In 2017, a massive fire broke out at the site of the former Greyhound Terminal in Downtown Raleigh after an unknown cause. Now, almost two years later, the now-apartment complex is pre-leasing and will have units available for sale in late January.

The five-story Metropolitan apartment complex was under construction when fire broke out in March of 2017. According to a previous Technician article, the damages of the fire were estimated to cost upwards $50 million while the development of the complex was $52 million. 

According to Michael DeFrang, director of marketing and revenue management for Banner Property Management, everything but the salvaged garage was completely rebuilt from scratch, which greatly delayed the progress of construction.

“This whole process has been a long time, getting ready to lease and then having the setback,” DeFrang said. “Time and money were definitely affected. We had to start back from square one with construction, and obviously the cost to be without the product up and running was a huge factor as well.”

DeFrang explained how Banner Property Management took this setback as an opportunity to re-evaluate the design of the building. 

“We took it as an opportunity to look back at our designs and make sure the entire team was happy with the property we were going to be building,” DeFrang said. “There wasn’t anything we ended up changing. We thought about renaming it, but in the end we decided that it would be a stronger choice to continue with the name we decided upon, The Metropolitan.” 

The repair process itself took time because the nature of the fire needed to be researched before any progress could be made on the building construction. However, the cause of the fire is still unknown. 

According to Raleigh Fire Chief John McGrath, the fire took approximately four to five hours to put out, and investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire because of its size and extensive damage. 

“The one thing that was extremely scary was the construction crane,” McGrath said. “We knew it would come down, but we were not sure in which direction. The problem was there was so much smoke, we couldn’t even keep our eye on it. The bottom of the crane melted, and the weight of it gave way and it fell. It was a little bit of a harrowing experience.”

The crane fell on top of a building adjacent to the fire, but no injuries were sustained. According to McGrath, only one person was injured from the fire.

“There was one slight injury to a Raleigh firefighter,” McGrath said. “He got hit with a piece of debris that fell, but it was non-life-threatening and he was back at work the next day.”

McGrath explained how complications arose from the fire due to the extent of its size and the many embers that surrounded the area. Members of the Raleigh Fire Department had to put out embers on a nearby church roof.

According to DeFrang, the Banner Property Management team is very excited to kick things into action. 

“We are really excited to get the property open, to reveal it to the neighborhood, and to continue our footprint in Raleigh,” DeFrang said. “We are glad that the city has been wonderful to work with and luckily, nobody was harmed in the fire itself.” 

The fire did not impact prospects of the complex, because the building had not been completed at the time. Now, The Metropolitan apartments is currently pre-leasing and hosting tours of the building.

According to DeFrang, prospects are now able to tour the units, and amenities and units are scheduled to be available in late January. Students interested in a lease can stop by at their temporary leasing office at 215 Glenwood Ave., Suite D.