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Week of February 13, 2017

St. Mary’s luxury townhomes break ground

Real Estate Report: an ITB home from Ryan Boone Real Estate

Work begins in the old The Velvet Cloak spot

so•ca in Cameron Village to open in March

German grocery store Lidl coming to Raleigh

Raleigh is getting a Chronic Tacos

The Saint
Hallelujah. After more than three years, construction has finally begun on 220 The Saint, a long-awaited upscale townhome development on St. Mary’s Street near downtown Raleigh.

Leo Suarez over at The Raleigh Connoisseur was the first to break the news back in October 2013. We’ve also written about the project in the past. After a lack of updates, we looked into the project again in August 2016 with little success: the lots were vacant, that was it.

The Saint was pitched as a development of 17 luxurious townhome units that would feature elevators, rooftop gardens, two-car garages, European style kitchens, and “other expensive touches”. The units originally ranged in size from 2,700 to 4,700 square feet and in price from $750,000 to $1.4 million.

This may have changed, as permits were issued last month for four of The Saint’s new townhomes, being built by Pomarico Construction Corp. The four new townhomes will come in two different sizes, 3,294 sf and 3,454 sf and will start at a cost of $624,695.

We were also able to track down eight additional permits for The Saint that the owners have applied for but have not yet been issued, bringing the total number of units to 12. Of course, additional townhomes may be added at some point in the future, but none of the permits applied for or issued drop below 3,294 sf in size, while two of them are larger than the originally announced 4,700 sf.

We’ll keep an eye on this as the project progresses.

Real Estate Report

Prime Wade Avenue location for less than $270,000
Raleigh real estate agent Ryan Boone, ITBRealtor.com, brings this beautifully maintained 1,200+ square feet, three bedroom ranch to the ITB market this week.

This home features a large living room with a fireplace and built-ins, and gorgeous hardwoods throughout. There’s room to grow with 1,158 unfinished square feet in the basement, and a hedge-lined fenced front yard provides plenty of privacy. Check out more photos and details here. With a price tag under $300k, it’s probably going to be sold by the time you finish reading this sentence. Email Ryan@HudsonResidential.com or call 919-438-0548 for a tour.

To feature listings here, contact wnfiv@itbinsider.com for options.

With Your Permit-ssion

Work Underway In Former Velvet Cloak Inn Spot
Work is officially underway for 1505 Hillsborough, a student housing development that will be built in the legendary Velvet Cloak Inn location on Hillsborough Street.

You may recall we wrote about the demolition of the Velvet Cloak back in December, which resulted in many readers asking us for information on how to reclaim pieces of the iconic hotel. We tried (honestly!) but to no avail, which we suppose means the countless memories made at this once-grand Raleigh hotel will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. I’m told Finley is working on an oral history of the place, so stay tuned for that.

Permits were issued for both 1505’s five-story, 217,786 square foot apartment building and its six-story, 113,322 square foot parking deck. The work on the complex, which has a listed cost of nearly $29 million, will be handled by Summit Contracting.

so•ca Receives Final Permits
The owners of the popular downtown restaurant bu•ku recently received their final interior alteration permits for so•ca, a “cocina Latina” (Latin Kitchen). They’re set to open in early March in the space previously occupied by Faire in Cameron Village.

While Raleigh already has its fair share of both midrange and upscale Mexican restaurants — with many more on the way — we’re actually really excited about this one. With seating for 150 inside and 100 more outside, so•ca will offer a menu that will draw inspiration from “Colombia and Mexico, Trinidad and Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Chile.”

North Carolina Gets Its First Lidl
Up in North Raleigh, vertical construction is set to begin on Raleigh’s latest grocery store, German chain Lidl (lee-dil). Go ahead and Google it, we didn’t know what it was either. It will be the chain’s first North Carolina location and will open at 4308 Wake Forest Road, in what is now an empty lot between McDonald’s and Red Lobster.

