Triangle, North Carolina.  GSK Layoffs Coming - Siemens To Add Jobs.  

Zebulon - The Glaxo-SmithKline Zebulon production and packaging facility will lose about 70 jobs during the next 60 days.  Although the number has not been disclosed, their Research Triangle Park faciliity has been seeing some cutbacks since October.  It has also let go temporary workers and contractors at the Zebulon plant.  Regulatory delays in several new products and competition from generic drugs my result in further cuts.

Cary - Siemens Medical Solutions will create approximately 300 jobs - - over the next five years.  It manufactures patient-monitoring systems and medical gear.  The new jobs will be in the service and training areas.  Siemens reports that the jobs will pay an average of about $73,000 per year.  Siemens will start adding the new jobs in 2009.

Raleigh - Wake Crossings Plaza vote coming up.  The Raleigh City Council will vote on whether or not to approve the Wake Crossings Plaza.  The 53,000 square feet of office and retail space was first proposed five years ago.  The Comprehensive Planning committee has approved it so the City Council will probably follow suit.  The center is on four acres off of Mitchell Mill Road east of Forestville Road. 

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Is Everyone In Wake County Sick?   Because of explosive growth in Wake County and all of the Triangle area there is great demand for more and more medical facilities.  WakeMed, Rex and Duke seem bent on seeing to it that it is provided.  Expansion to the tune of $249 million is planned between WakeMed and Rex near their main facilities.  WakeMed Health & Hospitals says the tab for an inpatient facility at its’ main New Bern Avenue location should cost about $99 million.  Rex Healthcare wants a $150 million outpatient facility across from its’ main campus on Blue Ridge Road.  The medical folks talk about hospitals as if they were Universities.  Considering all the training that goes on in them I suppose that isn’t too far fetched.  At any rate the Rex project calls for a 130,000 square foot three-story building that would include urgent-care services, labs, diagnostic imaging equipment and operating rooms.  There will be 85,000 square feet of offices and a 1,000 space parking deck.  Completion is targeted for 2012.

The WakeMed expansion calls for a four-story 168,000 square-foot building (in the background do you hear the faint strains of “Anything you can do I can do better”?).  It would provide 102 medical-surgery, intensive care, rehabilitation and pediatric beds.  There would also build a 1,200 car parking deck. 

WakeMed, Rex and Duke University Health System have opened a dozen or more outpatient centers around the Triangle during the last two years and indicate that more are on the way. 

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  New Numbers Not Nice.  Well — whether or not they are nice depends on your point of view; namely the growth vs. no growth folks.  So, how do the numbers stack up?  For one thing there were 5,930 new students in 2007 vs 7,568 in 2006 - a 22% decline.  I would have to side with those who think that was a good thing.  It certainly helped relieve some of the pressure on the schools.  Housing construction permits in Wake County totaled 10,384 in 2007 down 7.5% from 2006.  If you build homes or work for those who do that is not good to hear.  Raleigh added nearly 15,000 new residents last year but the rate of new people arriving per day slowed during the second half to 35 per day vs. 48 per day during the first half.

Wake counties population should top 850,000 by the end of 2008 and 1 million within the next five years.  Statistics show that since 2000 Wake was the eighth fastest growing county in the nation for counties having a population of 500,000 or more.  Projections call for 1.5 million people to call it home by 2030.  Vehicle registrations from 2000 to 2007 increased by 33% to more than 700,000.  New Triangle jobs In 2007 totaled 14,600.  Two-thirds of that was in Raleigh and Cary while the balance was in and around Durham.  It is said that you can make numbers do just about anything you want them to do.  If you think in terms of the people who continue to arrive on Wake’s doorstep you could easily become convinced that 2 plus 2 does equal 5!

