This is an exciting one and all of us (well, one of us) at DTRaleigh HQ are crossing all our fingers and praying that this Summer’s announcement for The Depot takes place. LODEN Properties have announced plans for a mixed-use development alongside the historic Depot site, flipping that surface parking lot into places for people instead of cars. (minus the parking deck of course) It’s sure to bring new life and vibrancy to the area and the renderings show real promise.

On the parking lot next to the Depot, an eight-story building is planned with a 170-room boutique hotel, more than 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and around 20,000 square feet of office space. The retail mix could include 10-20 shops and restaurants along with an acre of outdoor gathering areas and pedestrian pathways.

The renderings are teasing a lot of pedestrian space, showing walkways on both sides of The Depot building. This would be incredible to have a mix of food and shops in the area with lots of space to linger and spend time. It should be a pretty unique offering for downtown Raleigh, although you could argue that something like this could happen over at City Market but that’s a topic for another post.

Today, the east side of the The Depot building has a lot of utility, storage, and, just a guess, parking for employees. If that was opened up for more pedestrians, you can create storefronts facing the west side, the east side, or both. Let me mark up the rendering that I shared at the top of this post to show what I mean.

If you’ll recall, there was a point in time where the historic Depot building was planned to be mostly demolished. That looks like that won’t happen here which is always great news to see. Reuse of our existing spaces adds much more character and interest than just adding new buildings. That’s the downtown way.

As for timing, don’t expect construction crews tomorrow, but things are moving. Building permits are anticipated within the next 18 months, which means we could see work begin around 2026. The full buildout is projected to wrap by 2028, though parts of the project could be phased depending on the market. Either way, by the end of this decade, The Depot will look very different from the surface lot we know today. It’s a big step for the Warehouse District, and one that feels like it’s been a long time coming.

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