Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

WUNC’s Piece on the SECU

SECU Tower by dtraleigh, on Flickr

Here’s a good article about the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union, something readers are probably familiar with as their new tower, shown above, will be opening soon.

State Employees’ is considered a big credit union on a national scale. It is approaching $27 billion in assets and has a membership base of 1.8 million people.

*Down Economy Equals Growth At State Employees’ Credit Union

The article also claims that employees will start moving into their new offices in late September.

I’ve said it before, the SECU tower is my favorite modern building in downtown Raleigh. It’s kind of a surprise from a ‘sleepy’ institution in town but their building, as well as millions of dollars of investment in the nearby museums, should not go unnoticed. I liked this article cause it shares some history of this growing presence right up the street.

by Leo Suarez

Wake County Justice Center Opens Today

Wake County Justice Center

Today, the Wake County Justice Center officially opens. If you’re nearby, you can catch the ribbon cutting at 11am and parts of the building are open for public viewing following it. This building will greatly compliment the Wake County Courthouse, helping to offload a lot of activity that takes place there. They say the building was planned for growth, with an entire unfinished floor in case it’s needed for more services down the road.

I like to do this with projects when I can. Here’s a photo of the same Martin/McDowell Street corner, shown in the photo above, but in February 2008.

Corner of Martin and McDowell Streets

by Leo Suarez

The L Shows Off Updated Renderings

June 2013 rendering of The L.

There’s lots of momentum behind one of downtown Raleigh’s longest stalled projects and The L may finally break ground.

Above is the latest rendering of The L, not the final but pretty close, and it shows how it will wrap the Wake County parking deck at the corner of Davie and Cabarrus Streets. This mixed-use project will consist of 93 studio, 1, and 2 bedroom apartments and 8,000 square feet of office space above 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

Ground breaking is planned for this Fall with a project completion around Fall 2014.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Industrial Bank Renovation On Salisbury Street

If you haven’t been following along in the news and other blogs, there’s a fantastic building renovation, more like restoration, going on at the intersection of Salisbury and Hargett Streets. The modern facade that glossed over 200 South Salisbury Street is coming down and look what was underneath all this time.

I didn’t have a photo of my own but here’s the Google Streetview image dated April 2012 followed by my own similar view taken in May 2013.

Google Maps

200 South Salisbury Street, May 2013

In addition to the corner building there is another smaller one on West Hargett that has been restored, shown in this photo.

Building on West Hargett Street, May 2013

What once was a small office building will now have ground floor restaurant space with renovated office space above. Cheers to developer James Goodnight and his team for making this happen in downtown Raleigh.

by Leo Suarez

The Lincoln Will Bring 224 Apartments To Emo Raleigh

Corner of Hargett and East Street

Corner of Hargett and East Street as seen in March, 2011.

Emo Raleigh (East of Moore Square) may be getting a big influx of housing units if a new development gets approved by the city. According to a newly submitted site plan, The Lincoln is a full-block apartment building for the mostly empty, grassy lot bounded by Hargett, Martin, East, and Bloodworth Streets.

Currently, just a single house sits on the lot and for years the developers behind The Lincoln have been working to acquire property, move houses, and get everything ready.

The site plan tells us that the 70′ high building will be designed by JDavis Architects and offer one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Looking at the preliminary site plan we can see that there will be apartments along all four faces of the block with an enclosed parking deck and pool.

If I’m looking at this map correctly, the deck entrances look to be on Bloodworth and East Streets. See for yourself on this extracted image I created, posted below.

This is great for the Moore Square area as well as the adjacent Thompson-Hunter neighborhood. This side of town has been quiet on the development front. If successful, The Lincoln could raise more interest in new projects for East Raleigh as there is relatively cheaper land here.

The Lincoln Preliminary Site Plan

by Leo Suarez

Rendering of The New Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street

Rendering of the Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street.

Rendering of the Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street.

In addition to doing a wonderful restoration job to the Jordan House at the corner of Peace and Blount Street, the Holy Trinity Church of Raleigh is building new digs.

Above is an architectural rendering of the new building which will be located along the 100 block of East Peace Street. The land was just surface parking for more than 20 years to the best of my knowledge and adds some diversity to what could be a heavily residential area if the Blount Street Commons project is ever fully completed.