Photo by xtremetoonz
The site of The Fairweather condos has been cleared at the end of Harrington Street. After the Rogers House move in June, this makes the site ready for construction of the 45 condo units. The view should be pretty nice!
Category / New Construction
The Saint Townhomes Take Shape and Elevate
The Saint townhomes. July 2018.
It’s been almost a year since we checked in on the townhomes along St. Mary’s Street, The Saint, and these units are coming along nicely. The 17 units offer something truly unique to downtown, the city even, as they are high in quality and design. With a mix of floor plans and views, each unit offers something different.
The designer, a product of the NC State School of Design, has worked pretty diligently when considering quality and going above and beyond the standards. The units should be high in design when walking through but also solid underneath. (foam insulation, cast iron pipes, 2×6 studs, etc)
True, some of this may be expected due to the higher price but there’s something to be said for delivering units that are quiet in an urban area. Noise issues may not exist if downtown apartment and townhome buildings were designed to their environment, rather than at the minimum. (what’s on paper)
The Saint has 10 of 17 units sold as of recently and should have residents moving in early 2019 or so. Let’s hope high design makes a splash so that others work to incorporate those successul elements into future projects.
Pic of the Week
It looks like the storage building on South Street is basically completed. The ancillary retail space was empty last I checked but since it will support the storage building, it won’t be anything too exciting. (except for maybe the professional organizers in the house)
These storage buildings are cheap to run and it’s not too surprising to see them close to our urban centers as empty nesters are moving into downtown. I want to think that this demographic is downsizing on space but not their stuff.
Join the discussion about self storage in and around downtown Ralegh on the DTRaleigh Community.
A Walk Around Smokey Hollow
Corner of West and Peace. June 2018.
With two cranes now operating over the Smokey Hollow site, I thought it would be a great time to walk around and check things out on a nice June evening. Nearby, the new Capital Boulevard bridge is also being worked on and it seems like all of these things are part of a wave that wants to open around the same time.
First, we need to review the new street configuration coming to this area. Parts of Harrington Street have been removed while Johnson Street will become reconnected. See the before and after maps below.
Map of Smokey Hollow area before 2018.
Map of Smokey Hollow area after 2018. (square loop not included)
The “Harrington Curve” is now gone and instead extends the street to Peace. At the intersection of Johnson and Harrington, you can see the future extension as the buildings have been cleared. Here’s where the walk starts staring to the north.
Intersection of Harrington and Johnson. June 2018.
Getting to West from this point is basically a pedestrian/bike only alley as the new Johnson Street connection isn’t in place yet.
Along West Street heading north to Peace, we can start to see the buildings of Peace at West starting to come up. What was once an area of suburban-style, one-story buildings will now have 12-story towers along new urban sidewalk. The change will be quite dramatic and there’s plenty of space for more.
West Street near Johnson Street. June 2018.
The building is just starting to rise up so you still have to use a little imagination to get a sense of what the intersection of Peace and West will look like in the future. Soon, Peace Street will start to resemble its future self as more lanes open up as part of the bridge construction.
Enjoy that view looking southeast while you can cause this building will go up fast!
West Street at Peace. June 2018.
There are temporary lights at the future new intersection of Harrington and Peace where you can look towards the south at the beginning of this walk. No doubt, Peace at West will hug some prominent streets, basically all the ones we’ve discussed.
Peace at the future intersection with Harrington. June 2018.
New Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace. June 2018.
Getting back to our starting point takes us south straight down the future Harrington Street to its intersection with Johnson. The Rollins Cleaners and other older buildings are still up on the eastern side but that may not be a surprise as demolishing a dry cleaner typically involves extensive environmental cleanup efforts that take years. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case at this site.
Buildings along Peace Street. June 2018.
Future Harrington Street. June 2018.
We’ll check back in later for sure!
Join the conversation on this project over at the DTRaleigh Community.
Quick Check-in on The Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Apartments. June 2018
Just a quick one today. The Metropolitan apartments are starting to really take shape and are well past the point when they burned down in March 2017. It’s great to see the recovery and get these units online as it’ll make this area of West Street a very dense residential corridor.
Continue the conversation about this project on the DTRaleigh Community.
Pic of the Week
What we’ve been calling Boylan Flats turns out to be an extended-stay hotel on Boylan Avenue and they appear to be getting close to looking like they will open. Called Revisn, the hotel offers fully furnished residential units for stays longer than 30 days.
I’m not sure Revisn helps with the hotel room needs directly but it’s certainly interesting that we may have a market for long-term stays in Raleigh. 30 days in a traditional hotel room gets old fast, I’m sure.
Plans Submitted for Ten-Story Building on 600 Block of Hillsborough Street
Corner of Hillsborough and Boylan. June 2018.
The southern end of Glenwood Avenue is mushrooming with new growth. In addition to One Glenwood and Two Glenwood, which we’ve discussed in the past, site plans were submitted to the city for Two Hillsborough, a 10-story tower for the same block as One Glenwood.
The plans indicate that the new development would replace the current buildings on the block. If I recall correctly this includes the two-story buildings along Hillsborough containing Stop Hunger Now and Audio Exchange, the one-story office building along Boylan and Morgan (not sure who’s in there) and the renovated former Esso station with the bar, Dram and Draught.
Some maps.
Click for larger
Click for larger
The mixed-use project is described as:
Development of 10 story, 275,000 sf mixed use building and two 1 story (4,850 sf total) retail buildings on 4 existing lots to be combined into one lot.
The site plans suggest that Two Hillsborough will be an office tower with ground-floor retail. One Glenwood, already under construction, plus Two Hillsborough will also have a courtyard in between the buildings with these additional retail stand-alone buildings. Gensler is the architect on this plan and it looks like they may be proposing a shipping container reuse for these one-story retail buildings.
Click for larger
Parking will be off-site, most likely in the deck already under construction across the street.
The site is zoned for 12 stories so the pair of towers, One Glenwood and Two Hillsborough, seem like a perfect way to maximize that area. I’m happy to see another infusion of office space at the southern end of Glenwood South.
I will have to visit the old Esso station on the corner a bit more before it’s possibly demolished. That building does ooze with Raleigh character and I hope Dram and Draught, if they have to move, can find a solid new home. With good architects, I think, and a much higher density plan in a transit-friendly area I can only be excited for the things happening on the 600 block of Hillsborough Street.
Discuss Two Hillsborough on the DTRaleigh Community.
Trophy Brewing Expansion on Morgan Street
Trophy Brewing on Morgan Street. June 2018.
Trophy Brewing is expanding. The brewery that started in a small retail building along Morgan Street has taken over the entire building now and site plans were submitted for a small expansion. The plans suggest that more of the angled parking in front will be used for outdoor space and some for a small building expansion.
The site plans show a small addition on the eastern side of the building facing the street as you can see in the screenshot below. For reference, I’ve added an overlay of the “Morgan Monsters” mural which I hope you’ve seen by now. (cause it’s great!)
Click for larger.
Click for larger.
The new space should be finished by next Summer.
Not much else to report on this. It is great to see a downtown brewery expand due to, I’m assuming, continued success. Some of Trophy’s beers are at the top of this blogger’s favorites for sure. Go Raleigh beer!