Downtown Raleigh. Greg Hatem is President, owner, CEO and manager of Empire Properties.  Greg was called a renaissance man in the Raleigh News and Observer where he was Tarheel of the Week.  He speaks Chinese and is of Lebanese descent. He has, almost singlehandedly, transformed downtown.  Some of his projects include the Capital Fitness building on North street, the Duck & Dumpling restaurant on North street, Nana’s Chop House on Davie street and the Times Bar on Hargett street.  Dan calls Greg “His Highness of Hargett Street”.

Greg’s comments were as follows - We started twelve years ago.  Our first project was Jillians.  People thought we were crazy.  Why would you want to take a warehouse building and re-develop it into something like a restaurant?  It just wasn’t being done.  I had to go to three banks to get the project done and it was actually a very small project.  The only way we got it done was to agree to a personal guarantee.  But, we did get it done and once they saw it they realized it was possible to make an impact on the downtown area.  We plodded along for a few years and did the things we felt would be helpful to downtown.  We didn’t see many people coming along to join us but then it started to become formalized when Dan came to town.

We have gone from a place where there was nothing going on at 5 o’clock in the afternoon and with a lot of empty buildings and only a restaurant or two, to a place where, over the last five years, it has become a neat, hip urban environment.  People who come downtown to Memorial Auditorium so see a show, when they start their drive home at 11 p.m., see an active and vibrant downtown.  Even in the last two years there has been a tremendous change.

I live above Raleigh Townes bar so I don’t sleep very much.  A couple of years ago the Downtown Raleigh streets, on the weekends, were pretty empty.  There was an occassional person going to work on Saturday or Sunday but not much more.  Now, at 7:30 in the morning there are people sitting out in front of the Morning Times having coffee, walking their dogs, really excellent activity.

A lot of people have gotten together and strategized on how to bring activity and business downtown.  A lot of people have invested a lot of money to open restaurants and retail shops and do things to activate the street level.  Dan and Chris and their groups have basically said “We can’t mandate it but we are going to push you really hard to do those things because you are doing what is really needed.”  People need to be encouraged to put new restaurants in with shops on the first floor as opposed to doing what we used to do which was either leave them vacant and do something upstairs or just put another office on the first floor.  Now, we have this very active first floor enivronment; espcially on Hargett street.  Now, as I said previously, people coming into downtown see life and activity.  That gets the real estate agent community interested and puts them in a position to look their clients in the eye and recommend that they live or invest in Downtown.  I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

I used to live near Lake Johnson.  I would drive to work every day and look for things to do in the evening.  There wasn’t much to do.  Now, I will go a week or two without even driving a car because I don’t need to.  My truck is sitting in the deck.  Typically, I walk to work, I walk to a restaurant, and if I need to buy some groceries there are two Farmer’s Markets and a CVS drugstore as well as other shops around.  You really can pretty much get everything you need and it continues to get better.  A new grocery store has opened up on Peace street. 

We need for the real estate broker community to believe in Downtown.  Before now, when people asked agents about downtown they most likely told them there was little or nothing to see or do and that it was not a safe place to live.  In many ways that was true.  It is no longer that way.  Now, there are many homes to choose from and much affordable housing.  You can walk three blocks from here and get a house for $150,000.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: wwwJohnFish.com  

Raleigh - Recent data with regard to the Triangle office market vacancy rate is very positive to some and not so positive to others.  During the three months ending September 30, the Triangle office vacancy rate increased for the first time since 2004.  The vacancy rate of Triangle offices increased to 13.2% at the end of the third quarter from 12.9% at the end of June.  However, much of the increase can be attributed to the 340,000 square feet of new space added during the quarter.  New offerings were 73% leased when completed which was in line with previous quarters.  The net absorption (total space leased minus total space vacated) was 311,874 square feet or 15% below the quarterly average of the previous two years.  None-the-less, large new employers, such as Fidelity, are expected to fill much of this space.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

Triangle Jobs to Increase. The number of jobs in the Triangle area are projected to increase by 33,000 this year.  This would be the largest increase since the late 1990s.  During September Triangle employment showed an increase of 4,195 from August.  The largest increases were in information technology, professional services, biotechnology and the pharmaceutical sectors.

