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Soleil Center I & II at Crabtree

durham_rtp

By durham_rtp
in The NC Triangle

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DickyWalia Crossroads

DickyWalia

Posted
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Mr. Walia,

Has the Soleil Group been active in recruiting businesses/HQs to the Soleil Center complex? What will be the signature restaurant?

Thanks

Many businesses have expressed an interest to move to the Soleil II complex. We will begin serious dialog 12 to 18 months after Soleil I is construction is underway. We are talking to celebrity chefs and fine dinning major steak and seafood chains.

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sax184 Hamlet

sax184

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Mr. Walia, I commend you for adding your voice to this forum. For the record, I've been a skeptic of this project, and particularly whether or not there was truly a market for it. Based on your detailed post about reservations and the waiting list, for the record, I must admit I was completely wrong on that count. You surely did your homework on your target audience.

You mentioned that the Soleil Center will have some "green" design features. Could you go into more detail? Will there be any renewable energy generated onsite (i.e. photovoltaics)? Grey water re-use? Are any portions of the building design being approached with LEED criteria in mind?

Again, thanks for dropping by.

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Jones_ City

Jones_

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Mr. Walia

Thanks also for taking the time to answer some questions as folks in this forum are keenly interested in developments all over Raleigh and especially one of this magnitude. My question concerns infrastructure improvements.....with your sizable investment in an area of the City that already seems to need attenton to transportation infrastructure, did you make any requests that the city provide transportation improvements nearby? The long range plan to have Crabtree Valley Avenue extend behind Soleil Center is what I was thinking of, but I am interested to know about any transit improvments accompanying this project, or if you even felt this was necessary to pursue with the City. Thanks.

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

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Will these updated plans be presented to the planning commission and/or city council? Does the addition of hotel rooms (264 to 290) and condo units -- from "no more than 40 (N&O, Nov. 13, 2005)" to 49 -- seems to constitute a design change. The old Sheraton had 315 rooms. The "3 for 2" original plan has now morphed into trading 25 hotel rooms for 49 condo units.

I'm not a developer, but I wouldn't spend over $500k to build a sales office if I had no competition and a 200+ wait list in hand for 49 units.

Also, one of the selling points and move for quick approval was due to not asking for any financial assistance. But now "it remains to be seen if the City will step in and make the necessary improvements, if not then the local businesses will have to pony up the funds." The area was a known flood plain -- why do local businesses who *created the problem* think the city should have to step in and make improvements?

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only Unincorporated Area

only

Posted
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Also, one of the selling points and move for quick approval was due to not asking for any financial assistance. But now "it remains to be seen if the City will step in and make the necessary improvements, if not then the local businesses will have to pony up the funds." The area was a known flood plain -- why do local businesses who *created the problem* think the city should have to step in and make improvements?

There's so much wrong here... but I'll go for low-hanging fruit: there was no "quick approval". That myth was debunked in this space previously. Several people insist that the project went from public announcement to City Council approval in only two weeks' time, but that insistence doesn't make it so.

Local businesses are not responsible for the city's stormwater management, and can do little to address stormwater problems without (at a minimum) the city's cooperation.

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DickyWalia Crossroads

DickyWalia

Posted
Posted

Mr. Walia, I commend you for adding your voice to this forum. For the record, I've been a skeptic of this project, and particularly whether or not there was truly a market for it. Based on your detailed post about reservations and the waiting list, for the record, I must admit I was completely wrong on that count. You surely did your homework on your target audience.

You mentioned that the Soleil Center will have some "green" design features. Could you go into more detail? Will there be any renewable energy generated onsite (i.e. photovoltaics)? Grey water re-use? Are any portions of the building design being approached with LEED criteria in mind?

Again, thanks for dropping by.

Thanks. The challenge for any Developer is always to convert Reservations into Contracts. In our other developments we have seen conversion rates as high as 80%. Let's see where the chips will fall on Soleil Center. We should be fine even at 50% conversion. The art of Developement is best described as the one who can best assess "RISK". Don't worry even the most seasoned developers can be wrong after most exhausting due diligence.

The Soleil Center is being designed with the target of "Silver LEEDS certification". Our State and City are far behind in encouraging such developments. There are impediments instead of incentives. Hopefully in the coming years all this will change and more developers will opt for LEED design and construction.

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DickyWalia Crossroads

DickyWalia

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Mr. Walia

Thanks also for taking the time to answer some questions as folks in this forum are keenly interested in developments all over Raleigh and especially one of this magnitude. My question concerns infrastructure improvements.....with your sizable investment in an area of the City that already seems to need attenton to transportation infrastructure, did you make any requests that the city provide transportation improvements nearby? The long range plan to have Crabtree Valley Avenue extend behind Soleil Center is what I was thinking of, but I am interested to know about any transit improvments accompanying this project, or if you even felt this was necessary to pursue with the City. Thanks.

Soleil Group is a strong proponent of mass transit systems incuding light rail. As a part of our development we have agreed to pay the City to improve and add a new bus stop at the traffic light. Further at site plan approval the city took a portion of our land so that the Crabtree Connector can be built. Now it is in the hands of the City of Raleigh. My understanding is that there is a strong opposition from the local residents and the City also does not have the requisite funds.

