Hue

[ChiefJoJo]

I was thinking about the supposed downtown condo market "slump" and was thinking, how bad could it be? During that the past several months, Hue has proceeded rather rapidly from marketing to bldg permits to construction. Obviously, the market's doing just fine.

I noticed tonight they are framing up the steel on this project. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

[ChiefJoJo]

Some photos from 2/8, 2/11, and 2/15:

[RaleighRob]

^They're obviously working on this thing faster than the Tucker Street apartments, that's for sure!

[Jones_]

Got that same 222 steel frame going up....lets hope TRC does more with this then just color the exterior panels a lighter brighter....I can't get a feel for it really...

[RALNATIVE]

lets hope TRC does more with this then just color the exterior panels a lighter brighter....I can't get a feel for it really...

Don't remind me that this is what they are planning. Some of us will have to look at this on a daily basis. I will always think that this is one big missed opportunity.

[ChiefJoJo]

I do like the corner feature, but yeah, it may not be the most beautiful either. It does look like they are using some kind of textured brick on the ground floor and precast panels on 2-7. This one, though, unlike 222, will have some reasonably affordable units under $200k, so it may be worth the trade off. To some degree, this is the price we pay for a surging condo market in the post-China/India economic boom. It's either that, or you pay $350+/sf.

[Jones_]

Yep, sure enough...same building with a slightly better corner. Same small windows, same balconies etc. You make excellent points though jojo, TRC is providing a product people are buying...I just hope we don't get 20 such buildings. Denver has some great variance in styles....Safari (Mac browser) won't upload my pics so here is a link to some. Titanium Lofts are a fav of mine.

[DPK]

Yep, sure enough...same building with a slightly better corner. Same small windows, same balconies etc. You make excellent points though jojo, TRC is providing a product people are buying...I just hope we don't get 20 such buildings. Denver has some great variance in styles....Safari (Mac browser) won't upload my pics so here is a link to some. Titanium Lofts are a fav of mine.

Here's a video of the exterior of Titanium Lofts:

http://www.pcplanets.com/video-1456405-Tit...fts-Video.shtml

I like it as well.

[JeffC]

The relevent comparison, IMO, is not to some cool, professionally designed building in another city, but to the ugly parking lot and "travel trailer" slum lord rental office that sat in the middle of it. And from that perspective, Hue is a definite and substantial improvement.

[ncwebguy]

It is interesting that the steel for the Hue's condos is going up first (at least on the north/Dawson at Morgan face), with the precast pieces of the parking deck coming in later. That is the exact opposite of the Edison, though there they can always block off a lane of a street for a few months as needed.

I remember when The Dawson, Hue, and Park Deveraux were all parking lots. Having condos there is a *lot* better than the parking lot wasteland created by knocking down buildings that had "outlived their useful life". Having people walking their dogs in Nash Square and jogging through the warehouse district is a vast improvement of the "downtown" from only 10 years ago. The outside-of-9-to-5 "downtown" stretched from CCs to Snoopys/Char-Grill, with Legends, West End, the Fallout Shelter, Wicked Smile and little else in between.

With Sanford, "Brick City USA" just a short drive down US 1, why aren't more condo projects clad in brick in Raleigh? I don't like the "fenced off, no public ground floor activity" of Bloomsbury Estates, but the brickwork on there is pretty nice.

It wouldn't make sense for Hue, since it is playing up the whole color thing, but a brick 222 Glenwood would have fit in perfect between Clark Art and 518.

[DPK]

With Sanford, "Brick City USA" just a short drive down US 1, why aren't more condo projects clad in brick in Raleigh? I don't like the "fenced off, no public ground floor activity" of Bloomsbury Estates, but the brickwork on there is pretty nice.

The NC State campus requires 95% of all bricks produced in North Carolina. There just isn't enough left, sorry.

(For those of you who have never set foot on NCSU and don't get the joke, the campus is covered in brick, everywhere. There's even random brick sculptures in places where it seems like they just don't know what else to do with them.)