At a neighborhood meeting concerning the project held last year, a Lidl representative was surprisingly tight-lipped with details on the new store: he wouldn’t even confirm what kind of products would be sold. We reached out again last week after noticing some site work was underway for the project, but were stonewalled once again. Our guess: it’s going to be a lot like German competitor Aldi, which has a location just down the street.

The $1.98 million job will be handled by Fulcrum Construction, who we heard narrowly beat out Level Contracting and Fixed Hinge builders for the project. Yes, that was a physics joke.

Chronic Tacos Coming To Raleigh
Chronic Tacos, a popular quick-service Mexican chain, that of course originated in California, is coming to Raleigh. Judging by its website, Chronic Tacos looks to be a slightly more upscale version of Chipotle with a Día de los Muertos aesthetic and all-day breakfast options. The restaurant will open at the new Sprouts grocery store anchored Olive Park shopping center on Falls of the Neuse Road (again, Finley made me add in “the”) and the $215,000 fit-out is being handled by Piccola Builders.

Won’t You Be M.E. Valentine?
That didn’t take long. Built just four years ago, the owners of Valentine Commons student apartment complex off Hillsborough Street on M.E. Valentine Drive are already looking to expand.

A rezoning case filed last week requests that the property be rezoned to a higher-density designation, which would “allow sufficient flexibility for redevelopment so that existing facilities can be updated and new facilities added to meet the demands of the market for quality student housing.”

We’re not sure what kind of improvements the Valentine Commons might need at this early stage: it already boasts a great location, countless amenities, ranging from tanning beds to game rooms and much more, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

Brought to you by Rufty-Peedin Design Builders.

Week of February 6, 2017

Blue Tower Restaurant to be demolished for One Glenwood project

Kane Expands Plans For Smokey Hollow

HQ Raleigh begins work on new space in the historic Capital Club Building

A new plan for the Spencer Ridge mixed-use development on Falls of THE Neuse Road (WNFIV made me include “the”)

New Retail Planned for Glenwood Near Crabtree

Demolition Begins On Iconic Blue Tower Restaurant
Once home to the legendary Blue Tower Restaurant, a 24-hour greasy spoon diner, the 67-year old structure at 605 Hillsborough Street will soon be torn down. It will be replaced by the One Glenwood development, a 10-story, 219,500 square foot mixed-use commercial/office building planned for the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Glenwood in downtown Raleigh.

Developed by Heritage Properties out of Towson, Maryland, the building will include 14,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and a 650-space parking deck on a separate site across W. Morgan Street. A brochure from project architect JDavis explains the design as one that intends to “create a building of its place and part of the ever-evolving city by tying the old with the new.”

Does that mean we’ll be seeing a 24-hour greasy spoon diner included as part of that ground-floor retail? Doubtful, although we did reach out to both Heritage Properties and leasing agent Trinity Partners to see if they would be willing to share any potential tenant information.

As for the space’s previous tenants, Bruce Garner, founder of Raleigh’s iconic Char-Grill hamburger chain, opened the Blue Tower sometime in the late 1940s. While county records indicate the structure was built in 1949, the first listing for the diner was in the 1948 Hill’s Raleigh City Directory. Described in a later directory listing as a place that offered “Excellent Food, Quick Service From A Sandwich to A Meal, Open 24 Hours A Day”.

Garner purportedly opened the diner, which offered “a long bar and cheap coffee”, after his neighborhood restaurant raised the cost of a cup of coffee to a whopping ten cents. Garner’s competitor is said to have closed his doors soon after the opening of Blue Tower. Garner went on to open Char-Grill in 1959. Blue Tower has been described as an “infamous diner” that offered “excellent eats at odd hours.” Some have claimed that the place was mobbed up at one point, and that the East Coast Syndicate operated out of the back. We have no evidence of this and didn’t want to risk our lives investigating.

At some point, the space was turned into a chiropractor’s office. County photographs show it has been used as such since at least 1996.