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

Durham, North Carolina.  “Old Bull” Snorts Again!  The American Tobacco building in Durham known as “Old Bull” was built in 1874.  It is close to downtown Durham and is only a couple of blocks from another Durham icon the Durham Bulls baseball park.  Located at the corner of Pettigrew and Blackwell streets the building has both old South and national history as well.  Prior to “Old Bull” being built there was other tobacco history associated with the site.  John Green lived at that location in the 1860s and produced his Genuine Durham Smoking Tobacco.  He used a bull as the symbol of his product.  The company that followed him built the “Old Bull” factory.  The complex grew until it covered 14 acres.  In 1899 American Tobacco purchased the plant and operated it until they closed it in 1987.  As with many other early 20th century businesses that disappeared because of new technolgy, the supply of cheaper foreign labor, etc. the building sat empty for many years with only the ghosts of past history to recommend it.  Anyone old enough to recall World War II days vividly remember the billboard, newspaper, magazine and radio tobacco adds of the time and the many radio programs the tobacco companies sponsored.  Subtract the tobacco sponsors from radio in those days and a large portion of the radio programs we loved and remember would not have existed.  So, as is case with many textile, automobile and other industrial plants, “Old Bull” became a symbol of industries that were dead or dying.

Now, forward thinking planners and investors have brought back to life two of the old American Tobacco buildings by totally renovating them into new shops and apartments.  The “Old Bull” building ground floor contains shops and offices while the upper floors contain 57 apartments.  The apartment rentals range from $995 to $2,700 per month.  Apartment sizes range from 672 to 2,389 square feet.  A second building of the complex, the Noell Building, contains 17 apartments.  Their sizes range from 1,338 to 2,217 square feet and their rents are from $1,450 to $2,350 per month.  As much of the original structure of these buildings as possible has been retained in order to provide not only the latest and best in modern apartment living but to keep the history and flavor of the past alive as well. The market for these apartments is people who have a need to be near the downtown businesses and housing for corporate clients who divide their time between Durham and other cities.  The overall plan for developers in the area calls for 10,000 to 15,000 residents in the downtown area.  Those of you who have read this blog for some time have read about the strong development going on in downtown Raleigh.  These two cities provide a dual powerhouse of  development in their core areas that not very long ago were, to say the least, dismal and decaying. They are also serving as models for many other cities across the nation who are trying to revitalize their older downtown areas.

Other new developments close to “Old Bull” include Diamond View II, a 150,000 square foot five-story building that overlooks the Durham Bulls ball park, and the 2,800 seat Performing Arts Center.  The Performing Arts Center will open this fall at a cost of $44 million.  Yet another coming attraction was presented to the Durham city council just last week.  It will be a $284 million area renewal plan by Greenfire Development.  Well conceived development provides an energy and confidence that is hard to resist.

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

Raleigh, North Carolina.  Toll Brothers Starts Sales At Regency At Brier Creek.  Toll Brothers is about to add even more success to what they have already accomplished in Brier Creek.  Their new community, Regency at Brier Creek, will offer both single family and multi-family homes.  It will feature both their award winning Executive Collection and their Grove Park Patio Home Collection.  Home sizes will range from 1,800 square feet to more than 3,600 square feet.  Prices will start in the mid-$400s.  Toll Brothers homes feature such “standard” luxury items as a large master bath, hardwood floors and granite countertops.  The location puts it within walking distance of a very large range of restaurants and shopping as well medical facilities.  Aside from being close to Research Triangle Park it is practically adjacent to Raleigh Durham International Airport and the I-540 outer beltline.  The old real estate cliche of - location, location, location - is alive, well and a reality in Brier Creek.  It continues to be one the top selling and appreciating subdivisions in all of the Triangle.  For more information about Brier Creek, or any other subdivision in the Triangle, call me or send me an email at the telephone number or email address given below.

This week-end was a “show and tell” week-end for me.   On February 14 I did a post concerning subdivisions on Purnell Road in Wake Forest and the roads that bisect the area between Purnell and Rt. 98.  To those of you who don’t live in this area that doesn’t mean anything.  However,  my showings this week-end were again in that area.  With the thousands of subdivisions that exist throughout the Triangle area it is very easy to lose track of what is going on in many areas.  The practial business constrains of time, distance, gasoline cost and automobile wear and tear make it impossible to visit all of them.  Quite often it is a new clients needs to be in a particular area that provides the opportunity for me to get into some of them.  Even when you go to places you have been before, sometimes many times, if it has been six months or more since your last visit the changes can be amazing.  So, I was able to combine assisting a client along with a valuable personal learing experience this past week-end.  The one event I try to use to stretch my knowledge of what’s new is the annual Parade of Homes.  Too often that doesn’t come off since I am out with clients and can’t see the homes I target to see.  So much for my week-end.  I hope yours was a great one.

