I’ve finished migrating the site from [Movable Type](http://www.movabletype.org/) to [Wordpress](http://www.wordpress.org/). You might want to re-create your feed subscriptions, but other than that there’s nothing that should change all that much. Thanks for your patience!
This site used to be hosted with [Squarespace](http://www.squarespace.com/), but after being unable to set up commenting the way I wanted I decided to move it to my own hosting running the recently released [Movable Type Pro](http://www.movabletype.com/). I was able to bring over all the old content, so it should be as if nothing ever happened. You may need to change your subscription in your feed reader, though.
Please pardon the dust while I get things going on the new server!
So Kevin over at Bull City Rising made mention of this blog and my new apartment today, and I just wanted to welcome any and all readers who came here from his site. Bull City Rising is one of several awesome Durham blogs which inspired me to write and share my experience with this incredible building, so I’m honored by his reference.
I don’t post with any set schedule here, so add my RSS feed to your feed reader to be kept up to date with all my random thoughts about my new apartment, the building it’s in, and the city I love. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to drop me an email.
Back in October of 2007, while going about my business at work, I’d seen banners around ATC — where my office is located — for some apartments in the complex. I guess, technically, that’s where this adventure begins.
I’ve been wanting to live in downtown Durham for quite a while. I love this city; I love the way the downtown districts exist now; and I love what they’re doing to restore, revamp, improve, and celebrate them. When I saw the banners it piqued my interest, so I hit up the website and sent the folks an email. They got back to me quickly, and I filed the information away as I was more than 7 months away from being able to move. In February of 2008 I got an email inviting me to an open house in the Noell building. I swung by and was absolutely stunned by what I saw. They had taken an old tobacco factory and turned it into a set of gorgeous, clever, spacious urban apartments. These were condominium sizes, however, and were priced outside my range. The other building they were renovating into apartments — Old Bull — was more along the lines of what I was looking for. Unfortunately, there weren’t any opportunities to see inside Old Bull right then, so I made an appointment to come back the next day.
Waivers signed and hardhats on — it was and still is, as of the time of this writing, a construction zone — and into the building we went. Old Bull was built in 1874 and they’ve done a marvelous job of keeping pieces of that history readily visible and alive, without being irritating or cumbersome. Some of the units have old fire doors, old chunks of support structure, or exposed wood beams. Most of the units that I’ve seen in have all three, in fact. As near as I can tell none of the original factory walls have been destroyed, and they’ve gone to great lengths to incorporate what was already there, making each unit unique in its own ways and giving them all individual character.
Speaking of individual characters, there are two wonderful people to whom I’d like to extend special thanks: the Property Manager Ally Chappell, and Leasing Consultant Kia Brown. They’ve both been immaculately professional, patient, helpful, and knowledgeable. They’ve been willing to put up with my incessant questioning, poking around, measuring, and floor plan collecting to make sure I get a great apartment that I’m completely happy with. Having a great place to live is only part of the rental equation; it all falls apart without people to maintain and support it, and if these two are any indication then HallKeen will be there for us.
Old Bull is where I want to live. I hope to soon be embarking on a journey of living in downtown Durham, and I’d like to invite everyone who’s interested to come along with me. Let’s see what we can find in this Old Bull.
Related photos:
More Toys!