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

Downtown Raleigh. Our Ambassadors are known as the guys in purple shirts.  You will see them riding around on their bicycles and walking as well.  Yesterday, when it was raining, they each walked around all day with two umbrellas.  One was to keep themselves dry and the other to keep someone dry who had forgotten their umbrella. They offer them an umbrella and walk them to wherever they are going.  We try to produce this value added service in downtown Raleigh, a service that is not provided anywhere else in the state.  Our ambassadors are trained to proactively identify people who need something.  They try to spot people who may be looking for a place to eat, the Court House or some other building whose location they are not certain of, or whatever.  They will ask you what you are looking for or what you need and then try to provide the assistance needed.  They are really hospitality ambassadors who provide a concierge type service.  

Our clean team team rides around making certain the sidewalk environment downtown is free of debris, broken glass, cigarette butts and the like.  We have 110 square blocks downtown to keep clean and that is a big job.  We  named or mechanical trash picker-upper KIRBY.  We had a naming contest for it and its something we are proud of.  In 2005 our clean team picked up over 47,000 pounds of trash.  We romoved over 200 incidences of graffiti and we distributed over 30,000 maps and guides of Downtown Raleigh to visitors.

We also provide a protective escort service.  If you are working late in the downtown area and you want to walk to your car, there is a number you can call and they will send someone out to your business or residence to walk you to your car.  It is a free service we provide from 7 AM to midnight six days a week.  All of these services are free to the public and provided as a courtesy by downtown property owners and organizations. 

By 2008 we will have close to 8000 units of housing in Downtown Raleigh.  The number I use is the one mile radius figure.  This equates to over 10,000 residents living in Downtown Raleigh.  What does that mean for the urban lifestyle?  It puts us over the threshold number that many retailers view as the number of residents needed before they will invest in the downtown area.  That means that we will start to see more things like hardware stores and grocery stores.  These are central services that people need to exist in the urban center if they are not going to have to get in their car and drive somewhere to get the goods and services needed.  We are not going to see any high end boutiques for a few more years but we are approaching the point where we can support real retail in our downtown.

As to employment, we currently have in excess of 30,000 people working in Downtown Raleigh. Among them are several very large employers that include such companies as Progress Energy, The News and Observer and, of course, our many State Government Offices. In the last year we have had five major companies announce a move of their corporate headquarters to Downtown Raleigh which will add an additional 3,000 to 4,000 jobs.

Many major magazines continue to boost the Triangle area.  We have recently been called the number one place in the United States to locate and operate a technology company.  We have also been called the nation’s hottest job market and the best place to live and work in America.  What Downtown Raleigh adds to this is the possibility for lifestyle alternatives.  You don’t have to live in the suburbs.  You can work and live downtown and not have to endure a daily commute.

Something we do very well is parks and restaurants.  You can go to a different place for lunch and dinner every day for two months without having to go to the same place twice.  Lots of variety and lots of options.  We are already the Triangle’s capital for dining and entertainment.  We can offer unique dining experiences you can’t find anywhere else in the area.  We also do cultural entertainment very well.  At the Performing Arts Center there are more than 750 performances.  The Lion King is currently playing, evey day, to sold out audiances.  Last year we saw the announcement of two new museums to be built downtown. 

We work with the City do present outdoor events.  We do First Night which in the City of Raleigh’s New Year’s eve festival.  We do Arts Splosure which is an arts and cultural festival.  It is held in Moore Square each year and has been for more than 25 years.  We do free movies in Moore Square on Saturdays.  You bring your picnic lunch and a blanket and spread out and watch a quality film. There are over 75 events per year free to the public.  We have now started a farmers market on Wednesdays in Moore Square.  It has all locally grown produce, grown within 100 miles of Raleigh.    

The resulting importance of all this is that Downtown Raleigh become a net economic generator so that it produces more taxes than it consumes and can help subsidize services throughout the rest of Raleigh.  In the year 2000, when the last tax evaluation was done, all of Downtown Raleigh was valued at about $640 million.  That figure, with the addition of all we have talked about today will, within the next six years, quadruple that amount.  This is a boon not only to Downtown Raleigh but to Raleigh as a whole.  The new photos you will soon see of Raleigh should really prove to be a source of civic pride to everyone in the area.

