Betting on Growth:
Real Estate Development and Speculation
By the turn of the century, land near downtown Durham was becoming scarce and expensive. Real estate speculators bought up large tracts of land around the city as an investment.
The Durham Consolidated Land and Improvement Company was one of Durham’s earliest real estate companies
It purchased nearly 300 acres in what is now the Trinity Heights and Walltown neighborhoods. Notice how it markets this development in terms of its nearness to jobs, amenities, and transportation in this edited excerpt:
“The lots offered for sale are beautifully situated for residences, and the advantages they afford to parents desiring to educate their sons are manifest. The lots command fine views, are high and dry, with excellent natural drainage and easy of access to the center of Durham…
The Company proposes to erect two or more manufactories. Others will follow in rapid succession, thus creating a large demand for lots and offering a fine field for speculation.”
– Durham Consolidated Land and Improvement Company advertisement, 1890
Courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
This 1890 letter from Julian Carr captures the spirit of real estate investment at this time of rapid growth in Durham.
“I want some bright, reliable enterprising business man to help me push Durham. I can take the $15,000 you say you would like to put into a roller mill and make a heap more money than you are going to make, and make it a heap quicker.”
– Julian Carr, Durham industrialist and real estate developer
Courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Real Estate Development today
PROPERTY OWNERS
Each of these investors/developers owned parts of the land that is now The Villages at some point during the past 15 years.
This series of maps shows how property increases in value in the course of a modern real estate development.
Map Key
2001
The area shown is called The Villages at Independence Park.
In 2001, Trafalgar Properties purchased the two lots in the western half of the land for $1.1 million.
Total appraised value in 2001: $2,173,378 (2017 dollars)
2008
Between 2001 and 2008, the land was subdivided, developed, and sold to individual owners. The unbuildable land (in dark orange on the map) was transferred to The Villages at Independence Park Homeowners Association. By this time, the total value of the land had increased twentyfold.
Total appraised value in 2008: $40,363,036 (2017 dollars)
2017
In 2017, there was another wave of building. Trafalgar Properties sold off parcels to Lennar Homes, a national homebuilder, for new home construction.
Total appraised value in 2017: $64,389,565
By the turn of the century, land near downtown Durham was becoming scarce and expensive. Real estate speculators bought up large tracts of land around the city as an investment.
The Durham Consolidated Land and Improvement Company was one of Durham’s earliest real estate companies
It purchased nearly 300 acres in what is now the Trinity Heights and Walltown neighborhoods. Notice how it markets this development in terms of its nearness to jobs, amenities, and transportation in this edited excerpt:
“The lots offered for sale are beautifully situated for residences, and the advantages they afford to parents desiring to educate their sons are manifest. The lots command fine views, are high and dry, with excellent natural drainage and easy of access to the center of Durham…
The Company proposes to erect two or more manufactories. Others will follow in rapid succession, thus creating a large demand for lots and offering a fine field for speculation.”
– Durham Consolidated Land and Improvement Company advertisement, 1890
Courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
This 1890 letter from Julian Carr captures the spirit of real estate investment at this time of rapid growth in Durham.
“I want some bright, reliable enterprising business man to help me push Durham. I can take the $15,000 you say you would like to put into a roller mill and make a heap more money than you are going to make, and make it a heap quicker.”
– Julian Carr, Durham industrialist and real estate developer
Courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Real Estate Development today
PROPERTY OWNERS
Each of these investors/developers owned parts of the land that is now The Villages at some point during the past 15 years.
This series of maps shows how property increases in value in the course of a modern real estate development.
Map Key
2001
The area shown is called The Villages at Independence Park.
In 2001, Trafalgar Properties purchased the two lots in the western half of the land for $1.1 million.
Total appraised value in 2001: $2,173,378 (2017 dollars)
2008
Between 2001 and 2008, the land was subdivided, developed, and sold to individual owners. The unbuildable land (in dark orange on the map) was transferred to The Villages at Independence Park Homeowners Association. By this time, the total value of the land had increased twentyfold.
Total appraised value in 2008: $40,363,036 (2017 dollars)
2017
In 2017, there was another wave of building. Trafalgar Properties sold off parcels to Lennar Homes, a national homebuilder, for new home construction.
Total appraised value in 2017: $64,389,565