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

Garner, North Carolina.  McDonald’s Supplier Will Employ 225.  Golden State Foods will build a food distribution center in the Greenfield North business park near Interstate 40 and U.S. 70.  It will be 133,000 square feet in size and will supply approximately 500 McDonald’s restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.  Craig Davis Properties of Cary will build the warehouse.  The completion date is scheduled for August of 2009.

RALEIGH - RTI INTERNATIONAL EXPANDING NORTH RALEIGH CALL CENTER.  Expansion To Add 600 Jobs.  The jobs are part of a $37.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Education.  The purpose of the contract is to collect information about student financial aid.  The survey will take about six months to complete.  Thereafter RTI hopes to move the workers to other projects.  Most of the jobs will pay from $10.50 to $14 an hour.  The call center currently has 250 employees at its’ facility at 5265 Capital Blvd.  It is one of the leading research institutes anywhere in the world.

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

Durham, North Carolina.  Midland Atlantic Development Sells 70-Acre Mixed-Use Center.  The Buyers are the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois and CBL & Associates of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The center includes about 300,000 square feet of shops and 56,000 square feet of offices.  It is located on Fayetteville Road at Interstate 40.  Midland Atlantic started the center in 2004 and completed it only last year.

TRIANGLE - TYPES OF FINANCING USED ON SALE OF HOMES IN TRIANGLE DURING 2007  Home Financing In Trangle through November of 2007 covers the counties of Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake through November of 2007.  Durham - Conventional - 184, FHA - 22, VA - 6, Cash - 39, Assume - 0, Other - 5   Johnston - Conventional - 151, FHA - 25, VA - 5, Cash - 21,  Assume - 0, Other - 7   Orange - Conventional - 70, FHA - 5, VA - 1, Cash - 13, Assume - 0,  Other - 3   Wake - Conventional - 962,  FHA - 76, FHA - 76, VA - 10, Cash - 62, Assume - 0, Other - 1.  Totals from the Other counties in the Triangle are: Conventional - 250, FHA - 29, VA - 10, Cash - 62, Assume - 0, Other - 6   Overall Totals: Conventional - 1,617, FHA - 157, VA - 41, Cash - 242, Assume - 0, Other - 80.

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

Triangle, North Carolina.   Days On Market.  One of the first things buyers ask about a home they are interested in is “How many days has it been on the market?”.   The idea behind the question, of course, is that if it has been on the market for quite a few days they can make a low ball offer and get the home for a much more favorable price.  In the vast majority of cases that’s not the case but it doesn’t keep them from thinking so.  Days on Market is a misleading figure at best; espcially for new homes.  Some builders put information on a home in the Multiple Listing Service shortly after construction starts so that people who might be interested in the area the home is in and who are looking for a particular kind of home may find it and, in effect, do a presale.  As time goes by the potential buyer will have continually less options.  Depending on the stage the home is in when they evidence their interest, the options will range from the substantial items such as flooring, carpeting, lighting and kind and type of tile down to matters of relatively minor consequence such as paint colors.  Also, if a home has been on the market six months the Days On Market will, of course, show as 180 days.  However, if the seller then changes to another agent the re-listing will again start with one day on the market.  Thus, when buyers become interested in a home they are well advised to ask their agent to check the History of the listing (at least in this area) to determine the actual number of days the home has been on the market.  At any rate, here are the days on market, through November of 2007, for Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake Counties of homes that sold.

Durham - 0-30 days - 68, 31-60 days - 53, 61-90 days - 36, 91-120 days - 31, 120 and over - 62     Johnston - 0-30 days - 54, 31-60 days - 44, 61-90 days - 32, 91-120 days - 23, 120 days and over - 43   Orange - 0-30 days - 18, 31-60 days - 20, 61-90 days - 18, 91-120 days - 9, 120 and over - 25   Wake - 0-30 days - 346, 31-60 days - 260, 61-90 days - 187, 91-120 days - 135, 120 days and over - 217.     There are sales where no Days On Market are Given.  I have not shown these. 