                                                                To Be Continued

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

Downtown Raleigh.  The next speaker was the Deputy Director of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, Chris Larson.  Again, he was doing a slide presentation.  Therefore, I have re-arranged his remarks to make them more understandable since you don’t have the benefit of the photos to go along with his comments.

My name is Chris Lason with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.  The Downtown Raleigh Alliance is an independent 501c-3 non-profit organization.  We function as a conduit between the public and private sectors.  We work to represent the private sector to the public sector to work toward collaborative solutions to needs and problems.  I live in downtown Raleigh and I walked here today.  I walked to my office, picked up my projector and carried it here.  There are opportunities for anybody who wants to live downtown to live downtown.  I would like to tell you a bit about what we do as an organization.  Ultimately, what we want to do is keep downtown in the minds of the people downtown. 

We wanted to develop a new symbol for downtown Raleigh that really encapsulated a new place.  We have a new logo you will see all over the downtown area.  You will see it on trash cans, banners - everywhere.  When folks are downtown we want them to know not only that they are downtown but where they are downtown.  Inside the logo is an homage of each of downtown Raleigh’s five interdependent yet independent districts: The warehouse district is symbolized by red.  We thought red would remind people of brick warehouses.  The color for the Fayetteville street district, where you are today, is purple.  Purple was chosen because we feel that North Carolina’s main street is deserving of a royal hue.  Green, for Moore Square Park, denotes camping. We chose blue for the Capital District which is the State Government complex.  Last there is Glenwood South.  We chose a trendy orangeish color for it. That, then, is the new symbol for Downtown Raleigh.

As an organization there are many services we provide.  We have a total of seven full time staff and a group of about twelve Ambassadors.  They are the base line service of our organization.  If we can’t keep downtown Raleigh clean and safe we are wasting our time on everything else.  There are two things everyone wants to know about downtown; is it clean and is it safe!  If what we do allows us to say YES to both of these questions we are doing pretty well.  That program alone comprises about fifty percent of our total budget.  Secondly we have the branding and marketing of Downtown Raleigh.  We operate the site - - www.downtownraleigh.org - -.  We feeel it is a totally comprehensive site that serves a number of different patrons.  We collaborate with the City of Raleigh to create the site.  It will tell you everything about what to do in Downtown Raleigh, how to develop Downtown Raleigh, the new projects that are on the way, how to find parking in Downtown Raleigh and more.  It is a great site that serves many different needs.

We work in all phases of economic development.  We work in business recruitment so that everything from working to attract larger companies downtown to smaller businesses, such as restaurants, are covered.  We work to try and fill those vacant spaces that exist and to help create a more vital City Center experience.

Downtown event production is our opportunity to bring people downtown by the tens of thousands to help showcase downtown Raleigh.  We also have an outreach that works with all of our constituent businesses in downtown Raleigh to make certain their needs are being met.  We do a great deal of research to be certain we have as much information as possible about downtown Raleigh so we can give accurate answers to the dozens of calls we get every day about it.  Lastly are the regulatory issues.  We work with the City to perform the processes that constrain business.  We work to try and help provide solutions that will provide a better business environment.

                                                                       To Be Continued

 John Fish (919) 696-3474    Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com    Website: www.JohnFish.com 

Downtown Raleigh.   As to some of the larger projects, RBC has just broken ground on their new office building.  They sold 139 condominiums in 3 days!! (my emphasis added).  THey took 130% reservations.  There were people standing in line to buy in case anyone wasn’t able to complete their purchase.  The building also has 270,000 square feet of office space, eight levels of parking deck within the building - enclosed in glass so that you will never know it’s there -, and 17,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.  The City and Highwoods Properties, together, are building a 1,000 space parking deck one block to the east between Wilmington and City Market.  Last week Progress Energy issued an RFP to develop all the land they own around that parking deck.  They will be getting responses back during the next month or two and then making those public as they see fit.  There is a lot of additional development being spurred by the new Progress Energy headquarters and the RBC headquarters buildings.

