The other night I was invited to a Carolina Ballet production at the Historic Memorial Auditorium which is the centerpiece of the downtown performing arts complex that features a dramatic atrium lobby with winding staircases and crystal chandeliers.  What an awesome experience and what a great way to spend a Friday evening in Downtown Raleigh, NC.  

A new day for the performing arts dawned in February 2001 with the opening of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. The center features Meymandi Concert Hall, a 1,700-seat concert hall on the west side of Memorial Auditorium, and AJ Fletcher Opera Theatre, a 600-seat multi-purpose theater on the east side. Memorial’s “second stage,” used for rehearsals and small performances, also has been renovated and is now named the Kennedy Theatre. Historic Memorial Auditorium, the centerpiece of the and is an elegant setting for Broadway shows and much more. Rich with history, Memorial Auditorium nourishes an outstanding repertoire of performing arts events in grand tradition, providing sophisticated beauty, comfort, and convenience for patrons and performers alike. What an outstanding cultural resource for Raleigh.

Site Selection Magazine, The Magazine of Corporate Real Estate Strategy and Area Development, has chosen North Carolina as Number 1 in its state business climate rankings for the 4^th year in a row!  The rankings are based on surveys of business executives and consultants who make decisions regarding business expansions.  The key factors cited for their choice was financial incentives, low taxes and an effective economic development team. 

Site Magazine says about Raleigh and Research Triangle Park (RTP) area: On the higher end of the higher education spectrum, biopharmaceutical companies continue to invest in R&D facilities in and around Research Triangle Park in part due to the area’s research university resources.  But when it’s time to manufacture the products of the R&D, more companies are staying put in North Carolina to take advantage of the state’s 30-percent cost advantage over other life science clusters around the U.S. Two new projects cited for the RTP are an IBM Data Center and a United Therapeutics pharmaceutical plant. 

Raleigh, Wake County and the RTP are not immune to the national economic crisis.  But we are in a strong position to recover quickly and continue to offer opportunities for individuals and businesses. 

In my last entry I told you that in the Raleigh and Wake County housing market the prices of real estate haven’t changed much.  Here is conformation of that from SmartMoney magazine.  The November issue of SmartMoney magazine, in an article entitled Home Prices: Now for the Good News, reports on 25 markets which are doing better than the national average.  On their website SmartMoney.com they have highlighted seven of those markets.  This is what they have to say about Raleigh.

“North Carolina’s capital seems to have gotten a free pass where the housing slump is concerned. Prices have been buoyed by job growth in the Research Triangle, home to dozens of tech firms. Total sales in the first quarter of this year were the fifth highest on record. In some cities, suburbanites stung by gas prices are moving downtown in favor of walkable neighborhoods. But not in Raleigh. “People move here to get away from that type of living,” says local market analyst Stacey Anfindsen, only partly in jest. Although downtown Raleigh has added hundreds of condos and lofts, the real growth has come in suburbs like Cary, Morrisville and Apex, all on the western side of Raleigh, where home prices have risen steadily.”

Some people do come to Raleigh for suburban housing which offers amenities such as golf courses and swimming pools.  Others are attracted to the new and exciting downtown development.  And many are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with good schools.  Raleigh and Wake County offer a variety of real estate options for home buyers and for real estate investors. 

The new Raleigh Convention and Civic Center opened this summer and is at the center of major growth and renovation downtown.  Another exciting addition to the downtown landscape is the RBC Plaza, the new headquarters for The Royal Bank of Canada.  The 33 story mixed-use building includes 139 condominiums, all of which have been spoken for and are expected to be finished soon.  Approximately one third of them have been purchased by investors while the majority have been purchased by residents excited about being downtown and so close to the growing businesses there.  About 97% of the offices have been preleased, exceeding the developer’s expectations.

Now, more than ever, real estate is looking like a good investment. Many people have pulled out of the stock market and are using that money to invest in real estate. Real estate does not drop 60% of its value in one day like some stocks have!  We continue to hold our own in the Triangle area. We have seen little change in the average price of housing although there are more houses available for sale now than there were a year ago.  This is an excellent time to buy a house in Raleigh and Wake County  a community that is dynamic and economically sound.

