Raleigh Marriott City Center Hotel

[ChiefJoJo]

The $20M probably bought the underground parking structure......And the cranes!

[carynative]

The project really seemed to jump up in the past day or so. Coming up Wilmington from MLK you get a good sense now of the footprint the building is going to have. It's now VERY visible from over the construction fences. I'm sure it will start gaining height quickly now.

[Jones_]

The project really seemed to jump up in the past day or so. Coming up Wilmington from MLK you get a good sense now of the footprint the building is going to have. It's now VERY visible from over the construction fences. I'm sure it will start gaining height quickly now.

[pack-man]

yes, they are past the ground floor already. I would say by the end of march, this will structure will start to permanently take shape in the raleigh skyline...very exciting

[bananzamonkey]

Can I get a webcam link or some pictures maybe?

[carynative]

Raleigh Convention Center Web cam If you click on "east view," then you've got a great shot of the project.

[willrusso]

wow

[ChiefJoJo]

A shot of the Marriott fro today:

Basically, everything to the right of that main concrete beam is the hotel, so they are on the second floor and counting. You can look to the left and see the future ground level of Fayetteville St (see the 2 port-a-johns) and underneath, where the parking deck is U/C.

[carynative]

Bump! Looking at the cam, it looks set back farther from Salisbury than I imagined from the renderings. Am I to assume that they will eventually build toward the street, or will it be set back as it is?

[CHGuy]

The Ballroom and meeting spaces will be built out towards Salisbury St.

[ncwebguy]

The renderings show a stairwell going up to the second floor along Salisbury. The rendering on the camera page shows this on the right side.

The current metal in the "south view" on the webcam is the landing for the stairs. There is a lot of sidewalk space for gathering, art, etc.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

This hotel is really going up fast! I wonder if they will open up the street between the hotel and new civic center first? Or will they wait until they are both finished?

[jlblaes]

There is an interesting article in today's Norfolk/Va Beach "Va Pilot" about the convention center in Raleigh doing it right by having a convention center hotel. Va Beach goofed and did not have one built with the convention center.

Article

JB

[dmccall]

I have always thought that the Atlanta Buckhead Westin (formerly Swisshotel) was a VERY nice looking hotel. On a recent trip it hit me; the rendering for the hotel's tower must have looked very similar to our dreaded Marriott. In vivo, however, the hotel tower doesn't look that bad. The base is really was sells this hotel.

[ChiefJoJo]

Dana, I think that's what the developers of the hotel were arguing a couple of years ago (has it been that long? )... that the street-level experience is the most crucial element and that is where the more atractive (expensive) and tactile materials are placed. I know a lot of people were pissed about the design, but I think given the risks that were present by not acting, Meeker and the majority of the council did the right thing by keeping the hotel on schedule with the RCC.

BTW, that rendering looks so funny out in the middle of a grass field or something.

[MireLanski]

Dana, I think that's what the developers of the hotel were arguing a couple of years ago (has it been that long? )... that the street-level experience is the most crucial element and that is where the more atractive (expensive) and tactile materials are placed. I know a lot of people were pissed about the design, but I think given the risks that were present by not acting, Meeker and the majority of the council did the right thing by keeping the hotel on schedule with the RCC.

BTW, that rendering looks so funny out in the middle of a grass field or something.

[carynative]

You can begin to see the building rising above the convention center when traveling east on Western. I can't believe how quickly this is coming up!

[JTsaysToYou]

I think that they are getting pretty near topping this thing off.

judging by the city's webcam they have done 9 floors above the bottom "pedestal" and there are only supposed to be 12/13

[carynative]

actually, I believe (and this thread's title says) it's supposed to be 17.

[bikwillie]

This hotel is really going up fast! I wonder if they will open up the street between the hotel and new civic center first? Or will they wait until they are both finished?

[JTsaysToYou]

actually, I believe (and this thread's title says) it's supposed to be 17.

[MireLanski]

Yeah, that's what i thought too, but if you look at the renderings on the city's site, one has the bottom "pedestal" with the amount of floors not clearly defined, and 12 floors above that, and the other has 13 floors above it. Judging by the city's webcam, it looks like they've done 9 floors above the pedestal, and so that's why i think they're getting closer to completion. I may be wrong, and i sure hope I am.

[orulz]

So wait - they're just going to keep building until they decide "OK, that ought to just about do it?" Somebody has to know how high it's going to be. That somebody certainly isn't me, but I seem to recall 15 stories being thrown around as the final height, though I could be wrong...

[carynative]

well, whatever the case, we need to start counting in person.. the building is heading up and out of the cam's view.

[RDUairport]

I seem to remember hearing 17 as well. I don't know if this is worth powder and shot but I sure thought that was the case. I'll keep my eye out for anything that defines number of stories.