RBC Plaza

[only]

In that case, what do you like about it?

Do you like its innovative use of materials?

Do you enjoy it's sensitive relationship with the pedestrian?

Are you impressed by the unique ways in which it addresses its site?

Are you interested in the methods employed to improve the building's efficiency, and the manner in which they improve the quality of life for the building's inhabitants?

Do you appreciate the statement it makes about building design and construction in the 21st century?

Oh, nevermind. It doesn't do any of those things.

[serapis]

In that case, what do you like about it?

Do you like its innovative use of materials?

Do you enjoy it's sensitive relationship with the pedestrian?

Are you impressed by the unique ways in which it addresses its site?

Are you interested in the methods employed to improve the building's efficiency, and the manner in which they improve the quality of life for the building's inhabitants?

Do you appreciate the statement it makes about building design and construction in the 21st century?

Oh, nevermind. It doesn't do any of those things.

You have to understand, that's your opinion. The RBC tower is the first step toward a new beginning for downtown. Even if it was a simple block structure, it's function (residents,offices, Major Bank Headquarters!) will out shine any negatives. I see no problems here.

[Tayfromcarolina]

Top out of the Building for me I say March 20th. Which coincidentally is the first day of spring.

[orulz]

You have to understand, that's your opinion. The RBC tower is the first step toward a new beginning for downtown. Even if it was a simple block structure, it's function (residents,offices, Major Bank Headquarters!) will out shine any negatives. I see no problems here.

Agreed.

This building will add workers, residents, and retail to downtown Raleigh. The architecture is not revolutionary, nor is it trying to be. I see nothing wrong with a client asking its architect for an inoffensive, conservative building. Sure, it's also not a perfect streetscape a la "Les rues magnifiques de Paris", but the stone (faux stone?) and clear g;ass that will be used for the bottom two floors provides an acceptable interface with the street and lends it a certain degree of human scale, much more so than (say) the Wachovia building.

[ncwebguy]

I like that it provides "in building parking" with only one entrance/exit via Wilmington while preserving the Fayetville Street and Martin Street pedestrian experiences.

I like that it is the first "triple mixed use" building in the Triangle -- retail topped by office topped by condos. Adding all these uses in the building's small footprint might not be new for the 21st century, but it is new for the area. And making the statement that having all these uses under the same roof, combined with the human scale established by the materials used at street level, is a statement I appreciate.

I don't know how else a building should adress a site as small as it was. Should it be round, oval or some other shape that would be an architect's wet dream on paper but a nightmare to implement? Not for the tenant involved, RBC Centura. Frank Gehry designs work for museums and music halls where finding the entrance can be a fun adventure, but not bank office/condo towers.

I think the use of mirrored glass, which might seem "so 20th century" is a good statement that RBC wants to be a part of and reflect its surroundings (as show in the pictures in this thread), not overwhelm them.

For the parking deck across the street, they've been building east toward Blount, starting on the fourth large east/westpiece. It looks like it will stay two wide to accomodate the Edison's buildings. I don't know if the transition to Wilmington will be like the Moore Square deck with potential to build above or if they will build parking to the street like PE II. From the site plan posted earlier, it looked like the parking would go close to Wilmington, but leave some room on the Blount side.

As for the topping out, I'll go March 17th since it is St. Patrick's day and I don't know how tricky the building top will be to implement. The smaller residential floors have been slower going up, but that may be due to the holidays and complexity of getting materials up higher.

[Jones_]

I like that it provides "in building parking" with only one entrance/exit via Wilmington while preserving the Fayetville Street and Martin Street pedestrian experiences.

I was thinking about the parking for this building today. If you live south, se or sw of the city its no problem to situate yourself to come up Wilmington St. But of you are coming in from Capital, Wade, Hillsborough or New Bern like most people, you have to oreint yourself like an airplane landing and most likely use Davie St to get lined up on Wilmington St. Cabarrus is cut off to all but the New Bern side, Lenoir is westbound, so your next orienting st to come north on Wilmington is South St. The Wilminton-Hargett intersection is already the worst downtown in the mornings. It will be a bit of a CF in there...not knocking, just thinking...

[reed]

I like that it is the first "triple mixed use" building in the Triangle -- retail topped by office topped by condos.

