SlackJack

Yup. Plus the proposed buildings are significantly physically taller than anything nearby, including BB&T building etc ( 40 stories vs 30 stories for the BB&T building) The renderings are correct.

I didn't realize that you were an architect. I have about 40 years of experience in this field, and whatever architectural firm produced these renderings did them correctly.

They've already started the site work for the Walter Tower. Rode by there twice this week and there is a lot of activity inside the perimeter fencing surrounding the Walter site. I actually stopped and peeked inside to look.

I don't understand your comment … the rendering is completely accurate in this perspective, based upon the two new buildings being in the foreground, and based upon a full height of 40 stories (which is not necessarily a given).

Kessler is responding to a RFI transmittal what was sent out about 3 weeks ago; this is not a formal proposal. Since the RFI period lasts until the end of March, the city will wait to receive any other RFI responses that may come in (and there will be others). In the meantime, Kessler has the right to respond as they see fit, although it is unlikely that they will be invited to submit a formal proposal if this is all that they can offer. Having said that, requesting 500 rooms is a stiff requirement, unless it is a part of a mixed use tower. If the city isn't interested in any of the RFI responses, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it kicked in millions of the "tourism tax funds" to get the right developer to build what it wants. Because of the location of this site, and its close proximity to the convention center, this is a very logical location to request 500 hotel rooms.

I agree with you regarding the one being built in Charlotte: it looks like a cheap Days Inn, especially compared to the one in Asheville. I disagree with your comment about Charlotte being "dramatically superior" to Raleigh. What does that even mean ?

This is a concept floated by a potential RFP bidder. This doesn't come even close to meeting the requirements specified in the city's RFI docs, so I wouldn't put much thought into this ever becoming a reality, at least as these initial sketches indicate. Raleigh wants a high profile project on this site, and also wants a 500 room hotel on this site. Other companies will also put forth their own proposals (likely Kane will as well). It's much too early in the process to render any judgements.

Raleigh will be happy to take all of the 4-5 towers (even more). The new city council is much more friendly to center city development, and getting rid of the CAC's was a long overdue first step.

The Raleigh Union Station Bus project has to begin construction this year, as a condition to receiving the $ 20 million federal grant money. They lose the grant if they don't start in 2020. Kane will likely start his this Smokey Hollow this year as well.

EIFS (artificial stucco) was a big "thing" years ago, when the original NH sections were built. I've never seen it used as much in a single development as NH used it. This new section doesn't appear to have any, thank goodness.

Raleigh-Wake County already has $ 30 million dollars saved and allocated towards this project. I truly believe that they want a major high profile project here, per their public statements. There's no doubt the hotel is sorely needed, and the tower will likely be used to lure another high profile corporate tenant (or tenants). Extremely prime location. On another note, the influx of out-of-state developers will increase the level of quality architecture in Raleigh (think Fallon and Hoffman as two examples).

These are simply conceptual renderings. However, the intent is to convey that the City Council is expecting something dramatic in this prime location, not "boxes of schlock". This will be reflected in the selection process for selecting a developer. The city owns the property, and can dictate what it wants to see here. They have already demonstrated this with picking an internationally known architect to design the City Hall campus. I really dig the new mayor and City Council for being more pro development.

They are asking for a portion of "unallocated" funds so a stadium depends on whether or not they get the funding. I believe that Raleigh-Wake is waiting on the results of a study before deciding on the requested funds.

Frankly, most people in Raleigh don't care much about professional sports, including hockey or MLS. I would count myself in that opinion. We do care about things like being a major Life Science hub, a major Tech Hub, having three major R-1 Level research universities etc. Wish the "Canes"well, but if they go elsewhere so be it. Don't give a crap. The Panthers haven't won a Super Bowl since their existence, and basically suck. Tepper may or may not turn that around (doubt it). The basketball team (whatever they are now called - Hornets-Buzzards- Pecker Heads) also suck. MLS is a cool fad, but doubt that it will have traction. Not a large fan base in North America. Raleigh is building a 1.9 billion dollar development in "Downtown South" based upon a "soccer-multi use" stadium, but unlikely MLS - probably minor league soccer. It is being used as an excuse to "obtain" several hundred million dollars of tax money from Raleigh-Wake County . I am confident that the city-county is stupid enough to dump $ 300 million into this boondoogle. The developers need to pay for this crap, not the taxpayers.

I still think of BB&T as the old redneck Wilson bank. Good luck Charlotte. LOL

Yes - it looks like Chattanooga, TN is creating more new jobs than any other city in the USA. This Forbes "report" is nonsense.

