice Road, Raleigh

This home has a simple open floor plan encased in two story windows that span the entire south and east facing walls, giving the home owner a feeling of living among the trees. The home owner wanted to evoke the memory of summer camp cabins, the essence of which is evident in the exterior design of the home’s overhanging roof line and the quiet way the home sits on small stilts. Besides the obvious ‘wow’ factor of the home, I liked the smart use of a small space: lots hidden storage, the loft area for an office (keeping the clutter out of the main living area), ample guest room with bath tucked above the master, and small kitchen that doesn’t seem cramped due to the openness of the living/dining area beyond. The house feels like the perfect country retreat.

Raleigh's Creative Class at Risk

The theme for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance 2011 annual meeting was Breaking Ground with the Creative Class. Since then, a few events have also supported the theme, including the recent "Creating a Culture to Attract the Creative Class" event.

The good news? A Creative Class exists in Raleigh, particularly downtown. A few examples:
- Hopscotch Music Festival - this event brings thousands downtown for a weekend of music
- SparkCon - an event celebrating everything from art to music to design, fashion, and more.
- Co-Working businesses - These shared office environments give entrepreneurs a space to work with other creative minds without the overhead of a large office.
- Study to define Raleigh's Creative District
- Red Hat to move HQ to Downtown Raleigh

So we seem to be on the right track. But wait... this whole food truck thing has gotten a little out of control. Food trucks are very popular with young professionals and any foodie because of their quirky take on everyday food. For others it's simply quality food at a lower price. Food trucks are businesses owned by the Creative Class and they are patronized by the Creative Class. So it makes perfect sense that Raleigh, who wants to attract this audience, would support these efforts.

The debate on food trucks, unfortunately, continues. The City Council cannot seem to come to any kind of agreement. Is Raleigh serious about this campaign? The Creative Class is already coming to Raleigh. It's working! If the City cannot find a way to support food trucks, it will be a big kick in the teeth to the Creative Class. Please write to your councilor and ask them to support food trucks so we don't lose this momentum.

Photo grabbed from City-Data discussion.

Downtown Raleigh Market Report - Q2 2011

We're halfway through the year, and so far the numbers are looking good. Have we hit bottom? Possibly for volume, but It may be too early to tell for pricing. After recently attending the TBJ State of Real Estate event, it seems that a slow and steady recovery is what to expect. And that's what Q2 shows us for the sub-market of Downtown Raleigh residential real estate - stable and steady sales.

Are we done with auctions?

While the Quorum auction contributed to the sales volume in Q2, it was only 20% of sales, proving that demand still exists for condos outside of special promotions. Overall, a total 45 units sold in Q2, more than second quarter last year. While sales seem to be picking up, there is still a bit of inventory.

How does Downtown Compare?

The TARR Report shows that condo sales are down from 2010 both in Wake county and ITB, but Downtown Raleigh condos have fared much better. See the full report for details.

Downtown Raleigh Condo Report - 2010 Summary

Goodbye 2010!
With another year in the books, you can't help but feel optimistic about the future. Before we move forward, it's important to a look back at 2010. The good news is that the Downtown Raleigh condo sales volume was on par with 2009. The disappointing news is that the average sales price dropped. This can be good news for buyers who may be looking to purchase property at the bottom of the market.

What will 2011 bring?

While you can't predict the future, you can recognize trends. Rates are still very attractive, but many young professionals may not want to drop their entire savings on a down payment. With the Hue and Tucker apartment buildings, there is more of a "try before you buy" mentality. Some residents may fall in love with downtown and buy. Others may simply be waiting to sell their existing home. Sales in 2010 were bolstered by incentives and 2011 will remain just as competitive. With the news of the Quorum auction, it looks like 2011 may continue with incentives to unload some of the remaining inventory. This is a good thing! More people downtown means more services, which means more things to do.

Raleigh continues to receive great press as a place to live and work. While these few years may be tough, the long term still looks good for Downtown Raleigh.

Download the full 2010 Downtown Raleigh Condo Report

Top 5 Apps for Raleigh

Last week I attended the 3rd annual Internet Summit, held here in our backyard at the Raleigh Convention Center. One of the key messages from the various speakers was that mobile is huge, and somewhat related to that, I noticed that Raleigh is a little sparse on the localized apps. Most attendees were from out of town and they were looking for places to go. Yelp, for most cities, is a critical tool for finding restaurants or other services close to where you are. Pulling up Yelp from the Convention Center produced a few options, but there were plenty of places missing (send a note to your favorite place now - tell them to get with it!).