In 2009 people will ask why the Fayetteville street project was so important.  At the north end of Fayetteville street there are about 1.25 million visitors at the Museum of Science and History and the Archives Building annually.  When the Convention Center opens it, along with the Performing Arts Center, will draw about the same number each year to the sourth end.  If we can get these two groups to cross, that makes for a great retail environment.  On Fayetteville street, itself, there will be 525 housing units with 700 to 750 people calling it their home address.  By 2009 Dan believes the street will have more bars and restaurants then Glenwood South does.  There will be 875 hotel rooms.  If you figure a 65% occupancy rate you have 250,000 additional annual guests on Fayetteville street.  Lastly, the new office headquarters of RBC will add substantial pedestrian traffic to the street both from those who will work in the building and those who will live in it.  Within one block of Fayetteville street there will be 10,000 parking spaces so there will not be a parking problem. All told there will be 42,000 parking spaces downtown and only about 30,000 people that work there.

As to housing we have the new York and Trammel Crow project on the Bradshaw parking lot just to the west of City Hall.  It is 207 units of housing.  There is the 170 unit condo called the West, 40 units on North street in Glenwood South and 48 units across from the Paramount; which is the first green residential building.  Then, there is the new Contemporary Art Museum.  Air rights over the museum will be sold for housing.  This is on Harrington and Hargett streets.  They will break ground for an apartment building on Tucker street in about two weeks which is also in Glenwood South.  There is another 850 parking spaces that will be wrapped with 60 or so residential units.  There is Ted and David Reynolds project that is nearing completion on Lane and Harrington.  There is the Roland Gammons project.  222 Glenwood just broke ground.  And, there are others.  This is not all just expensive condos.  We also have four projects downtown representing an investment of some $200 million of affordable housing. 

When you add it all up, right now there are 831 units of housing downtown.  In the pipeline, which means approved by the council but yet to break ground, is an additional 1,263 units.  In the planning stages are another 500 units.  When Dan got here six years ago, what he and the Planning Department generally consider to be downtown had about 1,500 residents.  There are now 2,500 and when all that has just been mentioned has been accomplished there will be 8,500.  That does not include such areas as South Park, Oakwood and Boylan Heights.

From the time the Liveable Streets Plan was adopted until 2010, when these projects have been completed, more than $2 billion will have been invested in the 110 block downtown area.  All of this will have been leveraged by the first and only $10 million downtown project financed by our property taxes, namely, the first phase of Fayetteville street.

This concludes Dan’s remarks and portion of the presentation.    To be continued

John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

No, I didn’t fall off of the world last week but there were times when it felt like I might. The North Raleigh Keller Williams office moved to its new building, the office furniture was several days late in arriving, the new electronic system had the “to be expected” amount of bugs and the office I moved into was too small so I had to move to another which, of course, is at the other end of the building!  However, during the “black hole” week the world continued to turn.  On Wednesday, October 18 at 7 a.m. I attended a breakfast meeting at which there was an in-depth discussion of the future of Downtown Raleigh. It was sponsored by BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust Co.) and featured several of downtown’s key movers and shakers.

The first speaker was Dan Douglas who is the Director of the Urban Design Center.  Dan has a BS in Design and a Masters in city and regional planning from Clemson University and, for the last 3 1/2 years has been the Director of Raleigh’s Urban Design Center. He wrote the Liveable Streets Downtown Master Plan, the South-end Master Plan and he facilitated the design process for the reopening of Fayetteville Street.  He is the senior planner of the working group for the new convention center and hotel and in July of this year he was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship.  The organization that awards the Eisenhower Fellowships selects a very special few people from all over the country to research a particular interest they have.  Those chosen travel the world is search of information that will help them reach their desired goals.  Dan traveled throughout Europe looking at urban design issues and brought those issues and the approaches various cities have used to solve their problems back to Raleigh.  Dan also has a long standing relationship with the international Making Cities Liveable Council helping to organize twelve councels in the U.S. and Europe.  As Dan was showing slides during his comments, I cannot translate the visuals directly to audio so the following is a partially direct, partially transcribed and interpreted overview of his comments.

The Liveable Streets Master Plan is the plan guiding downtown Raleigh’s development which consists of five main parts: Build the new convention center, reopen Fayetteville Street, build a convention center hotel, improve pedestrian environment, and undertake regulatory reform to make it easier to develop and build in the downtown area. Dan started with one assistant and now has six. 