The $11,750 worth of demolition permits for the old building were issued to Whiting-Turner Contracting. One Hillsborough is slated to open sometime in 2018.

Smokey Hollow Expands
As first reported last week by Amanda Hoyle in the Triangle Business Journal, Kane Realty and Williams Realty’s ambitious plans for the 12-story Smokey Hollow development at the intersection of Peace and West Streets downtown have already begun to grow. Recent purchases made on behalf of Kane and Williams have nearly doubled the size of the 4.2 acre lot. In December, they received approvals for 616 apartment units and a 51,300 square foot grocery store, which is strongly rumored to be a Publix.

While no plans have yet been announced for the newly acquired sites, we would expect them to be a mix of office, residential and retail, not dissimilar from Kane’s nearby Dillon project, expected to open next year. Kane told the TBJ he hopes to break ground on Smokey Hollow by this summer.

While the Smokey Hollow development is significant on its own, when combined with the work being done by Lundy Group at the nearby intersection of Peace and North West, the State’s plans for Capital Boulevard bridge replacements, and the City’s plans for a Capital Boulevard corridor revitalization, it can be seen as a key part of a much larger revitalization of a part of the City that has seen comparatively little change over the last few decades.

With Your Permit-ssion

A space that once housed the offices of the Capital Club, a group described in a historic landmark application as “one of the oldest and most prominent organizations for men in the South,” will soon be transformed. HQ Raleigh, a co-working space in downtown, will occupy five floors of office space in order to offer its members shared conference rooms, a cafe, and a bar in the flexible workspace.

The 12-story building at 16 West Martin Street was designed and built in 1929 in a style described as one that embodied “the combination of Art Deco motifs with traditional regional architectural practice.”

HQ Raleigh will be taking over the top five stories of the building, a $2.2 million project, that will renovate about 20,000 square feet of space. While much of the building was originally designed and utilized for office space, floors nine through twelve originally offered the Capital Club space for its own offices, “as well as a billiard room, lounges, kitchens, dining rooms, and a ballroom,” which makes it sound more like the mansion from Clue than a standard office building. It seems these amenities were a must have since, according to the historic landmark application, “the Capital Club Building is associated with the lives of the individuals who dominated the governmental, commercial, and industrial affairs of the state during the five decades beginning in 1885.”

The 12th floor will be transformed back into a lounge that will be completely restored to its original Art Deco iteration. The project’s designer, Maurer Architecture, specializes in historic building renovation projects, and we imagine the lounge especially will be a sight to behold.

A few other permits worth mentioning:

• A new Handee Hugos will open across the street from Brier Creek Elementary at 9910 Sellona Street, just south of the Brier Creek Parkway and slightly east of Aviation Parkway. The 4,520 square foot convenience store will be built for $790,978 by Bunn Brantley Enterprises.
• A new $2.5 million, 7,797 square foot structure for online auto retailer Carvana is coming to a space on Navaho Drive. Apparently, you can buy a car off the website and have it delivered within one day, a concept that could really take impulse online shopping to a whole new level. The one-story sales and storage building will be built by Parkway C&A.
• Permits were issued for the new $3.9 million Gresham Lake Storage Facility. The three-story, 97,832 square foot building will be constructed by the MTC Corporation.
• A dozen $100,000 permits were issued to Balfour Beatty Construction for an extensive interior renovation project at the First Citizens Bank building at 100 E Tryon Road. The permits indicate that about 9,000 square feet of space, about 10 percent of the building’s total, will be fixed up as part of this project.
• Feel the burn: fitness franchise Burn Boot Camp will soon be opening its fourth area location at a space in the Lake Boone Shopping Center on Wycliff Road. As the center is also home to the delectable Chubby’s Tacos, we hope the future Boot Camp bros don’t end up consuming more calories than they burn. American Enterprises LLC will handle the $77,884, 8,081 square foot project.

Now What’s the Next Step in Your Master Plan?