Wouldn't 510 Glenwood, albeit on a much smaller scale, take that distinction?

Regardless, I agree w/ everything you said and am excited for this building as well. Can't wait to see it top out.

[ChiefJoJo]

Wouldn't 510 Glenwood, albeit on a much smaller scale, take that distinction?

Regardless, I agree w/ everything you said and am excited for this building as well. Can't wait to see it top out.

Yeah, 510 is retail, 3 floors office, 3 floors condos. I'm not sure if there were any before this in Durham or Chapel Hill--doubtful.

RBC tower may not be a stunner asthetically, but it looks fine to me, and it would be VERY difficult to come up with a harsh critique of a project that does so many things exactly as we would like... vetical-mixed use, good density, highly walkable, ~1,000 new jobs, new residential, HQ for a major financial institution, in-structure parking, built on a 0.83-acre asphalt parking lot, servable by transit, no loss of historic structures, etc... especially when I can look around the area and see tons of crap getting thrown up each and every day with little apparent complaint. RBC Plaza is a great project.

[serapis]

Yeah, 510 is retail, 3 floors office, 3 floors condos. I'm not sure if there were any before this in Durham or Chapel Hill--doubtful.

RBC tower may not be a stunner asthetically, but it looks fine to me, and it would be VERY difficult to come up with a harsh critique of a project that does so many things exactly as we would like... vetical-mixed use, good density, highly walkable, ~1,000 new jobs, new residential, HQ for a major financial institution, in-structure parking, built on a 0.83-acre asphalt parking lot, servable by transit, no loss of historic structures, etc... especially when I can look around the area and see tons of crap getting thrown up each and every day with little apparent complaint. RBC Plaza is a great project.

Let's not forget also. This is not the last major skyscraper getting built DT. Raleigh is definitely just warming up!

[ncwebguy]

People coming from the north can take Wake Forest to Blount from Capitol. They can park in the deck across the street or take rights on Cabarrus and Wilmington to get to the in-building parking.

This is probably why the majority of parkind decks are between Wilmington/Blount and Salisbury/McDowell. The only other decks in the F Street corridor is the deck underneath the Hannover buildings/city square, and Alexander Square.

Traffic coming in via Wade doesn't have this luxury, but can cross to Blount via Jones, Morgan, Hargett, or Martin and follwing the above directions or repeating the manuvering above, or make the Dawson -> Davie or South -> Wilmington manuver. Maybe Lenior will be made two way when they figure out what is going on with sites 2 and 3?

It would be nice if more people used mass transit to get to work (short walk from Moore Square station), or walked to work in this building from the condos above, Hudson, Edison, Site 1, Founder's Row, Palladium Plaza, Hue, Dawson at Morgan, Carlton Place, houses on the east side, etc.

Also, I totally forgot about 510 Glenwood! It does such a good job of *not* overwhelming Glenwood South, it is easy to forget about the condos on top, save for the occasional for sale sign near Red Room. And it (partially) has *two* levels of retail (Hi 5/Bogarts) and hides a parking deck too! The nearby creamery has (had?) some residential units, but those are behind the office/retail buildings along Glenwood, not above them.

510 and RBC's staements of vertical mixed use are good to see, with the Edison possibly following. American Tobacco's campus is similar to the Creamery's compact mixed use.

[Gard]

RBC Centura will be dropping "Centura" from its name and will be known just at "RBC Bank." I assume that it will change the name on top of their new tower as well:

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/888673.html

[rooster8]

I think the original renderings just had the RBC logo anyway. I'm really surprised 'Centura' stuck around as long as it did.

I can imagine people thinking it stands for Raleigh Banking Company.

[askmisterbrown]

I agree with most posters on this forum that this is a great project, for all the reasons that ncwebguy, orulz and Chiefjojo present. It may not be brilliant or fabulous, but it will be handsome and a good addition to the skyline, with its pyramidal top.

The rule that a building must be totally different, must address its site uniquely, etc. is so 20th century. I would much rather have a good design than a unique design that's not so good. I don't subscribe to the 20th Century sentiment that "negative attention is better than no attention."