The north end of downtown Raleigh includes the Governor’s Mansion.  It has a state project that puts 23 acres back into the private sector with L & R Development out of Miami.  There will be about 500 new housing units built over the next five year period.  This was approved by the Councel on October 17 (the day before this meeting).  At the south end of downtown the city is doing a lot of its work.  The second phase of the Fayetteville street project will open it all the way to South street while the third phase, which they have yet to undertake, would take it Lenore street or create a big urban plaza that would terminate at the end of the street.  They have not decided which it will be.  They will be working on that project during 2007 and 2008.  The city holds a number of sites at the south end of downtown.  There is the old convention center site and on the west side is the new Marriott hotel.  On the east is a 20 story office tower and a 15 story residential project.  Two sites will be sold in 2007 to continue the development pattern.  All of this puts what was non-taxable city govenment property back on the tax roles.  Underneath this entire site will be a 2000 space underground parking deck.  It is under construction now.

One block beyond the new convention center the city purchased land for the future expansion of the convention center.  In the ten years or so it takes to make that decision they want to position that site as the downtown festival site which will be for concerts, the circus, games, anything where a big city block is needed.  This will be a beautiful site to do all of those activities.

The new convention center will have a 150,000 square foot exhibition hall.  It will be completely underground so that in the future, when you drive on Salisbury street, you will actually be driving on the roof of the exhibit hall.  It’s basically like burying a super Wall-Mart.  There were about 900 dump trucks a day leaving that site for eight months straight.  That was a move of 350,000 cubic yards of dirt.  The Marriott hotel is just across from it.  It is connected, underground, to the convention center.  There will be the new coffee shop, the lobby, the bar, the restaurant the port cachet drop off.  All of the hotel’s meeting rooms are on the side facing the convention center. 

Site #1 just across from the Marriott and on the east side of the old convention center will have the office tower and the residential tower. The residential tower will have 155 units, 200,000 square feet of new retail space, restaurants, a bar and perhaps a two screen cinema.  Site #4 should shortly be sold to Mr. Hatem for his project which will be a 120 room hotel with 80 condominiums on top, meeting space, and a signature restaurant on the ground floor.

                                                                           To be continued

 John Fish (919) 696-3474   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com    Web Site:  www.JohnFish.com

Raleigh Housing Market.   Raleigh and the rest of the Research Triangle area is blessed to have a strong housing market.  However, since anywhere from 30% to 50% (depending on the particular area in question) of the buyers come from out of the immediate area and as many of those people are have problems in getting their homes sold, our market is softer than usual and we have more inventory than we have had since 2004. 

Existing home sales in various cities around the nation, on a year to year basis, are as follows:  Boston -9%,   Las Vegas - -20%, Miami -23%, Phoenix - 31%, Sacramento -35%, San Diego -22%, Sarasota -29%, Washington -21%

Days on Market in various communities are: Boston 108 days in 2006 vs. 58 in 2005, Detroit 103 days in 2006 vs. 75 in 2005, Las Vegas 55 days in 2006 vs. 46 in 2005, Miami 67 days in 2006 vs. 47 in 2005, Phoenix 53 days in 2006 vs. 21 days in 2005, Los Angeles 54 days in 2006 vs. 34 days in 2005 and Washington 48 days in 2006 vs. 27 days in 2005.

The North Carolina State Fair is in Raleigh and is underway.  I am not one who has much interest in the zillion rides and bicarb food so I say away from it.  I understand a turkey drum stick goes for $7!  Ouch!  Nuff of that.

Our north Raleigh Keller Williams office is moving to a new building tomorrow.  I spent yesterday doing pitch out and pack up.  This morning I am at it again.  Hopefully, by Tuesday or Wednesday I will be able to start posting again.

John Fish (919) - 696-3474    Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Web Site: www.JohnFish.com

Raleigh Parade of Homes.  Two of the three highest priced Parade Homes I suggested you see in my last post won the top two medals. The gold medal went to the DenMark Construction home in Radcliffe while the silver went to the Jayco Construction home in The Overlook at Chatsworth.  Congratulations to all the winners in all the price ranges and to those with perfect scores.

With regard to million dollar homes (and above) Stacey Anfindsen, an appraiser with Birch Appraisal Group in Cary, says that 130 homes sold in Wake, Durham, Chatham, Franklin, Orange and Johnston counties during 2005 whose closing price was $1 million and above.  That is slightly above the number I come up with but I bow to his knowledge and resources in that area.  Through October 10 of this year my figures indicate that 126 have sold in that princely range and that another 27 are under contract.  Thus, another record breaking year for the area is assured.  On the flip side of that coin, there are 271 homes of $1 million plus currently listed on the Triangle Multiple Listing Service in the above referenced counties.  For those of you who are familiar with the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill areas you might find it interesting to know where the majority of these homes are located - by subdivision.

