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 got my mailbox key yesterday, which means that the Post Office finally put their locks on the mailboxes. The mailboxes themselves are behind a locked door with a keypad so that we can dial ourselves in, but it also has an intercom for guests arriving at the building to get buzzed in. Unfortunately that doesn’t really help me as it only lets people on to the main hall and my exterior door is off Pettigrew Street, but it will still give me a place to tell people to go, and then I can instruct them to walk around to the other side of the building and I’ll come down and let them in. Hopefully mail will start arriving soon, too!

There were also a couple of small things broken or wrong with the place when I moved in, most notably that there was a part missing from the microwave that made the turntable not turn. That got fixed yesterday only a day or so after I’d reported the problem, which leads me to believe that the maintenance people are going to be on top of things. It wasn’t any big deal, and was the sort of thing that I expect when I’m the first occupant of an apartment, but it was nice to have it fixed in a timely fashion. They also gave me a couple of quotes from an Allstate agent for renter’s insurance, and a nice silver keychain with the “Apartments at American Tobacco” logo on it. Snazzy.

On the morning of Friday, the First of August, TROSA showed up at a little before 9AM to start loading my life into a truck. At around 10:30AM, I spoke with Ally at the leasing office; they were still waiting on one final signature from someone with the city and had been waiting since 9AM. There were already two other residents with movers waiting to put items into their new apartments. At 11AM, we were done loading the truck and ready to head over to Old Bull, still not having the keys to get into my new place. At about 11:30AM, Ally called to let me know she was on her way to meet me with my new keys almost exactly when the movers finished parking the truck; I was overjoyed to not have to pay the movers to sit there, waiting for the city. At 12:30PM, all my stuff was in my new apartment. We were done. I bought the movers pizza to thank them for their time (and because we were all starving), and had the first meal in my new home.

As always, TROSA was nothing short of amazing. When we’d finished, the other two crews who’d been waiting were still going. I donated my old washer and dryer to TROSA, since the new apartment has really nice new ones, and I got an amazing work crew for a phenomenal price. I will always continue to use and recommend them for moves of any size. Their workers are fast, professional, kind, and careful. Their prices are more than reasonable and go to a very good cause.

Betsy spent the afternoon cleaning up the old apartment — once again, there is no way I could have made this move without her help — and I took over from her in the evening. I am absolutely ecstatic to be rid of that dump, and there is no love lost between me and the former apartment.

Today we went shopping for various accouterments for the apartment, including some really nice stuff for the bathroom and kitchen, and an alarm clock that I can read from across the spacious bedroom without my glasses on. She cooked me dinner — homemade lasagna! — with some new pots and pans I got. There were some fireworks from a Durham Bulls victory, and we had a wonderful evening with one of our dearest friends, my first guest in my new home.

To put it bluntly, I absolutely adore this apartment. It feels like a home to me, something I haven’t had in quite some time. It’s not without its flaws — the trains can be kind of noisy at times, and while the windows are very tall I wish they were wider so I could get a better view of the downtown skyline — but I suspect I’m going to be very happy here for quite some time. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Earlier today I signed the lease and various other pieces of paperwork. We still appear to be all set for August 1st, so I’m getting final things in order. Betsy has been absolutely invaluable in helping me get packed, as well as providing moral support, and I could not have done this without her help.

I’ll keep everyone posted throughout the week!

I just signed the most recent — and hopefully final — welcome letter, and I have an appointment to sign the lease on Monday, the 28th. It’s expected that the Certificate of Occupancy will be in hand early next week, after having been denied in late June and pushing all the residents back until August 1st. It’s been a bit of a hassle having to set up and then cancel moves, utility transfers, changes of address, etc. but Ally and Kia have both been incredibly helpful, communicative, and patient. These setbacks haven’t been easy on them, either, and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to getting normal living underway.

So, if all goes according to plan I will have the lease signed on Monday and will be moving in on Friday, August 1st. Here’s hoping!

I got a call from Ally up at the leasing office earlier this week with some bad news. Apparently a handful of units are holding the entire Old Bull building back with regard to getting a Certificate of Occupancy, and the building’s opening date pushed back from mid-June to July 1st. I had originally planned on moving in on June 27th, so needless to say this changed things a bit. Further complicating the matter was the fact that my current lease ends June 30th.

We all knew this was a possible obstacle from the very beginning. The apartment management was very up front with me about what could happen, and I was notified as soon as they knew of the pushback. They’re also being extremely accommodating, as they said they would, and are reimbursing me for the inconvenience by cutting some additional concessions on my rent. At the end of the day, we can all hope that nothing will go wrong with any situation we find ourselves in, so guarantees to make good where possible are worth a great deal.

I called TROSA to re-schedule the movers, and to utilize their short-term storage. They’re going to pick the stuff up from the old apartment on June 30th — which I’ll then have to go through and clean, but it shouldn’t be a big deal — and will be dropping it off at the new place on the First of June. My cat and I are going to get a hotel room for the night because I don’t want to think about how traumatic it would be to board him.

Many thanks again go out to Ally and the HallKeen team for their quick response to the rapidly changing situation and going out of their way to both stay true to their word and ensure that the residents have to suffer the minimum number of inconveniences.

I spoke with Kia at the Apartments at American Tobacco just a few minutes ago, and she informed me that I’ve been approved for apartment 301 in the Old Bull building!  Hooray!

I talked to Kia at the A@AT a little while ago, and they’ve got all my paperwork ready. We’re just waiting on Ally to look over the application and make sure that everything’s in order, and I should hear something tomorrow morning or early afternoon.

Don’t stop crossing appendages, though; I may need all the luck I can get!

So after looking at a bunch of units — at least ten, by my counts — I’ve submitted my application for unit number 301. It’s on Pettigrew Street with the three windows in the living room/foyer facing the railroad tracks and presenting a lovely view of downtown Durham. Both bedrooms in the unit face the courtyard and are both nicely sized. Since there’s no apartments above it, and the apartment immediately below it will apparently be the model unit, there should be a minimum of noise. There’s lots of light, plenty of space, and a convenient place for me to put the cat’s litter box even though there’s only one bathroom.

Please cross some appendages for me; while I don’t think there’s any reason why my application wouldn’t be approved, I don’t want to jinx anything!

Related photos:

• My Picasa Web Albums – Old Bull 301

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