If at first you don’t succeed…

While D&N Development’s original plans for Spencer Ridge — a $50 million mixed-use development anchored by a 50,000 square foot grocery store at the intersection of Falls of the Neuse and Raven Ridge — didn’t work out as they’d hoped, the developer refused to give up the ghost.

A newly submitted master plan describes a scaled-back version that includes less retail and more residential. According to the application, this 17.32 acre site located north of 540 will “blend between 150-220 residential dwelling units, including Raleigh’s first voluntary rezoning commitment of affordable housing with a mix of commercial uses, including retail spaces, eating establishments, office spaces, and medical office spaces. The residential dwelling units will have most, if not all, of their designated parking spaces underground to ensure that land area impacts are minimized.”

So far, so good.

The plans describe Spencer Ridge as a “pedestrian oriented community” where residents can “live, work, dine and/or shop.” At least they didn’t say live, work and play. The community will have a number of “pedestrian walks” throughout, and 10 percent of the site will be dedicated to open space that can be used for things like community gatherings and dog walking.

While the original plan faced rejection from both the neighborhood — the North Citizens Advisory Council voted 224-89 against it last August — and the Planning Commission, which voted to recommend denial in October, the developer hopes its new focus on walkability and improving the surrounding traffic flow may help this version find acceptance.

The property will contain:
-3 one-story general use buildings no larger than 10,250, 20,000, and 49,500 square feet.
-A two-story mixed-use building that won’t exceed a total of 31,250 square feet, with a maximum of 16,750 square feet of retail or eating establishment, and a maximum of 14,500 square feet of office or medical office space.
-An apartment or condo building that will have no more than 150 and no less than 190 units.

Rezoning for Retail

A vacant 1.25 acre parcel at 5710 Glenwood Avenue not far from Crabtree Valley Mall and next to a new Enterprise Car Sales lot may be transformed into a low-key retail development.

Rezoning case Z-3-17 would, according to applicant RD Construction, rezone the parcel from Residential-4 to Office Mixed-Use 3. Ty Armstrong from RD Construction told us that when they purchased the property it contained a home that had been condemned by the City of Raleigh, an eyesore the company tore down last summer. The rezoning application noted that the site has suffered from “vagrancy and loitering” in the past.

While the OX-3 designation would allow for RD to build up to three stories, Armstrong said they plan to keep an existing conservation overlay in place that would, among other restrictions, limit the maximum height to two-and-a-half stories.

“Given its immediate proximity to Glenwood Avenue, we do not feel a single-family dwelling is a feasible option,” Armstrong said, explaining that this is in line with goals laid out in the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which discourages single-family residential on major thoroughfares such as Glenwood Avenue.

While Armstrong says they are still ironing out many of the specifics, the rezoning application describes the overall plan as a “small scale development that is pedestrian and transit friendly in massing and layout” and notes that the rezoning would enable “the potential provision of retail uses on the site.”

A meeting held in December allowed neighbors to make their voices heard about the project. Among the issues discussed were a preference for single-family or office over retail, an opposition to anything open at night, and concerns about light pollution, noise and traffic. Residents also argued that because the neighborhood isn’t walkable, there is no need for neighborhood retail. Sounds like RD Construction has their work cut out for them!

Brought to you by Rufty-Peedin Design Builders.

Week of January 30, 2017

Another 20-story tower coming to Hillsborough Street

Real Estate Report: Super ITB Office Space

Lilly Pulitzer and Copper Penny coming soon to North Hills

Kickboxing chain coming to Raleigh

Glenwood is getting a new Sheetz

Gordon Grubb buys Peden Steel property for $10M

20-story Tower at 400 Hillsborough Street
If ever there were a section of Hillsborough Street that would actually be improved by the addition of yet another residential mixed-use project named after its address, it’s the 400 block.