Raleigh - Wakefield 26, Linville 7, Sheffield 6, North Ridge 6, The Registry 5, Chatsworth 4, Devon 4, Faircroft 3, Belmont Ridge 3, The Barony 3, Stonemoor 3 and Brier Creek 3.  Raleigh - Inside the Beltline - Hayes Barton 9, Budleigh 6, Country Club Hills 4, Lakestone 3, and White Oak 3.

Cary - Regency Park Estates 4 and Preston 3

Chapel Hill - Governor’s Club 20 

Durham - Colvard Farms 7 and Croasdaile Farm 4

To those who want to build in Raleigh there is much to choose from. Hasentree is just underway with some 600 lots.  About 90 have already been spoken for.  The gated community of Linville still has several excellent lots remaining in the new section.  The gated community of The Barony has many excellent lots to select from.  The Registry still has some good lots available.   If you want to build in Cary - NOW - is the time to do your home work - OR - have me do it for you.  Creedmoor Partners,those good folks who brought you Devon, Linville, Stonemoor, Birklands, Chatsworth, Olde Creedmoor, The Moorlands, Traemoor Manor, Hasentree and on and on are at it again in a CHOICE - CHOICE - CHOICE location in Cary called the Renaissance at Regency. It is next to the Koka Booth Amphetheatre and Symphony Lake and just down the road from Regency Park Estates.  It has 34 home sites.  For more information call me at 696-3474. 

John Fish (919) 696-3474  Email: marvmax@mindspring.com  Web Site: www.JohnFish.com

Raleigh Parade of Homes.  For me the problem with the Parade of Homes is finding time to see all the homes I NEED to see as well as those I want to see.  I must admit that, like most other people, I look at the most expensive homes first and work my way down from there.  If you have waited until the last week-end to do your viewing I would recommend three homes to you. In recommending them I must say that I have not seen all of the high priced ones.  As all three are furnished you get more bang for your buck - so to speak.  The first is the SilverCrest Parade Lukemia Lymphoma Society home in Linville.  As I commented on it in a previous post the only thing I will say at this point is that it should be on you “must see” list.

The second home is the Dan-Mark construction home at 10620 Marion Stone Way in Radcliffe. The list price is $2,175,000.  I am advised that if you like the furnishings they are available as well.  The whole package, with furnishings, is $2,500,000.  The home has many highlights.  The semi-hidden bar area with its rear entry iron gate will be fun to use whether the drinks served by the eventual owners are hard or soft.  The master bedroom’s full sized sitting area is luxurious, sunny, shares a see-through fireplace with the master and looks out on a tree filled back lot and a lanai that just begs to be used.  The craftsmanship of the master bath cabinetry is mouth watering.  The summer kitchen off of the cafe (breakfast area if you will) sports a built in cooking unit, fireplace and wood ceiling with fan.  The second floor rec room and bar open to the landing area and stairway which provides a truly unique look.  Nuff said.  See it!

The third home, by Jayco Construction, is at 6033 Over Hadden Court in the Overlook at Chatsworth.  Features that caught my eye, in particular, started with the library.  It would be a great place to do your reading on a rainey day or to listen to the Met on Saturday afternoons.  The master bathroom is beautifully laid out and it has space to move around in; a luxury too many luxury homes don’t provide!  The lower level has all the ”goodies” you would expect - game room, theatre, spa, exercise room, and more.  Another feature I like is the rock waterfall at the end of the swimming pool.  I would really enjoy a pool but I would also like to have something worth looking at when not using it.  This pool and waterfall provide that view.

The first home in Hasentree, by Mark Massengill, while a good three or four weeks away from completion can be walked through.    

A couple of presale homes I wish could have been on the Parade are a long low home Steve Dilger is building in the Overlook at Chatsworth and Richard Tilley’s magnificent Mediterranean style home on two lots in Wakefield Plantation.  Oh well, you can’t have everything.  

John Fish (919-696-3474)   Email: marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com