So what is out there? Here are my top 5. This list is made up of apps that I use almost daily as a downtown resident. I welcome your thoughts.

R-Line - This free circulator bus will take you to all the hot spots downtown. The bus comes by every 15 minutes or so and the app lets you know when it's coming.


WRAL - Local news, but I confess that I use this app more for weather and traffic more than anything else.


See Click Fix - I just downloaded this a few days ago, but I look forward to pointing out all sorts of sidewalk or other issues around the city that need attention.

Triangle Business Journal - Latest news.



Yelp - Yelp could be great as long as it gets populated with reviews. So make sure to review your favorite places. Even if you're familiar with all the restaurants, it's still nice to have something to refresh your memory.

A few restaurants have apps that let you know their latest specials, but I didn't want to single out one over the other. If you're not a WRAL fan, ABC 11, News 14 Carolina and a few radio stations also have apps.

What are your favorite apps for Raleigh?

Solar Panels Installed Downtown

For those that live high above the streets of Downtown Raleigh, the view is fabulous. You can see for miles. But when you look a few blocks away, you mostly see the tops of parking decks and large HVAC units on top of office buildings. It's a wasteland of white, gray and black that has SO much potential.

So today when I looked outside and saw solar panels being installed on the giant, flat roof of the back part of the Terry Sanford Federal Building (I thought it was a post office), I was thrilled! Something shiny to look at, plus the obvious efficient use of space on the roof to generate power.

I recently read about solar panels on the roof of the Convention Center, but haven't seen anything published about this. Alas, a quick Google search (easier once I realized the name of the actual building) brought me to the contractor doing the work with lovely updates on their Facebook page.

Next up - top off all of the existing parking decks with something green.

Activity on Wilmington / Martin

Took a stroll this morning to get some coffee and noticed that there was some demolition / cleaning up going on over at 237 S Wilmington St. I wandered over and asked one of the workers what was going on. They already had a truckload of debris and were sweeping up the sidewalk. The inside was just a giant empty space, but he said that they were prepping it for a restaurant/night club. Two levels.

The tax records show Carpenter Jensen Ventures as the owners, but I expect that it has been leased to someone. I've always thought that the building would make a great restaurant, what with all the windows in the front. Hopefully they'll clean up the facade a bit as well.

Hopscotch Sets the Standard for Downtown Raleigh Events

Music makes you feel young. That’s all there is to it. A song might remind you of a friend, an event, a special time in your life. Music makes you feel good, angry, happy, sad. You name it.

Having said that, I’m not a music geek or one of those people that knows about bands long before they become mainstream. But I am loving this Hopscotch event. I had only heard of one of the bands on the schedule. Well, maybe two, but I didn’t realize I knew their songs til I heard them play.

Anyway, the whole point here is that I think Hopscotch has done wonderful things for Downtown Raleigh. I can be pretty cynical sometimes and I have plenty of friends that are the same way and we sit around and complain about how Durham stole this and Raleigh can’t get it together with that. Downtown, for a long time, seemed to be (and still does sometimes) morphing into a Miami scene –basically a place to get dressed up and go out late. Not that something like that is terrible, but there just doesn’t seem to be anything else for the rest of us other than more bars. A thriving downtown needs diversity and lots of different things to do. Hopscotch has definitely kicked Raleigh's ass into gear.

What I love about Hopscotch is that, despite the Hipster-haters, it isn’t all hipsters! I’ve seen older folks, high school folks, nerdy types, fashionistas, and just plain ol’ regular people in jeans and a t-shirt looking for good music. It's an event for everyone with all types of music in all types of venues.

I used to have a friend that would keep me posted on all the latest cool music, but he moved away, had a child, and found better things to do. So I languished in the new music part of my life – my own fault. So I took the chance to visit the venues at Hopscotch that had music that I might not have ever heard. I took in some honky tonk at Lincoln Theater the first night, listened to Pictureplane at Berkeley (very new to me!), back to Lincoln for American Aquarium (his voice got on my nerves), so over to Pour House for Sleepy Sun, and back to Lincoln for Lucero.

