This Old Bull

A couple of weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I did my morning normal routine with a slight modification: I couldn’t take a shower because there was no water. The city had decided it’d be cool to shut it off, presumably for some construction that was taking place along Blackwell St, and not tell anybody. The apartments had no warning and thus couldn’t give us any warning either.

Then today, as I exited my apartment on the way to [work](http://www.oit.duke.edu/) I noticed a line of parked cars, including my car, all with neon orange “PARKING TICKET” envelopes on their windshields. Apparently the city had put up “No Parking” signs on the telephone poles at some point and again utterly failed to inform anyone. I’ve been parking outside my building for as long as I’ve lived here with no trouble whatsoever. I came home last night after doing the grocery shopping and didn’t notice the new signs, assuming they were there already. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten, unless some small, barely noticeable change takes place, in which case you get a $10 parking ticket.

To their credit, Ally and Kia in the leasing office had no idea they were going to be ticketing, and agreed to take $10 of next month’s rent if I’m unable to successfully contest the ticket. Still, it’s the *principle* of the thing.

I was out walking around the building yesterday and decided to take some snapshots of the northeastern part of the ATC complex, around both Old Bull and Hill buildings.

Related photos:

• Old Bull
• American Tobacco
• Downtown Durham

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:

• Old Bull Under Construction