My first Downtown Raleigh Condo Experience ~ The Residences at Quorum (Cary: for sale, real estate)

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party of a friend who recently moved into his brand new condo on Jones Street in Downtown Raleigh. The name of the Condo Building is The Residences at Quorum. Man, the views from his corner condo where amazing! He has corner windows in his living room that go from the floor to the ceiling (10'). There is a huge Terrace on the 7th flloor that overlooks downtown that is essentially a walkable "Green Roof" with a large grass area. From the Terrace you can see Second Empire, Blue Martini, Naper Tandys, and the 42nd Street Oyster Bar. The views from the condo itself are just as impressive. While sitting on a couch in the living room I could actually see the lites from North Hills and Cameron Village from that vantage point.

Hanging out in a downtown Condo was a totally new "Raleigh Experience" for me. I can definitely see the attrraction to that kind of lifestyle. The only thing I could not get over was the price. There are many different condos going up downtown in various price points, but from what I gather from my friend, his 2 bed 2.5 bath 1500 sq foot condo was priced around $340 per sq/ft ! I love those condos, but that is too rich for my blood. I sure am glad I have a friend to visit there!

Here are some links if you want to read more about The Residences at Quorum or see some of the views from the building.

The Residences at Quorum Center :: Property Overview

Views from the Quorum Center, Raleigh, NC - RaleighSkyline.com - May 19, 2006

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party of a friend who recently moved into his brand new condo on Jones Street in Downtown Raleigh. The name of the Condo Building is The Residences at Quorum. Man, the views from his corner condo where amazing! He has corner windows in his living room that go from the floor to the ceiling (10'). There is a huge Terrace on the 7th flloor that overlooks downtown that is essentially a walkable "Green Roof" with a large grass area. From the Terrace you can see Second Empire, Blue Martini, Naper Tandys, and the 42nd Street Oyster Bar. The views from the condo itself are just as impressive. While sitting on a couch in the living room I could actually see the lites from North Hills and Cameron Village from that vantage point.

Hanging out in a downtown Condo was a totally new "Raleigh Experience" for me. I can definitely see the attrraction to that kind of lifestyle. The only thing I could not get over was the price. There are many different condos going up downtown in various price points, but from what I gather from my friend, his 2 bed 2.5 bath 1500 sq foot condo was priced around $340 per sq/ft ! I love those condos, but that is too rich for my blood. I sure am glad I have a friend to visit there!

Here are some links if you want to read more about The Residences at Quorum or see some of the views from the building.

The Residences at Quorum Center :: Property Overview

Views from the Quorum Center, Raleigh, NC - RaleighSkyline.com - May 19, 2006

In my opinion, that's just a little to pricey for Raleigh and for NC in general. Sure the developer is going to get people to pay that price, but you can go down to FLA and get one of the condos in DT Miami, Jacksonville or Tampa on the river/bay or on the beach and get views that are worth that price. I just can't seeing paying that price for a DT condo in NC but people will and do b/c it's a new concept for NC and that appeals to people.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by he's so hott

In my opinion, that's just a little to pricey for Raleigh and for NC in general. Sure the developer is going to get people to pay that price, but you can go down to FLA and get one of the condos in DT Miami, Jacksonville or Tampa on the river/bay or on the beach and get views that are worth that price. I just can't seeing paying that price for a DT condo in NC but people will and do b/c it's a new concept for NC and that appeals to people.

I agree 100%. I love Raleigh, I really do and I understand that high-rise condos are expensive to build, but I just can't fathom dropping that kind of coin to live in downtown Raleigh. For that kind of money you could get an awesome historic home very conveinent to downtown. The crazy thing is if you do a search of the MLS you will see several units in this building up for sale. Some of the larger ones are listed at $1 mil +!!!! ANd on top of that their are hundred of dollars in condo fees each month. Like I said, I am downtown Raleigh's biggest fan, but even I don't think it is worth it. FOrtunately some more affordable condos are planned, but I understand that most of those have waiting lists as they seem to get snatched up quickly.

[sweetana3]

In Indianapolis, the condos they are building on College start at 400,000 and go to over 1.5 million. And only the top ones dont look right at a horrid view. There is a derelict church across the street and a warehouse on one other side. This is only one building amoung at least 5 that I can think of right now. There is some sign that this price range is overbuilt but the buyers were there for the first ones.

The only ones that are less are the building conversions and the square footage is much less (with very tall narrow rooms).

[clockwork]

At least they aren't trying to charge Manhattan's $1000 per sq. ft.

[BDuncan]

I think it's great that people are moving downtown, especially in highrise condos, regardless of their price. I can just as easily point to $500k+ single family homes located in Cameron Park, Oakwood, or Boylan Heights. The people that live there probably could buy something 2-3 times the size out in the county, but are willing to pay the extra prices for the proximity to the new DTR nightlife. To some people, it's worth it to be within walking distance to bars, restaurants, museums, etc. And, folks that may not have $400-$500k to shell out for a condo will soon be able to rent nice apartments downtown as well.

[miamiblue]

Originally Posted by BDuncan

I think it's great that people are moving downtown, especially in highrise condos, regardless of their price. I can just as easily point to $500k+ single family homes located in Cameron Park, Oakwood, or Boylan Heights. The people that live there probably could buy something 2-3 times the size out in the county, but are willing to pay the extra prices for the proximity to the new DTR nightlife. To some people, it's worth it to be within walking distance to bars, restaurants, museums, etc. And, folks that may not have $400-$500k to shell out for a condo will soon be able to rent nice apartments downtown as well.

Count me in as one of those renters. We just found a great place in a 100+ year old quad building that is walking distance to so many things! When we moved here a year ago, we hoped to find a place like this, but didnt' have enough time to look and find what we wanted. Both of us had lived in older apartments walking distance to shops, restaurants, and nightlife before we moved to NC, and really wanted to do the same here with the budding downtown. So for the past year we have been living in suburbia out in NW Raleigh. Don't get me wrong, it has been nice living out there, but it just seemed like we were always coming downtown to do things. So we are very excited about moving into our new place! If I could afford to buy something downtown, I would in a heartbeat. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I will rent for now until we figure out where we could buy and still be happy.

There was a more affordable condo project that was recently changed to rentals instead (712 Tucker, I believe). The company saw that the condo market seemed to be cooling due to higher interest rates/mortgage industry issues, and that there was hardly any rental inventory in the downtown area. I have no doubt they will have no problem renting those apartments once they are built. The downtown area definitely needs more mid-range rentals.

[BDuncan]

Glad you mentioned that. In fact, the Tucker units were supposed to be more affordable, too (well, affordability being relative for the market, but nowhere near $500k for a 2BR). I think the idea is to keep them affordable for renters as well.

[TitanLH]

Now that there's a lot more approved and planned condos coming to downtown Raleigh, do you think it would be a wise move to invest in a condo and assume that the city will improve downtown life in the next few years? I'm a recent college graduate looking to invest in real estate but I'm still looking at potential areas in Raleigh/Cary.

[suncat]

It seems awfully expensive, compared to a house. Not only is it hard to predict what the prices will do, but if more highrise condos keep being built, the views will be unpredictable, too.

Here in Portland's trendy Pearl District, they've been building condo towers for the past 10 years. The first ones had magnificent views of the bridges and mountains; however, as more got built, those views turned into views of the buildings across the street. I'm puzzled as to why people keep paying $500k - $1 million for these, but they do.

I can see this lifestyle appealing to empty nesters, who want to downsize and have the city at their feet. They'd have equity from houses, so enough money to plunk down on one of these condos.