Night two brought The Rosebuds and Broken Social Scene (LOVED it - will be downloading later). But I didn’t get the whole Panda Bear thing. He had three songs to convince me to stay, but it was all just droning sound.. not for me. And when there are so many other bands to choose from, I’m not sticking around! So over to Pour House for Ryan Gustafson who killed it, then to Tir Na Nog for my guys Kingsbury Manx, then bounced around a bit from Kings (Sightings?? Is that music??), to Deep South for Erin McKeown (boy, she's tiny, but powerful!) and Caitlin Cary and Matthew Douglas.

Whew!

Day three was even better with Public Enemy kicking things off with an intro from the Helping Hand Mission band that rolled through the crowd, beating their drums to warm up the audience. The funny part is that I probably couldn’t name one Public Enemy song. Sure, once they started up I recognized a few. They put on a great show and I stood there in the rain and soaked up every bit of it. I’ve never felt so much bass in all my life. The hair on my arms was bouncing. Oh, and let's not forget Flav's new line of drinks. Chateau Le Flav. I'm not kidding.

The great thing about living downtown is that you can stand in the rain, walk two blocks, change or dry your clothes, and get back out there in a matter of 15 minutes. I love it!

TigerCity, Bear in Heaven and Megafaun rounded out the last night for me. My feet are killing me, but it was all worth it. I learned all kinds of new music. I might not be able to hear for the next three days, but there’s no better medicine to make you feel young and alive than live music. Plus, it proved that Downtown Raleigh can support these kinds of events.

Thank you Hopscotch!

P.S. On a more shallow note, the mustache seems to be making a comeback. A few of the bands on day 3 seemed to have a 70's/80's blend between disco and lots of keyboards. And the mustache and floppy hair made me think they were channeling Barry Gibb. Just sayin..

Raleigh Branded with an "R"?

Two press releases went out today and I saw them both in the Triangle Business Journal:

1)  The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has launched a new campaign, "You R Here"

2)  There is a new bus line called the "R-line" that will circle downtown Raleigh.

Really?  Is this a planned coincidence? 

I will have to wait to see the campaign before I judge, I guess, but off the top of my head "You R Here" doesn't say anything special about Raleigh. It just uses the first letter of our capital city. 

But what I really wanted to rant about was that the R-line, according to the press release, WILL NOT go to Cameron Village!  This I cannot believe.  Mostly because every single person who either lives or wants to live downtown complains about the lack of a grocery store downtown. With Capital City Grocery out of business, even the one little bus won't go to the one place, one mile away, that has a Harris Teeter and Fresh Market.  Cameron Village. 

The city's press release seems to focus on taking conventioneers to restaurants. What about shops? Cameron Village is historic.  It is one mile away.  One mile.  Until downtown gets a little more going on, Cameron Village has so much to offer to a conventioneer.  I really cannot believe it is not being promoted as part of downtown. Am I crazy?

New Video on Downtown Raleigh

Just noticed this today, not sure how long it has been up. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has a nice video talking about everything going on in downtown.

http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/

It should be on the home page.

Sneak Peek at RBC Plaza Condos

On one of the hottest days in Raleigh, a few YSU agents braved the heat to venture up into the tallest building downtown. Still under construction, closed shoes and hard hats were required. So while we all made fun of how each other looked in fancy suits and sneakers, it was certainly worth it to get a sneak peek at some of the best views in town.

Special thanks to Andy Andrews for taking us on the tour, and to Jackie Savage and Neal Hussy for helping arrange it.

The elevator ride took us up the east side of the building and we stopped first on the 23rd floor where the condo living begins. The walls were studded out and you could see the layout of the whole floor, including the individual units and the common areas. The highlight, of course, was going out onto the 23rd floor patio area where the pool will be. The pool is a big round hole right now, but in 95 degree heat, we were all wishing it was finished.

The floor to ceiling windows were amazing. The corner units are going to have spectacular views and tons and tons and tons of light.

After checking out everything on the 23rd floor, we went to the very top - the 33rd floor. The interior walls were not built out yet, so we had sweeping 360 degree views of Raleigh and a great breeze. The north view was my favorite, looking down on the capital, the museum and the green square at the legislature building. Very pretty.

It was exciting to get to see the condos under construction. I can't wait to see the finished product this fall. Check out all the pictures here.

A Night of Culture and Rickshaws

For Christmas I bought my special someone tickets to the NC Symphony. I selected Friday night, the 18th, because they were highlighting jazz. More on that later..