Compare this project to all the low-rise office complexes all over the Triangle and all over the U.S. There are thousands of one-story office parks with huge parking lots. Completely auto-dependent, criminally wasteful of land, causing lots of runoff, incredibly ugly, cheaply built of cheap materials, totally disgusting. The RBC Plaza is great!

[Gard]

I can imagine people thinking it stands for Raleigh Banking Company.

I never thought of that, but you are correct, there are probably people who have at least thought that when they first saw it. Thanks for pointing that out.

I agree with askmisterbrown. The building might not be revolutionary, but it IS evolutionary for Raleigh. RBC Plaza is no doubt an improvement over what we have now and we can hope that it raises the design bar a bit for Raleigh.

[urbanesq]

I like the mix of uses, the height, the glass, the hidden parking, the street-level retail. Ideally (at least in my opinion) a mixed-use building would be less visually obvious about which uses are where-- in that respect RBC looks a little cobbled together. But overall it's a great project for downtown and a solid design. The only thing I really do wish they'd change is the pyramid/dunce cap on top, but only because it looks like a total afterthought, and doesn't seem to be in keeping with the rest of the building stylistically.

Has anyone else heard that there are waiting lists for every condo in that project? I heard that at a business meeting this week but hadn't heard it before. That's very cool if it's true.

[Gard]

Has anyone else heard that there are waiting lists for every condo in that project? I heard that at a business meeting this week but hadn't heard it before. That's very cool if it's true.

Yeah I had heard from a few different places that RBC was sold out. I think N&O had mentioned it at some point.

[magicmk]

I like the mix of uses, the height, the glass, the hidden parking, the street-level retail. Ideally (at least in my opinion) a mixed-use building would be less visually obvious about which uses are where-- in that respect RBC looks a little cobbled together. But overall it's a great project for downtown and a solid design. The only thing I really do wish they'd change is the pyramid/dunce cap on top, but only because it looks like a total afterthought, and doesn't seem to be in keeping with the rest of the building stylistically.

The cap and spire look like an afterthought because it's my understanding that it basically is. If I'm not mistaken, the addition was made because after the original RBC Plaza design was announced, months later the Soleil Group came forward with their plans for their building out at Crabtree, which at the time, was taller than the RBC project. Thus, the new top was added to maintain RBC Plaza's plan to be to tallest new building in Raleigh. And being downtown, I think that's how it ought to be.

Although I rather would have seen them add a few more floors instead. Since the condos have been reportedly sold out for a few months now, it makes you wonder if they wished they had gone ahead and added a few more?

I won't criticize anything about the building's design until I see it finished - these things always look a lot different in person than on paper. Or a computer 3-D model. For example, the glass looks much, much less blue than it did in the renderings. I'm just glad to see it going up.

[ChiefJoJo]

Here's a time lapse of the tower going up.

[urbanvb]

RBC is looking good.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

RBC is looking good.

Great pic's!

Thank you for taking the time to take these very cool pictures and for sharing!!

[ChiefJoJo]

New Raleigh's take on RBC Plaza... I think a few of those guys are either architects or NCSU design school students, so consider this a semi-educated critique.

They point out that ideally, the parking would be better above the 2nd floor or elsewhere, but keeping it hidden within the building is infinitely better than the old method of tearing down adjacent structures (usually historic) and putting up a parking deck or surface lot ( ). Yeah, I know, they are building one across the street, but it's mostly for Edison and didn't take out any historically significant buildings--in fact they admirably kept the Reliable Loan and Coopers parcels unblemished, unlike many a high-rise in the 80s-90s era Queen City. They bring up the claimed inappropriate design of the spire, but I'm OK with it. Clearly, it was added to eclipse Soleil Center in overall height and keep the tallest building in Downtown Raleigh.

[jfmecca]

RBC is looking good.

I've lost count... how many more floors to go?

[Jones_]

Asset wise, RBC is small compared to the bigs like Wachovia and Bank of America,(even though the parent RBC is the size of Wachovia) so you just don't get a very big building. At least they didn't pull a First Citizens and bail for the 'burbs. Expecting them to make some huge architectural statement is not a fair expectation imo. Proper function and form is received with open arms.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Here is a night shot taken of the RBC Plaza looking from the state government complex just south of Peace Street. This picture was taken on February 12, 2008.

[urbanvb]

^ nice shot