According to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, new and expanding businesses announced more than $1 billion in new investments in the Research Triangle area this summer. 
The 30 new and existing companies announcing these investments are mostly in research and manufacturing.  The expansions will create nearly 1,700 jobs.  Some of the companies and their investments include:
IBM, data center, $362 million, 10 jobs
Merck & Co., vaccine manufacturing, $300 million, 180 jobs
HCL America, information technology, $3.2 million, 513 jobs
Patheon, headquarters and laboratory, $437,500, 150 jobs
Syngenta, agricultural biotechnology, $671,640, 75 jobs
In addition, this summer four companies (Cheminova, Medis Medical Imaging Systems, Patheon and Tryton Medical) moved their corporate headquarters to the Triangle.
Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University, was quoted in the News & Observer, about the news: “People in the know – economic developers, investors – see this region has a solid foundation for growth,” Walden said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a region in the country that’s better suited for the future than the Triangle.”  
 

The Raleigh and Wake County area continue to provide a favorable environment for home buyers and real estate investors.  One recent indicator of the area’s economic vibrancy was released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In a report released August 7, 2008 they reported that personal income in the Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area (MSA) rose 8.7 percent since 2006.  Another Research Triangle Park (RTP) MSA, Durham, experienced an 8.4 percent growth rate, up from 7.7 percent in 2006.  Both of these rates of growth are greater than the national average. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the national average for personal income grew 6.2 percent last year in the nation’s MSAs, down from a 6.8 percent rate in 2006.
Another indicator can be found in a report released by Bizjournals this August which ranks Cary, another Wake County town, as 20^th in a ranking of 261 America’s wealthiest cities. 
More people are moving to Wake County and RTP region which has had some impact on the job market.  The jobless rate for the eight-county Triangle region was 4.8 percent in June 2008.  That was the highest jobless rate since February 2004 for the region that includes Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties. Nationwide, however, the rate was 5.5 percent and is expected to grow to 6 percent. 
So while Raleigh, the rest of Wake County and the RTP are facing some challenges due to the national economic downturn, we are faring better than in many parts of the country.  Contact me to if you are interested in a solid, long term real estate investment.

 

According to the US Census Bureau report released this week, Cary NC is the 5^th fastest growing large city in the United States.  Between mid-2006 and mid-2007 the city grew 7.3%.  Raleigh is the 13^th fastest growing large city and grew 4.2% in the same period.  Both of these cities are in Wake County, NC.  The Census Bureau defines a large city as having a population over 100,000.

Towns smaller than 100,000 are also growing in North Carolina.  Of the top 6 fastest growing towns in North Carolina, 3 are in Wake County; Wake Forest, Knightdale and Holly Springs.  Two of the others, Rolesville and Fuquay-Varina are in neighboring counties whose growth is being fueled by the RTP (Research Triangle Park) and growth in Wake County.  The 2^nd fastest growing town in North Carolina is Carolina Shores which is near the beach and only about 3 hours from Wake County!

This past week a Florida developer broke ground on a redevelopment project in downtown Raleigh which will consist of the kind of mixed-use development the city wants to encourage.  The 21 acre Blount Street Commons project will include the renovation of several older homes a couple of blocks from the Governor’s Mansion.  The final project will likely include over 400 homes and 110,000 square feet of shops.  The area being redeveloped is near state government buildings, including the legislature and the Museum of Natural Sciences which will soon undergo a major expansion. 
 

Other projects in the downtown area have been slowed down by the current nationwide credit crunch.  Three new hotel projects near the soon to be finished Civic Center have been delayed.  The new Marriott near the Civic Center will be open this summer providing some additional room capacity. 
 

While Raleigh is feeling some of the effects of the economic slowdown, there is still growth taking place and opportunities for real estate investment.  The fact that development and growth are continuing is a reflection of the confidence in the future of the city. 

The strong real estate market is part of a synergy that we are experiencing here in Raleigh. The jobs, social climate and other opportunities here have continued to attract educated, young workers and this is attracting more jobs to the area.  The Bizjournals recently ranked Raleigh the #1 spot for young adults.  From the Bizjournals article of May 12, 2008 “It’s clear that having a high percentage of young adults can be an indicator of economic success. It tells marketers where to concentrate their efforts, entrepreneurs where to start businesses and college graduates where to look for work.” 
Raleigh was the only market out of 67 Bizjournals examined to rank in the top 10 in all 3 of their major categories; job growth, population growth and the percentage of young adults with college degrees.  
This synergy means that our real estate market is going to continue to be strong.  While housing sales have slowed, our housing prices have remained stable due to the realistic prices which existed before the current slump and our continuing vibrancy.  I’d love to show you what real estate investment options Raleigh has to offer and areas that young adults are drawn to.