For dinner, I wanted to try The Mint. This evening was, after all, a present, so a fancy restaurant was justified. I couldn't really judge the place until experiencing the food. Thinking that I didn't need reservations for a 6pm dinner, we just walked in. Note to self - make reservations next time. So we ate at Riviera, still one of my favorite places. The pistachio crusted trout was very tasty. The salad was simple but had lots of flavor, and the wine was great as usual.

We skipped dessert and decided to have a beer at the new Landmark Tavern before heading to the concert. The place was very crowded, it was opening night, but from the outside you could see the smoke. We opened the door and sure enough, the odor was too much. On another night perhaps we would have braved the smoke, but I really didn't want to sit in a nice concert hall reeking of cigarettes. It makes me feel so old to say something like that, but I just can't deal with smoke anymore. Sorry. I look forward to Landmark - I've already heard some great things, but I think I'll be visiting during the week when there's not a big crowd.

Since we still had about 30 minutes, guess where we went? Back to The Mint! I decided to try that $14 glass of chardonnay. And I have to confess, it was really, really good. The bartender let me try all of the wines before selecting one, but like any good bartender, he started with the good stuff and I just couldn't say no.

The concert was good. The highlight was the talented Jubilant Sykes. I was expecting a lot of jazz music, but as a celebration of African American composers, Mr. Sykes sang quite a few songs. His range was amazing. What an incredible voice. You know, it's nice to go and do something you would never normally do. It keeps the mind fresh. This evening was definitely a treat for us. Raleigh has some great activities to choose from. Step outside your comfort zone! Do something different one weekend.

Speaking of doing something different, the best part of the evening was the ride back to the car in the rickshaw! I've seen these guys everywhere but never needed a ride. I think it's such a great idea and I am so impressed by the athletic ability of pulling 300+ pounds on a bike. So we hailed one after the concert and enjoyed a nice ride for 4 blocks. Great ending to a nice evening.

The Mint is Open

For months now, those of us at YSU downtown have watched the progress across Fayetteville St. The alley beside One Exchange Plaza was turned into a lovely outdoor seating/patio area. And finally, The Mint opened.

We knew it was going to "upscale southern cuisine." And from a few peeks in the window, the interior looked to be quite plush. So we couldn't wait to go. Last night at 5:30 the office shut down and the whole gang walked across the street for a drink.

As mentioned in several articles, the building used to be a bank. And at the main entrance is the vault door. But once inside, and maybe I was just too overwhelmed to notice, the interior didn't feel anything like a bank. My favorite were the huge, high-back, tufted booths. It seemed the perfect place to hang out with friends and enjoy a fabulous dinner.

We were just there for a drink, so we headed up the spiral staircase to the bar. I would hate to have too many drinks and have to go down those stairs. The pattern on the carpet combined with the spiral stairs could make for a nasty accident.

Anyway, the bar is spectacular, with several high tables and a lounge area. The whole place is very impressive and once you see the menu you'll know that you're in a unique place. The wine seemed a little pricey. I'm a chardonnay drinker and used to paying $7-9/glass, but the "good" chardonnay was priced at $14/glass. So I opted for the $5 Amstel Light. They don't really have appetizers that you can share at the bar. We did try the crab cakes, and while they were tasty, they were the size of a 50 cent piece and you only got 2 to an order. So, what I'm trying to say is that this place is fancy.

I love a good restaurant, and upscale is fine, but I guess I'm just disappointed that it's not going to be the kind of place I can stop by regularly after work. It's just too expensive. I think it will be a destination restaurant, for special occasions and entertaining business clients. Riviera, The Globe, and several other places have many entrees for less than $20 and they have really good food. Having said that, I hope it does well. Especially after learning how much we all paid for it.

New Seaboard Rendering

It's amazing what a 3D image can do for a project. This angle is the Seaboard Ave and Salisbury Street corner. The big corner windows there are for the 2 bedroom flat, definitely one of the more popular units in the building. The landscaping was minimized for this image so that the building features could be seen. I believe there is a going to be a large tree on the corner there.

Another new element for 111 Seaboard are the views from the second floor. Condo living starts on the second floor and there are a total of 3 levels of residential. The third and fourth floor views will be even better. The view of downtown Raleigh is a favorite, but I think I like the east view with all the trees around Peace College. The power lines immediately on the 111 Seaboard property will be buried as part of the project, but there is one very high line that runs down the middle of the road that will remain.

