Realtors Hope New Condos Bring More Life, Business To Downtown Raleigh

Realtor Ann-Cabell Andersen said there is a huge demand to live in the capital city.

"Right now on the market, there may be a total of 10 condominiums. Of those, there may be only one or two 1-bedrooms and if that's your price range, you don't have a whole lot of selection," Andersen said.

However, over the next two years, that should change. Three-hundred new condominiums will be built downtown. Some are years away from being finished, but 25 percent of them are already sold.

One may think downtown promoters would be thrilled with the new construction, but they said there is something lacking. Most of the units are very high end, going for as much as $250 a square foot. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance wants more condominiums built in the $150,000 range.

"We need more housing for the employees who work down here -- more housing and a stable base to support restaurants down here," said Margaret Mullen, of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

Sarah MacDougall would like to see more downtown shops, too. She said she already adores the character and convenience of living downtown.

"The things you do are the things you can walk to. I walk to Starbucks to the theater. I walk to bars, great restaurants and I love the community aspect of downtown," she said.

The Downtown Raleigh Alliance is in an aggressive campaign to attract more housing development downtown. It would like to see 1,000 more units built in the next five years.