Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

Christ Church Expanding along Edenton Street

Construction site of the future Christ Church expansion.

Construction site of the future Christ Church expansion. Click for larger.

Along East Edenton Street, Christ Church will be expanding, eating up some of the surface parking lot that’s behind the church. The groundbreaking was this week and removal of the asphalt is already underway. A sign on the fencing shows a rendering, drawn up by Raleigh-based Clearscapes, of the new hall.

I’m always a fan of anyone removing surface parking. Christ Church members will probably be using the surface lots across the street which are far from full on nights and weekends. It will be fun to watch this new construction take place and see how it meshes with the historic sanctuary, which opened on January 4, 1854.

Rendering of the Christ Church expansion.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Townhomes at Blount Street Commons
The townhomes on Person Street, as part of the Blount Street Commons project, have been mostly built out. The more northern units look almost done and give us a sense of what they will look like.

I am a big fan of these types of residential units and hope to see more, a lot more, in the future in and around downtown Raleigh. Hopefully future projects can have a better sidewalk entrance as these are pretty bare.

Townhomes at Blount Street Commons

by Leo Suarez

Centerline Digital Expanding in Glenwood South

Centerline's office space

Centerline’s office space

After noticing the construction work taking place at Centerline Digital, I was invited in for a tour to find out more about them. The construction on North Street in Glenwood South is an expansion of Centerline’s space to accommodate a growing team. What started with 2 people in 1995, the digital marketing agency now has around 140 members.

Centerline moved into the larger space at 509 West North Street about 3-4 years ago. You might remember it being a gym that turned over a few times. They’ve acquired the single-story brick building next-door, (517 North Street) are adding a second floor to it, and “bridging” it to the main building. They should be up and running in the new space in the Spring of 2016.

Centerline expansion

In addition to a few companies locally, Centerline has some big-name clients including IBM, GE, and Lowe’s. My walk-through included seeing Centerline’s office and meeting spaces. Desks, benches, nooks, and crannies were filled with people working on a variety of tasks. Less walls and open spaces were at the heart of the design behind this workspace.

The place felt like a creative powerhouse and I certainly am happy to see these kind of locally grown companies doing big things in downtown Raleigh.

by Leo Suarez

Clearing The Way For The Saint

title
There isn’t anything very exciting in the photo above but what we are looking at are lots along the 200 block of St. Mary’s Street. The houses that used to be here have been removed and multiple trees have been tagged with the letter C which I assume means that they are marked for removal.

This clearing is for a project called 220 The Saint, or just The Saint alternatively, and it was highlighted here on the blog about two years ago. Jump back to that post for more information.

The project will bring high-end townhomes to a heavy residential area, adding on to Glenwood South’s already rising population density.

by Leo Suarez

The Gramercy Construction Update

Corner of North and Boylan

Corner of North and Boylan

Along North Street in Glenwood South, the apartment project The Gramercy is really taking shape. There will be over 200 units here and atypical of most four-sided apartment buildings that we’ve seen, the parking deck and interior courtyard have a slightly different layout.

It looks like the main courtyard will be open to North Street about mid-block and the parking deck will take up some of the first and most of the second floor. Living units are mostly on the third and upper floors.

Corner of North and Boylan

Retail spaces on the ground floor face Glenwood Avenue and wrap around down North Street but not for the entire block.

There is still a lot of work to do here so we’ll keep watching this project go up.

Corner of North and Glenwood

Corner of North and Glenwood

by Leo Suarez

Rezoning Approved for Kane Realty’s The Dillon

Latest rendering of The Dillon.

Latest rendering of The Dillon. Click for larger.

A quick one today just to tie up loose ends. At this week’s city council meeting, the rezoning needed for The Dillon project to move forward was approved. It’s expected that the development will include a mix of office and residential on top of ground floor retail.

It also wasn’t very hard to predict that the city would look to this Kane Realty project as a way to infuse more parking into the area. It was a major gap seen for the nearby Union Station. Public comments about this parking project will take place in October.

This wraps up all four major rezoning requests for the year, something I highlighted back in January. 2016 could see multiple cranes in the sky at once.

by Leo Suarez

Updated Renderings of Charter Square North

Charter Square North, South and North elevation

Charter Square North, South and North elevation. Click for larger

Last week’s Raleigh Appearance Commission meeting contained a site plan review for the north tower of Charter Square. Included in the agenda are some renderings that I wanted to post here. You can also watch the presentation from the architects that took place at the commission meeting.

Highlights of the upcoming tower are:

  • Ground-floor retail space
  • 187,000 square feet of office space
  • 195 residential units, 1 and 2 bedroom units
  • The plaza to the north will remain to offer some connectivity between Fayetteville Street and Wilmington Street.

It’s also interesting to note that this building is the tallest that can be at this site. Due to the underground parking deck that exists there today, Charter Square North cannot be any taller.


If the embedded video doesn’t show for you, click here. Discussion starts at 18:00.

Charter Square North, east elevation

Charter Square North, east elevation. Click for larger

Charter Square North, west elevation

Charter Square North, west elevation. Click for larger

Charter Square North, perspective from City Plaza

Charter Square North, Perspective from City Plaza. Click for larger

Charter Square North, perspective view from west

Charter Square North, perspective view from west. Click for larger

Charter Square North, perspective view from south

Charter Square North, perspective view from south. Click for larger