I read through the Charlotte Tech News thread, and it seems that almost all the tech increase is directly or indirectly related to fin-tech (as you suggested), which makes complete sense due to the heavy banking presence. Lowes Home Improvement is one of the exceptions, but it is already based in Mooresville. Time will tell if this significantly expands into non-financial areas, and I suspect that it will. However, most tech hubs are much more broadly based. The Triangle has fin-tech companies like Credit Suisse and Fidelity, and manufacturers like Lenovo, but also world-class, leading-edge software companies like SAS, and leading-edge manufacturers like Cree, which has invested heavily in advanced silicon carbide wafer chips. NCSU has a quantum computing research hub (in conjunction with IBM). In fact, all tech hubs that I am aware of have at least one major research university at its core. Comparing raw head count numbers between two areas doesn’t tell the complete story. This area is already seeing some Silicon Valley companies expanding small “outposts” here, and that trend will likely accelerate. I still believe that the biggest strength of this area is being a major life sciences hub, because that infrastructure can’t be easily replicated.

Does citiboi have any Carvana updates ? Any danger of it tipping over when fully loaded with cars?

Zack Matheny says: "we done swapped the land; maybe more stuff coming." This guy reminds me of a used car salesman. I predict that "Greensboro" will someday be called "Carrollsboro".

What does Po-boy mean ? Do you have "WHITE PRIVILEGE" ?

No it didn't. Don't try to interpret what I am saying, or try to read my mind. Some years ago, I lived in Greensboro for a brief period of time. I really liked it, and I still like it today. I don't know as much about Winston-Salem, but I like it as well. My wife went to Wake Forest law school, and she also likes it. The Triad area has a rich heritage , and is a great place. In fact, my son goes to Elon University. I graduated from Guilford College. I've done business in the Triad area over the past few years. I discovered these forums only a few months ago. I discovered that certain people are sort of weird, and the "cityboi" person strikes me as one of the weird ones, and I don't think that I am the only one. The pirate guy is also a bit odd, in an entertaining, nauseating sort of way (Edward Teach). The "penis" comment was meant in jest. The "citiboi" seems obsessed with Carvana, along with whatever is being built in Greensboro, for whatever reason. BTW - did you actually read the NYT article ?

Greensboro must have a larger penis. Did you read the NYT article today ? They weren't discussing the sizes of Carvanas, but how to crawl of the tobacco-textiles-furniture 19th century economy.

Last thing I wanted to mention - you can get statistics from different sources and they not show the same things. The report by the City of Raleigh / Wake County states specific, actual significant job creations & announcements, which can be easily verified. Now it is possible that we are suddenly losing thousands of jobs, such as DMV moving to Rocky Mount, etc which would offset the new job creations. The article didn't address this. The strongest thing that this area has going for it, in my opinion, is the small start-ups which can possibly become large successful companies, such as SAS, Red Hat, Cree, Quintiles, Pendo etc. This is a better strategy than trying to land the "big fish" LOL.

I refer you to the WRAL Techwire summary reported on 05/29/19, as well as the Raleigh Chamber. It also ran in the Raleigh N&O if I am not mistaken. If this area isn't creating more jobs than this "article" stated, then Raleigh-Durham wouldn't be building all of the stuff that's under construction or starting construction. Also wouldn't be pulling in the out of state developers from California, Boston, Washington DC, Baltimore etc. as well as local developer Kane. My office is 1 mile north of North Hills, and if that development is completely built out it will be a small city by itself. Kane leases everything that he proposes or builds. Durham is building another Innovation District downtown: 1.7 million square feet with 15 acres, several sections of the Research Triangle Park are being redeveloped ---- former Glaxo property as one example. The start-up incubator system is not just focused on Durham and RTP, but also Raleigh. Even though this area is considered a "tech hub", it's main strength is being a major Life Sciences Hub. One good thing about sprawl, which we do have, is that it's rapidly pushing development / redevelopment back into downtown Raleigh & downtown Durham. Even though light rail is dead (I hope), Raleigh is already designing and will soon implement, several initial legs of BRT. This will gradually spread throughout the entire RTP over time. If this "article" was correct, then most of the people moving to Wake and RTP would be "unemployed". They come for jobs, and developers build because of job growth and population growth.

I wanted to clarify the article was first reported in the Winston Salem Journal (not the Wall Street Journal) , and then the Greensboro N&R. The story was factually inaccurate, and was sloppy reporting in my opinion.