Downtown Raleigh has surprised many of us during the last few years with several projects that promise to make downtown a livable and desirable place. Successful revitalization efforts have converted several areas of downtown into destinations, placing them at the top of our "areas to watch" list. There was a short period of time when announcements came out as if the sky was the limit (in terms of numbers, not height).
By far, the largest project was Two Progress Plaza's 19-story tower, which is currently hosting many of the company's employees; I am not sure whether the HQ were actually relocated into that building. The importance of this project can be easily demonstrated by the announcements of many more plans, some of which are nearing completion. The list of projects keeps growing, mainly thanks to residential infills that replace surface lots and underutilized space. So, allow me to provide a list of what's coming up:
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
* Quorum Center - 15 stories (mixed-use).
* Paramount - 10 stories (residential).
* Dawson - 5 stories; almost complete (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurant).
* Hudson - 5 stories (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurant/TV station).
* Convention Center - 500,000 sf of space; something equivalent to 5-6 stories in height (convention).
* Reopening of Fayetteville Street.
APPROVED & PROPOSED:
* Convention Hotel - 16 stories (hospitality).
* 222 Glenwood - 8-12 stories (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurants).
* Palladium Plaza - 5 stories (residential).
* Metropolitan - 8 stories (residential).
* West & North streets (North) - Sandreuter's proposal for something at least as large as Dawson (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurants).
* Bloomsbury Estates - 5 stories (residential).
* Jones & St Mary's - Two 4-story buildings, totaling 40-50 units (residential).
* Hillsborough & St Mary's - Currently, a Capitol Broadcasting property. 150-200 units; possibly something around 5-6 stories (residential).
* Hillsborough & Boylan - another mid-rise; I do not foresee anything above 5 stories (residential).
* Peace & Boylan - 4 stories (residential w/ retail).
* West & North streets (South) - Empire Properties' proposal for an urban complex; something up to 4 stories (mixed-use).
* South Wilmington & Fayetteville - A new proposal, by Empire Properties, for a 5-6 story residential building and renovation of an existing art deco low-rise. Not exactly downtown, but the area will be incorporated into the core once development flourishes in the South End (mixed-use).
* Person Street Plaza - 3 stories (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurants).
* Carlton Plaza - 3 stories (residential w/ street-level retail/restaurants).
* Intermodal Station.
* Riverwalk.
ENVISIONED:
* Reynolds Tower - 32-37 stories (mixed-use).
* The "mystery" tower - 21 stories; not officially announced, but nearby store owners already know about it (residential w/ street-level retail and top-floor restaurant).
* East convention center wing - ~15 stories (mixed-use).
* N&O Offices - 10-16 stories of office space for News & Observer (offices).
* RBC/Centura - 12-15 stories; so far wishful thinking (offices).
* Courthouse extension - 9 stories, but equivalent to 15 regular floors. It could go higher (offices)
* Boutique hotel - 8+ story hotel w/ condos on the top, at the surface lot between Lenoir/Salisbury/South streets.
* Hilton Hotel - At the current location of Raleigh Office Supply. I assume something like 5+ stories (hospitality).
* Green Square - 6 stories (offices).
* Clarence Lightner Public Safety Center - City of Raleigh's new headquarters facility for Police and Fire Departments; probably 6+ stories (offices).
SMALL AREA PLANS - These plans guarantee a mixed-use environment with several mid-rises, low-rises, townhomes and single houses:
* Moore Square/City Market.
* North Blount Street.
* South End.
* Warehouse District/ TTA planned station area.
All of the above projects justify the increasing excitement that Raleighites feel about their downtown. Even after the completion of these projects, however, DT Raleigh has a VERY long way to go before we can place it in pars with more established downtowns (e.g. Portland, Richmond, Austin). Our city does not play in the major league, where cities like NY, Atlanta and Seattle play; currently, we are a mid-size city, without a great vision and unable to see beyond 5-10 years. Raleigh is still searching for identity, beyond its status as the capital city of North Carolina, which makes things difficult.
Anyway, the purpose of this thread is not to make Raleigh look little and vision-less, but everyone needs to keep in mind that we don't shoot for the sky, something reflected on the numerous mid-rise projects listed above. Our skyline will get a boost when Quorum Center gets completed, along with the South End developments and the Reynolds Tower. If the latter gets delivered as DT Raleigh's new tallest tower, we may not see similar developments for a while, but we'll definitely see an increase in density, especially around the South End.
After looking at the above list (which is not necesarily complete), what are your thoughts about the future of DT Raleigh? Even though we have talked about this in the past, the list I posted should make it easier to confirm or modify what has been said before. If everything goes well, the following numbers should be good for the next 5 years:
* High-rises (15+ stories): 5 (RBC/Centura and N&O not included in this category).
* Mid-rises (6-14 stories): 9 (including the courthouse, although it will be more like a high-rise).
* Low-rise (5 stories and below): 16 (including Hilton).
The above numbers do not include numerous mid-rises and low-rises that will emerge as the result of Small Area Plans becoming reality. I can easily see another 10-15 midrises being built, but to speculate on the height would be foolish. Let your imagination go wild and picture DT Raleigh for the next 5-10 years.
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i take no credit for that it was made by a user by the name of Raleigh-Nc from ssc
