2011-12-30

Galloway Ridge at Fearrington Expanding

Fearrington Village, Duke University and Drucker & Falk announce a $102 million renovation and expansion to the Galloway Ridge facility. The senior living retirement home complex is located south of Chapel Hill along US-Hwy 15-501 in Chatham County. The plans call for:

66 independent living
14 additional assisted living
24 skilled nursing apartments
15-unit memory care wing
on-site primary care clinic
expanded Duke Center for Living fitness center
300 residents, will add 100 more, 200 employees, adding 50 jobs

Positions to be added include nurses, certified nursing assistants, dining servers and housekeepers.

Galloway Ridge at Fearrington

2011-12-21

Rams Plaza Purchase And Renovation

A prime shopping center in Chapel Hill, NC has been purchased for $13.35 million by a New York real estate development company. The Kalikow Group is partnering with Argus Development Group, which will manage the property and improvements. Updating the 113,000-sqft plaza's exterior will cost $1.5 million

Chapel Hill shopping center's prime location is on US-Hwy 15-501 aka Fordham Boulevard. The 30-year-old Rams Plaza tenants include Food Lion and CVS Pharmacy, among others.

2011-12-20

Aydan Court Developer Sells Out

Developer Carol Ann Zinn has sold the 5-acres off NC-Hwy 54 to the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation after failing to gain approval from the town. Buying the project site for $1.14 million in 2007 and selling it for $410,000 was a significant loss, even below the county appraisal of $690,000.

Zinn had envisioned three, three-story buildings with 90 condominiums when she most recently sought approval for the project last summer. She said she was filling a niche for homes under $400,000 and the condos' stormwater-runoff design would do less harm to the environment than conventional housing.

Public hearings consistently brought out critics who said the environmentally sensitive site, in the Jordan Lake watershed next to state game lands, was the wrong location. The site, part of Little Creek Bottomlands and Slopes, is a natural heritage area, a state designation for land with significant plant and animal habitat.

Read more at The News & Observer

2011-10-11

Greenbridge Debt Is Sold Off

Bank of America has sold the debt on the 10-story Greenbridge condominium property in downtown Chapel Hill to an out-of-state investment firm. The loan was part of a sale of a larger portfolio of 29 "performing and non-performing commercial real estate loans" in 16 states with a total unpaid principal balance of $880 million. The buyer of the loan is CSMI Investors, a Delaware company formed by WL Ross & Co., Invesco Advisers, Square Mile Capital Management and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds.

The $56 million project was financed with a three-year $43.25 million construction loan. Bank of America balked at paying final bills that came in $1.6 million over budget. After contractors filed $7.9 million in liens, the bank began foreclosure proceedings in April. At that point, about $29 million was outstanding on the construction loan.

Greenbridge, an environmentally innovative project on West Rosemary Street, has 97 condominiums and retail space in connected seven- and 10-story buildings. Only 37 of the 97 units had sold when the bank froze sales.

Read more at newsobserver

2011-09-30

Charterwood Ok By Planning Board

Charterwood, a mixed-use development proposed for Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
The proposed project includes six buildings with up to 154 condos and townhouses and 73,000-sqft of office and retail space on 15.7-acres

The tallest building is proposed to be six stories, or 78 feet tall, about the same height as Aloft Hotel in East 54. The Chapel Hill Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend approval of the project, but only if the maximum height was reduced to 54 feet.

Because neighbors have presented a valid protest petition, the project will require a three-quarters majority of council votes for approval. The petition presented by neighbors of the project represents owners of 43 percent of the property within a 100-foot buffer of the proposed rezoning.

Read More at the Carrboro Citizen

2011-09-26

Shortbread Lofts Proposed

David Rooks, who represents the developer, is proposing to close the Dawson Place Alley right of way behind the old Ham's Restaurant building and Mediterranean Deli.
The mixed-use project could include retail, commercial and residential space.

2011-09-13

University Square Redevelopment Changes Proposed

The Mixed Use Development being studied by Cousins Properties located at 123 West Franklin Street, has been changed with public input. The existing Granville Towers student housing is not being included, leaving half the 12-acre site available to use. The goal has always been to better integrate the entire site into a more pedestrian friendly downtown, thus razing the retail portions is the focus now.

The 3 new buildings would include:
40,000-sqft of retail space
275,000-sqft of office space
90,000-sqft of flex-space
150,000-sqft of additional apartments
1,000-space underground parking garage