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RALEIGH - Like a proud uncle, Gordon Grubb thumbs through snapshots of luxury condos.
The stack includes photos of a swank building that his family business, Grubb Properties, developed in uptown Charlotte.
The Ratcliffe has drawn the likes of race driver Jeff Gordon and NBA team owner Robert Johnson.
Grubb points to a photo of a Boston building, admiring that its outer skin could pass for vintage or new construction. He hopes to borrow elements from that building for his current assignment - developing the residential anchor of the $100 million Progress Energy project in downtown Raleigh.
"I was thrilled to be chosen," Grubb says. He was one of five residential developers vying for the job. After a series of interviews with Progress officials and the chief developer, Carter & Associates of Atlanta, Grubb got the nod late last year.
The 78-unit downtown project is the first major coup for his year-old company, Grubb Ventures. Grubb stepped down in January 2002 from his post as chief executive of Grubb Properties, the real estate business that his father, Robert Grubb, founded in 1960. His brother Clay Grubb shifted from vice president to chief executive officer of the Cary-based company,
The newly minted Grubb Ventures is about to take on its second high-profile project. Grubb has gathered a group of investors, including local families, for a friendly purchase of the 24-acre Glenwood Place office complex, which is now owned by Grubb Properties. The move means buying out Invesco Realty Advisors Inc., which snapped up a substantial stake in the Grubb portfolio in 1999.
Grubb is tightlipped about his vision for the site, but he is mulling...