Construction is poised to begin in June on a glassy 27-story skyscraper that will transform the Durham skyline and bring a wealth of residential units to one of downtown’s most bustling commercial corridors.
“It is so exciting to be a part of that,” Jane Hills, co-founder of the development firm Austin Lawrence Partners, told The News & Observer. “We love to create different types of buildings that have a purpose, and that are part of building a community.”
The Novus will sit on the wedge of land between Main Street and Morris Street, surrounded by dozens of restaurants and bars and backing up against the Downtown Loop.
The South Bank building stood on the site for nearly 50 years before being demolished over the course of several weeks earlier this year, leaving behind a pit scattered with heavy equipment and workers.
Why are the new Durham skyscrapers 27 floors?
It will be the second 27-story building downtown, which is about the limit of the stories that modern builders can fit under the downtown core’s 300-foot height limit. Builders must seek out a variance if they wish to go taller.
Austin Lawrence Partners also built the first — One City Center, a glittering project similar in scope, with condos, apartments, a handful of stores and office space.
“For us anyway, this is ample amount of room at this point in time for us to do what we’re doing,” Hills said. “Will there be something taller in Durham? That’s certainly possible. I mean, Raleigh has kind of gone to a whole other level.”
Plans are already in motion for the city’s third 27-floor building: the new downtown YMCA, which is being redeveloped by Chapel Hill’s East West Partners.
“We might have been able to go one story higher, but we were kind of limited by what we could park,” project manager Ben Perry said in an interview earlier this month.
The redeveloped YMCA is expected to break ground later this year and be completed in 2025 or later.
NYC investment firm buys into project
Austin Lawrence Partners announced this week that they entered into an equity partnership with New York City-based real estate investors Global Holdings Management Group to finance the project.
Josh Feder, Global Holdings Management Group’s vice president and head of multifamily properties, told The News & Observer the company grew interested in Durham early last year.
“When we looked to diversify outside of New York, we obviously looked at a lot of the growth markets in the Southeast and Raleigh-Durham — and Durham in particular — to us presented a unique set of circumstances,” Feder said, highlighting job growth and the draw of the local universities. “The city felt authentic and presented all the amenities that a big city has with having the feel and vibe of a smaller, more homey city.”
Feder said they plan to make this investment last decades.
“We build and we develop with the mindset of maintaining ownership and keeping the building for decades to come,” he said.
Austin Lawrence Partners bought the property for The Novus in 2013 for $6 million before spinning it off in April for $15 million to a new LLC with the same mailing address, property records show.
Hills and her husband, a Duke University grad, began investing in Durham in 2011. They’re also behind the recently revamped Unscripted Durham, a boutique hotel situated between their current and future skyscrapers that’s instantly recognizable for its mid-century design and airy pool deck.
Luxury apartments and multi-million-dollar condos
Plans call for 54 condominium units, 188 apartments and ground-floor retail. Hills said she hopes to craft a place that will have a strong sense of community.
“We really wanted to combine rentals with condominiums,” Hills said. “For us, it’s all about building a place. It’s all about how people interact and we didn’t want to have an empty condo building.”
The condos start at $649,900, online listings show, though most are priced above $1 million. The priciest is listed at over $6 million. Hills said more than half of the units are sold or under contract.
Amenities include putting greens and golf simulators, spaces to work remotely, a pickleball court, an outdoor movie theater and a dog park, plus pools, hot tubs and steam rooms.
Feder said they’re mixing up the size of spaces and hope to attract a variety of retailers. The plan is for seven retail spaces on the ground level, most between 1,600 and 2,000 square feet. The largest is 8,800 square feet.
“We’re going to try not to think about the building in isolation, but really how the building fits into the entire community given its prominent location, right on Main Street and kind of at the center of things,” Feder said.
“Really the sky is the limit. However, we really want to make sure that we integrate well into the community,” Hills said.
Samet Corporation is the general contractor for The Novus, which was designed with LS3P. Both firms have office locations throughout the Southeast, including in Raleigh.
Hills said The Novus was named for the Latin word, which means “new” and is the root of a word common to the Triangle — innovation. Plans will be unveiled next year for a second building on the property.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 6:00 AM.