[ChiefJoJo]

Pics from one evening last week:

Also, New Raleigh has coverage of the Hue's progress, as YSU has set up a new office for the condos on W. Martin St between Joe's Place and Stuff Consignment. I stopped by after the parade today, and noticed they even after the presales being completed, they still have 653sf studios for $175k. It might seem a little pricey for that amount of space, but for a recent college grad or with a good job perhaps an artist looking for a place downtown, this could be an option. With interest rates bottoming out and the mortgage fiasco in full swing, it's a buyers market.

[Jones_]

^ I find it interesting YSU can maintain two offices downtown just a couple blocks from each other....Martin, and Fayetteville St. Even though I have been critical a little of the design, the ground floor commercial space and the 175k price point is worth giving some props to TCR on this. Thanks for the pics too jojo.

[ncwebguy]

The YSU office on Martin Street has been there for years. I thought the F Street office would "replace" it, but I guess that isn't the case. The F Street might be commercial + RBC while Martin is more focused on residentail. And being close to RBC and Hue keep a competitor from getting in on the proverbial ground floor.

Seeing that steel is a lot better than the parking lots they are replacing!

[ChiefJoJo]

They now have an extra crane for the concrete deck at the back of the site. Pic from Saturday, 4/19:

[ChiefJoJo]

'Bout time for an update--from last week:

[Euphorius]

I thought the building was going to completely wrap the parking structure. But, it doens't look like that is the case. I bet there are some peeved people in The Dawson about the lovely new parking deck view they will have.

[orulz]

I thought the building was going to completely wrap the parking structure. But, it doens't look like that is the case. I bet there are some peeved people in The Dawson about the lovely new parking deck view they will have.

Hm?

The first of JoJo's pictures clearly shows that there are condos facing the Dawson.

[serapis]

Hm?

The first of JoJo's pictures clearly shows that there are condos facing the Dawson.

Obviously...

[pack-man]

quite some view that Dawson has.

[Euphorius]

You are correct. There are some condos facing the Dawson, but they are closest to the street. Part of the parking deck is bare faced facing the Dawson as of a couple nights ago.

[reed]

quite some view that Dawson has.

Sometimes, in urban settings, buildings are close together.

[DPK]

Sometimes, in urban settings, buildings are close together.

[Jones_]

Building and unit orientation is worth thinking about, and when I bought my place at Caraleigh it was a primary concern. I have seen buildings that have every unit with a view to the sidewalk, no units with only back alley or rear of the lot views. Dawson elected to go with a center hall and have units face in every direction. The site, to me, had questions all around, with north facing units being the primary orientation (I like sun) and the south facing units facing(skyline facing too) a parking lot that could have a building of any height built on it. Sandreuter raises questions with West too, as the view of teh old David Allen Buildings is pretty bad. While you do have to take chances, the commercial spaces on West also are off the strip, or potential extension of the district in the future to the point that I wonder if they will be vacant alot...I have heard nothing so far. Back to Hue....and TCR...222 is on the strip, and the commercial spaces are (mostly?) spoken for. Hues layout has most units either facing a sidewalk(street) or turned in toward their courtyard. All in all, it just seems TCR puts more thought into how their buildings fit into their surroundings while Sandreuter focuses more on his individual building. Maybe I am thinking way too hard about this....

[ChiefJoJo]

As far as the views from the Dawson, it's a none issue to me. In the first place, you don't buy there for the views, you buy for the location--it's only 5-stories. Second, if there's any portion of Hue that has a parking deck facade facing Dawson, I'm sure it very minimal... the majority of the deck is wrapped on 3 sides, so only the west side next to Legends is uncovered. Third, it could be worse for Dawson owners... if you look at the first of my two pictures, you can clearly see that the Dawson is set back from the property line by about 40-50 feet or so where the parking lot is located. If Sandreuter had built his initial vision for Dawson (12 stories?), it might have had minimal setbacks such that owners would have been able to string a clothesline across to the Hue balconies. I wonder if secretly, the Dawson south-facing owners wish the POS Bradshaw Realty trailer was still there.

Finally, this project was probably only a month or two away from not achieving financing (just missed mortgage/bank meltdown), and currently is the only DT condo building that I can recall that was permitted in '07 that is actually being built now. I hope the sales pick up, and the project is successful.