Home now to a group of one and two-story commercial buildings built in the 1930s and 40s, site plans call for a 20-story, 540,867 square foot tower. Tentatively named “400 H”, the tower will include residential units, 129,000 square feet of office space, and 16,500 square feet of retail space. A development team led by Gregg Sandreuter filed the plans last week. We’re not sure whether current tenants C U Fitness or the long-standing Artcraft Sign Company Inc. will become tenants in the new space.

We’re sure the Lundy Group, which earlier this month unveiled renderings for their long-in-the-works City Centre that will include multiple 20-story towers and combine residential, office, retail, and hotel space at 301 Hillsborough, is thrilled.

Sandreuter, a partner at Charlotte’s Beacon Partners and the president of Cary’s Hamilton Merritt, told the Triangle Business Journal that he wants 400 H to be a “smaller, newer” version of downtown’s PNC Plaza; a building that would foster a “vertical community.” Does that mean he hopes residents will work in the building’s office spaces? Unbeatable commute times for sure, but I think I’d start to feel a bit cooped up.

The 244′ high building will include 220 residential units: 120 one-bedrooms, 90 two-bedrooms, and 10 three-bedrooms. 674 parking spaces will be provided for the residents and building tenants. As the property is already zoned to allow for a 20-story development of this nature, the developers will be able to move forward as soon as the site plan is approved.

While project architect Gensler has designed a number of interesting projects across the globe, including the new headquarters for the Alfred Williams Furniture Company over at 201 S. Salisbury, our favorite has to be the Shimao Shenzhen Qianhai Canal City in Shenzhen, China. Hopefully, the design of 400 H will mimic the Shiamo. The architectural rendering could pass for a matte painting from the new Bladerunner movie, it’s that cool:

Real Estate Report

If you’re in the market for some premier office space, our friends at NAI Carolantic Realty have an outstanding ITB location for you. Located at 3515 Glenwood Avenue, this 75,000 SF, 3-story Class A office space is super ITB. How ITB is it? Well there’s an Audi in the rendering if that tells you anything.

According to the TBJ, Raymond James and Associates Inc. just signed on to take up about 12,000 square feet on the second floor. William Needham Finley IV hinted on Twitter about expanding his media empire and leasing the top floor, but it turns out you have to rent more than 50 square feet and they don’t take La Croix as a form of payment. Contact the listing broker, Jimmy Barnes (919-832-0594), if you’re interested. Tell them you saw this post and they’ll give you the first 10,000 square feet for free. (No they won’t.)

Note: To feature listings here, contact wnfiv@itbinsider.com for options.

With Your Permit-ssion

Raleigh’s First Copper Penny
Permits were issued for Copper Penny, a high-end women’s clothier that will open soon at North Hills. We’re not sure about the etymology of the store’s name, although it seems an odd choice given that most of their clientele has likely never handled currency in denominations of less than $50. The North Hills location will be the first Triangle location. Cline Contracting will handle the $73,000 fit-out of a 2,492 square foot space next to Scout & Molly’s boutique.

North Hills wins Lilly Pulitzer Prize
As William Needham Finley IV reported in June, Lilly Pulitzer is coming soon to North Hills. The popular “resort wear designer” Lilly Pulitzer — not to be confused with the pharmaceutical company that was the first to mass-produce penicillin — will open in the former home of Learning Express Toys. The $175,000 renovation of the 2,428 square-foot space will be done by Horizon Retail Construction.

iLoveKickboxing is Coming
Fitness franchise iLoveKickboxing received permits to open their first Raleigh location at 8629 Glenwood Avenue. The $250,000 renovation of the 3,372 square foot space will be handled by Zachary Michael, Inc. Instead of using a portaband saw to cut the interior trim for the space, we heard the contractor chose instead to smash the Cherry Oak wood into pieces using only kickboxing moves. Just a rumor though. If the intense music in this video doesn’t scare 10 pounds off of you then we don’t know what will.

