5-story apartment building coming to Hillsborough Street

Adding to the $160 million in new multifamily, retail and hospitality projects in areas around N.C. State University's campus on Hillsborough Street over the past two years, a group of Raleigh developers has broken ground on a new five-story luxury student apartment building.The 16-unit apartment building at the corner of Hillsborough Street and Friendly Drive, next to Zaxby's, will have rooms for 49 residences and about 3,800 square feet of retail space.

The property is across from the $80 million Stanhope Center student housing complex that Kane Realty Corp. expects to open in August. Stanhope Center will have about 300 fully-furnished apartment units with rooms for 822 students. Residents of Stanhope will start moving in Aug. 15. Susan Bailey, the leasing manager at Stanhope, says also that 99 percent of the rooms are already committed to future student residents with rental rates that range from $740 to $1,115 per person.

At 105 Friendly, the building will have a combination of one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments, including four penthouse units on the fifth floor, but the developers did not disclosed the projected rental rates.

The architect and designer of the project is New City Design Group of Raleigh. New City had also helped design several of the new multifamily building projects that have opened or are under construction along Hillsborough Street, including the 1301 Hillsborough Street mixed-use building, the 2604 Hillsborough building and the 2811 Hillsborough building, all of which were developed by FMW Real Estate of Charlotte.

Construction partners in the Friendly Drive project include Bobbitt Design Build, Inc. and Blue Sky Services Commercial Construction LLC, both Raleigh-based companies.