An Alabama developer paid $6 million last week for three acres near N.C. State University, where it plans to build a private 10-story student apartment building and a parking deck.
The purchase by Capstone Development is the first sign of life on an $85million project that has been delayed by the credit crunch since being approved by the Raleigh City Council in October 2008.
Called the Stanhope Center, the building would include 277 multifamily units and a six- to seven-story parking deck with 787 parking spaces south of Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.
Capstone declined to comment on the status of the project.
Capstone had originally planned to lease the property from the seller, Hillsborough Ventures.
The center is the first of three parcels that Capstone hopes to redevelop just south of Hillsborough between its intersections with Friendly Drive and Rosemary Street. The parking deck is to go on the south side of Stanhope Avenue.
More than 10 months lapsed between the time Capstone introduced the project and the City Council approved it in 2008. Capstone, which specializes in student housing, revised the project in an attempt to gain the support of city planners and nearby residents - some of whom still oppose it.
Although there are a number of private apartment complexes that market themselves to NCSU students, the Stanhope Center would offer students the ability to walk to campus.
NCSU officials have expressed support for the project, saying that it will be a key part of the revitalization of Hillsborough Street.
The city of Raleigh is in the midst of a $9.9 million Hillsborough Street renovation project that is scheduled to be complete in September. The project will add two roundabouts and spruce up the streetscape from Pullen Road to Gardner Street.