I agree with you that the connector will greatly help ease traffic at the intersection.

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DickyWalia Crossroads

DickyWalia

Posted
Posted

Will these updated plans be presented to the planning commission and/or city council? Does the addition of hotel rooms (264 to 290) and condo units -- from "no more than 40 (N&O, Nov. 13, 2005)" to 49 -- seems to constitute a design change. The old Sheraton had 315 rooms. The "3 for 2" original plan has now morphed into trading 25 hotel rooms for 49 condo units.

I'm not a developer, but I wouldn't spend over $500k to build a sales office if I had no competition and a 200+ wait list in hand for 49 units.

Also, one of the selling points and move for quick approval was due to not asking for any financial assistance. But now "it remains to be seen if the City will step in and make the necessary improvements, if not then the local businesses will have to pony up the funds." The area was a known flood plain -- why do local businesses who *created the problem* think the city should have to step in and make improvements?

First of all let's be clear that this project is NOT a NEW DEVLOPMENT but a RE-DEVELOPMENT.

We have greatly improved the current pervious to impervious ratio by taking away most surface parking and incorporating it within the building foot print. The current parking surfaces will have a new park and picnic area for the locals, guests of the hotel and the residents.

Our current density approvals are much higher than what we had originally proposed. Therefore no other approvals are necessary. We could even further increase our density if we chose to do so.

The idea of a sales center is not just to sell the units. In our case this will be the executive lounge for the owners of the units during the next two years. They will come here to meet with their interior design team, make selections, watch the progress of the project, interact with the design team and engineers, make changes to the layout of their units, have social functions to meet other unit owners, etc. This probably has never been done in Raleigh so you might not be aware of the functions of the Sales center. All high end developements like ours boast of such centers.

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

Posted
Posted

There was no "quick approval". That myth was debunked in this space previously. Several people insist that the project went from public announcement to City Council approval in only two weeks' time, but that insistence doesn't make it so.

Local businesses are not responsible for the city's stormwater management, and can do little to address stormwater problems without (at a minimum) the city's cooperation.

If going from the planning commission October 24 to approval Novebmer 1st, with little to no debate in the planning commission and City Council isn't "quick approval" for Raleigh, I don't know what is. Stating that the project wasn't fast tracked through two committees does not make that statement true. The earlier incarnation of rennovating the existing structure does not contribute to approval time of Soleil as it is now.

There is a difference between cooperation and financing. The Soleil Center was supported by then Councilman Regan because "Number one, it's not requiring any taxpayer money." Complaining about stormwater managment next to Crabtree Creek is no different than a local business complaining about airplanes after locating next to RDU airport. Reducing impervious surfaces by a fraction of an acre will not fix the problem.

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

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Posted

The idea of a sales center is not just to sell the units. In our case this will be the executive lounge for the owners of the units during the next two years. They will come here to meet with their interior design team, make selections, watch the progress of the project, interact with the design team and engineers, make changes to the layout of their units, have social functions to meet other unit owners, etc. This probably has never been done in Raleigh so you might not be aware of the functions of the Sales center. All high end developements like ours boast of such centers.

I guess this is a mistaken case of semantics.

"Sales centers" in the area are fancy, temporary structures that give the sales team a place to operate. They sell something that does not exist, but they have inventory to offer -- lots, units, whatever. Agents are a stone's throw away from the land to be sold, can offer floor plans, partial models, blah blah blah.

"Design centers" are areas where buyers can select floor coverings, counters, cabinents, wall treatments, etc. KB Homes has one of these up Glenwood in Brier Creek. They don't have to handle sales.

Neither of these have social function uses that I know of. Of the buildings downtown (Park Devaraux, Paramount, Dawson on Morgan, the Hudson, 222 Glewnood, West at North) they had sales centers because they didn't have an extensive waiting list and had units to sell and interior design has been "bring your own". It is good to see new sales tactics being brough to the market, but I think I would rather socialize with fellow tenants/owners at a museum or restaurant vs. a glorified (to the tune of $.5 M) lounge/office.

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  • 2 weeks later...
DanRNC Burg

DanRNC

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Posted

Russell Allen needs to go-he isn't the right guy to manage a rapidly growing city. He would belong more in a Garner/Knightdale type post. The Council should really recruit a high level person with experience in larger metro areas experiencing similar growth. I do believe he will be gone in the next year or two.

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RALBOI Whistle-Stop

RALBOI

Posted
Posted
Russell Allen needs to go-he isn't the right guy to manage a rapidly growing city. He would belong more in a Garner/Knightdale type post. The Council should really recruit a high level person with experience in larger metro areas experiencing similar growth. I do believe he will be gone in the next year or two.
I agree with you 100%. :thumbsup:
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tjoad Whistle-Stop

tjoad

Posted
Posted

Is this project now dead? Or just in a contant state of rest, you know kind of like Crabtree wants to be "The place to be" but refuses to do anything about it? Ouch! :dontknow:

You might want to read up a bit. Dicky Walia has been kind enough to let us know the exact progress of this project.

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