Night at the Museum of the Lost Ark
This one’s kind of interesting: in December, the State put out a bid for the relocation of about 500 artifacts for the Museum of History, which were being stored at a warehouse on Navaho Drive, to a space at the Hammond Road Business Park. Both spaces are probably too small for any kind of Ark of the Covenant/”Top Men” situation, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the collection contains the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Akhmenrah. That’s probably why the bid specifications stated very clearly that all work must be done during the day.

Self-Storage Sprawl
Site work permits have been issued for yet another Self-Storage facility, this one to be located off Glenwood Avenue on Doie Cope Road. The 4-story climate controlled Class A facility is being developed by Johnson Development Associates and the site work is being handled by Sitescapes. What is going on in Raleigh that we need so many Self-Storage units? I learned from Breaking Bad that they’re *not* a good place to cook meth, but there has to be some other nefarious purpose.

Retaining Wall Permits Approved
Speaking of site work permits — well, retaining wall permits, to be exact — Oak City Contracting received a quintet of them for “City Walk”, a new townhome complex near Triangle Town Center. I covered this project back in December 2015, and I’m *still* not sure why something built eight miles from the downtown core is titled “City Walk,” but hey, there is a bowling alley within walking distance, which almost makes up for it. The development from the Lennar homebuilding company will consist of 132 attached townhomes, apparently separated into clusters of no more than five apiece.

Aw Sheetz
While I may be of the opinion Raleigh has far too many self-storage facilities, there’s one type of development the city could always use more of: gas station/convenience store hybrid Sheetz. As far as we can tell, there’s only seven of them located within city limits, and while that seems like a good amount — think about it, 7-Elevens, 7 dwarves, 7 chipmunks twirlin’ on a branch — there are approximately 121 self-storage facilities, which means Sheetz has a lot of catching up to do.

So I was very excited to see that demolition permits “For Future Sheetz” were issued last week for a space at 8101 Glenwood Avenue that previously housed Eatman’s Carpets Outlet and a City of Raleigh recycling drop-off site. In a pretty unusual twist, I was actually able to find some details on the construction bid for the new building. It looks like those bids are due either today or tomorrow, so if you’re a subcontractor who’s reading this, reach out to CBI General Contractors or Wimco Corporation ASAP.

Per the plans and specifications, Raleigh’s eighth Sheetz will be 6,407 gross square feet in size and stand 24′ 7″ (when you include the roof) high. Apparently, the bid does not include a gasoline distribution system or the canopy, so we’re not sure if that’s getting built separately or what. The plans were drawn up internally by Sheetz in-house architect Convenience Architecture & Design PC while the engineering work was done by Keller Engineers.

The demolition portion of the project — which involves tearing down a 22,941 square foot structure built in 1971 — will be handled for $50,000 by Bristol Environmental. As we mentioned, the construction portion of this job is still out for bid, but we’ll be sure to announce the winner here as soon as they’re issued permits. Try not to let the suspense kill you.

Who Recycles the Recyclers?
While it won’t be long before the former city-owned recycling facility is repurposed into a new Sheetz, it looks like the Waste Management recycling center on Atlantic Avenue could eventually be transformed into a new “creative class space.” Amanda Hoyle reported last week in the Triangle Business Journal that Gordon Grubb, who developed the Dock 1053 project on Whitaker Mill Road, recently purchased a 19-acre site at the intersection of Atlantic and Whitaker Mill. Known as the Peden Steel — not to be confused with our wonderful sponsor, Rufty-Peedin Design Builders — site, the property is now occupied by a 60,000 square foot exposed steel warehouse and an accompanying 7,500 square foot cinder block office building, both constructed in 1957.

Grubb purchased the property from the Peden family on January 19 for $10 million and intends to develop a project similar to Dock 1053, which houses a brewery, a distillery, a neon art studio, and more. A spokesman from Grubb Ventures told the TBJ that while Waste Management has a number of years left on its lease, Grubb worked out an agreement that allows for some flexibility, which means some Raleigh artisans may soon have a new place to call home.