Charter Square (Site One)

[bj-26]

An office building between McDonalds and Red Hat? That sounds good, I like the height of their 22 story buildings!

[bj-26]

Ok, I guess I was confused. I was thinking you guys were talking about something additional across the street from the North tower.

[Green_man]

About a month ago, I think there was a 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 story hotel proposed for the Northwest quardrant of the McDonalds block. 

[Jones_]

Word is 23 stories will be announced soon - mentioned by the developer at a downtown awards ceremony in mid February.  Office over retail.  Also, South Tower was 60% leased and will be ready in May.

It just occurred to me 17 was the last number announced for the final Edison component. I had no idea what Charter Square north would be....23 is substantial. Visible from Boylan Bridge and the money shot and a nice addition to our own little Potsdamer Platz.

I don't think anything would be proposed east of here anytime soon since the Pope House is there as is Lincoln Theater. Pope House's historical significance is partly tied to its location (in addition to its owner/builder of course) but a move of the house over to lot immediately east of Lincoln Theater might be a good spot for it in the future. Stays on the block with the once de-facto segregated Lincoln Theater.  Keeps some smaller scale stuff lumped together. Frees up Wilmington st frontage for mid-scale transitional height stuff. Anyway, I digress...

[RALNATIVE]

I was driving into downtown on South Saunders today and noticed how prominent the south tower looks in the skyline. That building is coming along nicely. Next to the SECU it will be the sharpest tower downtown.

[Jones_]

I was driving into downtown on South Saunders today and noticed how prominent the south tower looks in the skyline. That building is coming along nicely. Next to the SECU it will be the sharpest tower downtown.

I was thinking it looked very good too. Sort of caught me off guard for some reason...I guess its a rare case of reality looking better than renderings. The faux limestone on the first story and bricks on the Wilmington St lobby seem a little incongruent but the rest is sharp indeed. Nice compliment to the plaza as a whole too. 

Edited March 13, 2015 by Jones_

[RALNATIVE]

I can only imagine what the plaza area will look like once the north tower is erected.

[Atowwn]

The north tower is IMO the most important building that will be built DT. For years to come. It's the last piece of City Plaza. Also will do wonders for the "money shot". I hope they come up with something striking. The last I heard it would be mixed use. Office and apartments,maybe condos. About 21-24 stories. Let's hope for 24. Just think if Charter South makes an impression at 11 stories. What 24 stories will look like. They better get this right. This building will be on a lot of post cards lol. Fingers crossed.

Also I heard a new rendering of Charter North is coming soon. Once again fingers crossed.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Atowwn

[DPK]

The north tower is IMO the most important building that will be built DT. For years to come. It's the last piece of City Plaza. Also will do wonders for the "money shot". I hope they come up with something striking. The last I heard it would be mixed use. Office and apartments,maybe condos. About 21-24 stories. Let's hope for 24. Just think if Charter South makes an impression at 11 stories. What 24 stories will look like. They better get this right.

 

I know this will sound pessimistic, but I'm pretty sure it'll be terrible.

[RaleighRick]

I think the official numbers are very much in flux but 17 stories seems to ring a bell for me. 22 was perhaps a pre-recent-economic-downturn number. I assume the statement "as big as he could" was an economic limitation and not a physical(subsurface) or zoning limitation?

Since the North Tower is being built on top of the parking structure, I believe there is a physical limitation to this building. But 23 stories and 400'+ will be an awesome addition.

[bj-26]

The height and location for the North tower would be ideal for an up-and-coming bank or one that just wants regional notoriety.

[RALNATIVE]

The height and location for the North tower would be ideal for an up-and-coming bank or one that just wants regional notoriety.

 

This would be ideal for a North State Bank headquarters.

[Euphorius]

Or Yadkin Bank. 

[Jones_]

I walked over to the collapse site this afternoon. It's very sobering and sad. I tried to reconstruct the accident….the 5th floor anchor was attached still and everything above there pivoted on that anchor. Just below there, a joint broke and a section of the mast kicked back into the glass…perhaps 5 or 10 feet below the anchor. But it looks like the entire section above there rotated out….6 floors worth…bringing the platform out away from the building with it. I have no idea how high up the platform was, but it had to be high enough above the 5th floor anchor to create a powerful enough moment arm to break the joint right below the 5th floor anchor. You can't survive an 8-10 floor drop when nothing is stopping you because your lanyard is attached to the thing that's falling. These guys were down here helping make our downtown beautiful…something we can be proud of…and just like that…its over.

Mortality.

I sometimes wonder what downtown will grow into and look like long after I am gone. Would I like it? Will it be shiny and futuristic or a decaying hell hole? Perhaps in time for me, the route Walt Disney is attempting will be viable.

A friend of mine passed away a couple of years ago at 35 years old. He used to pull up surveyors stakes where Skyhouse is now in the early stages of it being sold for development. I think about him a lot. We were building mates above the space Lumina just vacated. He pulled up those stakes because he wanted to save the maple trees on that lot. NC is an autumn land of yellow and brown…but not these maples….bursting red every year we lived there. He liked watching the other downtowners walk their dogs there too. It was a little community of sorts. 

The guys who fell…I wonder what were their cares and concerns. Will anyone remember them when downtown is its futuristic self? Will the poor people they left behind ever be anything but sad when they see the little things that remind them of the people they lost….

Edited March 26, 2015 by Jones_

[Green_man]

Based on what I could tell, the scaffolding mast was attached to the building at 3 anchorage points (base, ~5th floor, and top).  They were dismantling it, so they had taken off the top anchorage it seems.  But the platform was still well above the middle anchorage - so yea the moment was too great for that support to hold, so it broke away and rotated out.  On swing stages you are still tied off to the roof fall protection, I wonder why thats not the case for this type of scaffolding.  Such a terrible accident.

 

I think some kinda of memorial public art should be installed on the sidewalk to honor these (and really all) workers who risk their lives everyday to build what we take for granted.

[HopHead]

What an awful tragedy.. Unfortunately, these types of accidents aren't that uncommon. Thoughts and prayers to the families. 

[Justin6882]

Charter square opens tomorrow with a 5:30pm ribbon cutting. I hope this means they open up lenoir this week as well.

[NikOnder]

dtraleigh.com has a new pic.

 

http://dtraleigh.com/2015/06/pic-of-the-week-121/

 

In that picture, does anyone know what the caissons in the fenced off section immediately NE of the building are for? 

[Green_man]

dtraleigh.com has a new pic.

 

http://dtraleigh.com/2015/06/pic-of-the-week-121/

 

In that picture, does anyone know what the caissons in the fenced off section immediately NE of the building are for? 

 

Columns from when they built the underground parking for the site a few years ago.  Will be used to support the North tower.

[NikOnder]

Nice, I was hoping they would have something to do with the North tower

[Jones_]

Just walked the sidewalk beside the new building and it really is very nice. Same echelon as the Credit Union even the though it lacks the vertical relief of the CU. 

[orulz]

Charter Square North site plan was submitted to the city on Friday. So far not available for download by the public at large. Usually at the site plan stage you get a good idea for height, uses, square footage, and unit count if residential is part of it. JDavis is the architect.

[Green_man]

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/real-estate/2015/06/charter-square-downtown-raleigh-22-stories-tower.html

 

[Green_man]

I wish it had a huge screen facing the plaza mounted on the facade at levels 2-4.  Could have news tickers, breaking news, and could show major sporting events!

[Justin6882]

I don't hate it! Actually... I think I like it!