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  Further Definiation Of 2007 Home Sales In Triangle.  Here are the Triangle home sales by zip code in the Wake, Durham, Johnston and Orange counties portion of the Triangle counties during 2007:  22924 - 1,  23917 - 1,  23924 - 1, 23927 - 1,  23964 - 1,  23968 - 1,  24598 - 1,  27207 - 1,  27215 - 8,  27217 - 2,  27231 - 1,  27243 - 6,  27244 - 2,  27253 - 6,  27258 - 1,  27278 - 20,  27298 - 3,  27302 - 21,  27312 - 24,  27330 - 10,  27332 - 4,  27343 - 1,  27344 - 7,  27379 - 1,  27501 - 24,  27502 - 53,  27503 - 2,  27504 - 11,  27505 - 4,  27509 - 3,  27510 - 3,  27511 - 46,  27513 - 51,  27514 - 22,  27516 - 26,  27517 - 29,  27518 - 17,  27519 - 74,  27520 - 67,  27521 - 3,  27522 - 16,  27523 - 5,  27524 - 9,  27525 - 14,  27526 - 65,  27527 - 39,  27529 - 59,  27530 - 1,  27534 - 2,  27536 - 8,  27537 - 6,  27539 - 34,  27540 - 64,  27541 - 1,  27542 - 2,  27545 - 38,  27546 - 9,  27549 - 12,  27551 - 1,  27557 - 4,  27559 - 1,  27560 - 34,  27563 - 3,  27565 - 18,  27569 - 7,  27571 - 8,  27572 - 4,  27573 - 9,  27574 - 5,  27576 - 10,  27577 - 20,  27581 - 1,  27583 - 3,  27587 - 109,  27589 - 2,  27591 - 16,  27592 - 17,  27596 - 25,  27597 - 22,  27601 - 8,  27603 - 53,  27604 - 51,  27605 - 5,  27606 - 21,  27607 - 19,  27608 - 19,  27609 - 17,  27610 - 112,  27612 - 43,  27613 - 48,  27614 - 42,  27615 - 54,  27616 - 74,  27617 - 18,  27701 - 22,  27703 - 47,  27704 - 41,  27705 - 30,  27707 - 37,  27712 - 19,  27713 - 48,  27801 - 1,  27803 - 2,  27809 - 1,  27816 - 1,  27822 - 2,  27856 - 1,  27858 - 1,  27873 - 1,  27880 - 1,  27882 - 1,  27891 - 1,  27893 - 3,  28318 - 1,  28323 - 1,  28334 - 13,  28339 - 8,  28352 - 1,  28359 - 1,  28382 - 1,  28394 - 1,  28521 - 1,  28551 - 1

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

Triangle, North Carolina.  Average Triangle Area Home Closing Prices For 2007.  In my post of February 8 I listed the month by month sales during 2007 in Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake Counties.  They comprise the sales for the counties that account for most of the sales in the Triangle area.  The following is a listing the Average Residential Closing Prices in the same counties (Durham, Johnson, Orange and Wake) during 2007.

Wake - January - $242,275   February - $264,355   March - $255,238   April - $253,649   May - $265,936   June - $270,481   July - $276,412   August - $272,977   September - $265,662   October - $261,279   November - $265,911   December - $252,981   Durham - January - $201,172   February - $201,298   March - $199,190   April - $194,259   May - $199,538   June - $199,001   July - $192,988   August - $199,729   September - $192,696   October - $191,503   November - $197,170   December - $216,620   Johnston - January - $173,305   February - $179,526   March - $174,714   April - $174,356   May - $178,942   June - $176,816   July - $191,599   August - $181,348   September - $186,175   October - $183,779   November - $184,345   December - $179,583   Orange - January - $342,815   February - $322,695   March - $315,779   April - $319,394   May - $326,241   June - $344,894   July - $331,239   August - $379,777   September - $375,762   October - $396,985   November - $317,788   December - $358,208

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