Alicia Hylton-Daniel of Hylton Daniel | Modernist 4 in Durham | Durham Does Modern
Courtesy of Hylton Daniel
Durham Does Modern
In today’s episode, we will be speaking with Alicia Hylton-Daniel who is the founder of Hylton Daniel, a design and construction company in Durham, North Carolina. She is both an interior designer and a general contractor, featuring in the Durham Magazine and the HGTV show Love it or List It, where she shares her portfolio of modernist renovation and new construction projects in greater Durham. Today we will be speaking with her about Modernist 4, a new single-family home project currently in development. We will also touch on how COVID-19 has impacted the real estate market in Durham, including how this tumultuous period has spotlighted social justice and safety amid a backdrop of economic uncertainty.
Now, more than ever, buildings are integral for reshaping our social, work, and lifestyle environments. Modernist 4 is one such example, capturing the urban setting whilst emphasizing a sense of privacy and modernity for the homeowner. Alicia’s intentionality on this project has allowed her to increase the overall connectivity between people and their environments in the greater Durham area. Join us on this week’s episode as we speak to Alicia about her personal journey as well as her plans for her upcoming project, Modernist 4.
“I think the issue here in Durham, is that I have park envy when it comes to the other cities that aren’t as diversified as Durham. Like they have these beautiful parks. And, and I think that Durham just needs to think about that because the word gentrification is always thrown around, and I’m like, we can be a city of Black people and have beautiful things. We can have a beautiful park, we can have all of this. So just kind of taking it a little back from an interior designer’s perspective and from a builder. Unapologetically, like just thinking about our city moving forward, and how we want to make it more of a community. And how we want to change the stigma of what things ought to look like when People of Color or Black people inhabit them. So,kind of changing that mindset.”
Courtesy of Hylton Daniel
About Alicia Hylton-Daniel
Alicia Hylton-Daniel began her journey in interior design when a house fire caused by a faulty fireplace at her new Durham home occurred in 2002. That experience completely changed her career trajectory from being a hopeful paralegal to becoming an interior designer and a general contractor. Now she is is the founder of Hylton Daniel, a design and construction company in Durham, North Carolina, and has built a portfolio of over a dozen stunning modernist renovation and new construction projects. Her success is far-reaching; she has graced the pages of Dwell Magazine, has been on the cover of Durham Magazine, and has completed two building projects for the HGTV show Love it or List It.
Courtesy of Hylton Daniel
Episode Timestamps
3:26 – Your path to becoming a developer started with your own house actually burning down. What happened?
12:42 – From that first project which you started in 2016 all the way to now, you have about a dozen projects completed. What have you learned across this kind of arc of projects about being a great developer and about being a great interior designer?
18:13 – Tell us about the scope of the Modernist 4 project.
26:06 – You mentioned earlier on 85 and Black Wall Street. Could you talk about that in a little bit more detail for people that may not be familiar with that?
29:14 – For our listeners to get a visual of the space, walk us through the building and what someone would see as they walk through it.
35:59 – Material wise, we've talked about cedar, white oak, and split CMU. What are some of the other major materials? What's the wood flooring? What’re the counters?
40:00 – What kind of a place does Duke have in your image of what Durham is?
54:05 – What’s coming next for Durham?
59:17 – What might be potential challenges for Durham?
Connect with Alicia Hylton-Daniel:
Courtesy of Hylton Daniel
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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