Former North Hills hotel converted to one-bedroom apartments

The site used to be the Hyatt Place North Raleigh-Midtown, which closed in April 2022.

The new apartment complex has a rec room, coffee bar and convenience shop.

Bob Murray's California-based company, Magma Equities, is behind this conversion. He said the conversion from a hotel to an apartment complex was a first for his company.

"It is challenging," Murray said. "It took longer, a little more capital than we had expected, but that was just trying to meet the codes of the city and the city requirements to build a good quality project."

Freas said in August the project wasn't free of challenges. City code requires a utility meter for each unit. Plus, developers had to create kitchens in rooms that weren't designed for cooking.

“We will also have a stovetop that sits on the counter to cook, and when they’re done, they can put it away to save space,” Freas said.

Rents at 1105 Flats at North Hills will be between $1,119 and $1,391.

Murray said the apartment is a good fit for younger renters just starting out.

"We see that demographic doesn't need a whole lot, and they live in smaller spaces and spend their money differently," Murray said.

On Friday, Jessica McLeod took a tour out of curiosity to see what an apartment looks like in a converted hotel. She said she thinks the cost of rent is reasonable given the prices of other places in the market.

"I've stayed in a studio apartment before, and it wasn't as big as the ones here," McLeod said. "And, I love the touches they've added."

Freas believes converting spaces like this will help bring down housing costs.

“As long as we can continue to provide as many housing opportunities as possible, there will always be people who want to fill it,” Freas said.

When it comes to converting an office building into housing, some experts WRAL Investigates talked to said it's often cheaper for a developer to demolish it and start from scratch.