No More Nana's?

Did anyone else happen to catch that small fact in Greg Cox's article yesterday? The Pit is opening in the Warehouse district. Nana's Chophouse will close for a week and basically re-open as The Pit.

I've been talking about this with my friends and I guess Nana's wasn't doing so well? There do seem to be a lot of high end restaurants downtown. The choices in establishments seem to be fancy or super casual. It will be nice to have a new casual restaurant, but at the expense of a really good one?

I'm not a bar-hopper anymore, but it seems like that part of town is becoming much more of a club area, so perhaps an upscale restaurant doesn't fit anymore? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this one.

Fabulous First Friday

Another First Friday and another start to a great weekend. This time we spent the whole evening in the Seaboard Station area. We really didn't plan it that way, but that's how it turned out. The plan was to check out J Betski's restaurant. It's a German place and it's new and I'm always up for going somewhere new.

We kicked off the evening at Seaboard Wine at their wine tasting. I love wine, but I really don't know much about it. The folks at Seaboard Wine really know their stuff. The tasting included Austrian wines, which I never had tasted before. I've had a few German wines here or there on a trip, but nothing memorable. After a flight of reds, we were buzzed enough to buy a case. What a great strategy! Get people drinking so they'll buy more. So as part of the case we wanted to try something new. Seth gave us quite a history on French wines, which neither Scott nor I knew anything about. I can't wait to have a little tasting of my own!

After talking with the wine folks, they recommended getting reservations at J Betski's. Good thing we called, because their only opening was at 9am. The problem was, the tasting ended at 8pm. What to do for an hour?

No problem. Because it was First Friday - everyone had something going on. Capital City Grocery had a band on the front porch playing good ol'fashioned porch music. So we grabbed a rocking chair and hung out for a while.

Finally it was time to eat! The best part. After starting with some Bratwurst, I enjoyed every second of the Schnitzel. Mmmm. Say it with me. Schnitzel. It's just fun to order. Quite tasty. Scott had the duck with a side of kanoodle (it's potatoes, but in Germany we've actually had it fixed for us and they called it kanoodle - a potato dumpling with a sort of stuffing inside).

Overall it was a bit of an extravagant night for us, but we had so much fun. Everything we needed and wanted to do was right there in one place. I love First Friday!

Mordecai Manor - Restored Condos

I hosted an open house this weekend at Mordecai Manor, the apartments that are being coverted to condos. The neighbors are ecstatic. Apparently the space was becoming a bit unsightly, so the renovation construction was welcomed.

You can't ask for a better location. The convenience of a condo in a nice, quiet, established neighborhood like Mordecai. You can walk over to Seaboard for just about anything you need and you're a mile and a half from the center of town. Plus, you're surrounded by historic homes. What more can you ask for?

Ah, you say. They must be expensive. But that's the kicker. They are all under $300,000. All 6 units are roughly 1100 sq ft each and have a HUGE front porch. I mean huge. Very deep. You could put an outdoor sofa and chairs out there and not get wet when it rains.

It's renovated, but not new, so you do have smaller closets. It is an historic building, after all. The kitchens are new and very big by condo standards. And there is no elevator. Other than that, it is a great buy. They should get the certificate of occupancy in November.

Downtown Sushi

The News & Observer reported this weekend that Waraji is coming to downtown Raleigh. They are taking over the Est Est Est location on Hargett St.

After learning that the Chinese restaurant on Salisbury and Martin was closing as well as the BBQ place on St. Mary's, it's nice to see more restaurants coming downtown.

Raymond Street - Raleigh's Secret

Thank goodness for Broker open houses. There are so many new projects going on, it's hard to keep up. Today I discovered a new little neighborhood right off Hillsborough Street (well, it's off Daisy to be specific). It's fabulous. Single family homes with 2 car garages on the alley. Great front porches to sit and sip a beverage. And spectacular details on the interior. Gorgeous floors, big rooms. What else is there to say? Well done.

There are multiple layouts to choose from - some have master down, some have a third floor finished bonus. But you are so close to everything. Walk to Hillsborough Street and downtown. Or walk to Whole Foods. You're a hop, skip and a jump from the greenway entrance at Meredith College.

Want to see them? Call your agent or if you don't have an agent, call me. We'll go tour.