Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

The L Building Wants In On The Residential Action

Banners on the Wake County Parking Deck
Photo taken July 2011

I noticed this small update yesterday on the city’s development activity page. The people behind The L, the still yet-to-be built office tower on the corner of McDowell and Davie Street, are looking to change it to a residential building. This five-year-old project keeps getting extensions from the city. That’s a good thing as this project is the missing piece that goes next to the Wake County Parking Deck.

With new residential projects being built and office space more in the renovations category, this may be a good move to build on the commitments previously made, ride the hot rental market, and finally be done with this project.

The site plan shows a lot of retail space on the ground floor and lists 100 apartments for floors 2-6. That should adequately cover up the walls of the Wake County Parking Deck, now only covered by colorful banners.

by Leo Suarez

Details Rise Up Seven Stories For The West Apartments

Future site of the West Apartments
The 400 block of North West Street.

The Raleigh Planning Commission’s agenda for today’s meeting contains some new details worth sharing on the blog. The West Apartments is up for approval and may one day bring about 150 apartments to West Street in Glenwood South. The building, being designed by the same JDavis Architects that brought us the West at North tower, will sit adjacent to the same building you see in the picture above. You can see from the site map that the new building will remove the sales office along Harrington Street and the rest of the surface parking in the surrounding lot.

West Apartments Site Location
Screenshot from Google Maps

There’s nothing too exciting in the agenda as the 85′ tower will consist of two levels of parking (one above and one below ground) and five floors of residential. No rendering is included. The tower isn’t taking out anything anyone might miss but is bringing some retail space with it. The new development therefore brings upgraded 14′ sidewalks to West and Harrington Street. While not a requirement, 10 bicycle spaces will be provided. Check the agenda for floorplans also.

Private development is moving closer and closer to the county’s land along Capital Boulevard and while it will probably take awhile, I’m still hoping for Tucker Street to extend to the east towards Capital one day. I hope to see the east side of Glenwood South become a grid again so the neighborhood has room to grow.

by Leo Suarez

New Citrix Offices In The Warehouse District Working Through The Planning Phases

The 100 block of South West Street.

The growing technology company Citrix is making plans to move into downtown Raleigh next year. The city’s website has some details of their new building that is currently under review by the planning department. More of a renovation than a new building, the company will expand on West Street in downtown’s Warehouse District. For the warehouse lovers out there, the design does include a demolition plan which may upset some but others may welcome the added retail and parking spaces.

First, for those catching up, the announcement:

Citrix today announced that in response to rapidly increasing demand for ShareFile, the secure and reliable file sharing service, it will move its North Carolina offices to an ultra-modern 130,000 square-foot office space in the warehouse district of downtown Raleigh. The facility will become the new development center for the data sharing product group which is expected to more than double in size over the next five years. This move follows Gov. Bev Perdue’s June announcement of Citrix’s plans to create 337 jobs and invest $12.5 million in North Carolina. The move is anticipated to be completed in 2013.

*On the Move: Citrix Announces Expansion in Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina – July 30, 2012.

Looking at the development plan application on the city’s website, we have some more details as to what is expected on the 100 block of South West Street. The area under design is shown in the Google map screenshot below.

Area around 100 block of South West Street, Downtown Raleigh.

The entire block is under development and I’ve included two separate colors to show what is staying and what will be brought down. The orange indicates the warehouse that will be renovated for new offices to house Citrix’s future Downtown Raleigh employees. The red shows which buildings will be demolished to make way for a parking deck-over-retail development. This includes the Men at Work stand-alone building and the shorter warehouse attached to the Dillon Supply building.

West Morgan Street.

The 100 block of South West Street.

As of August 27, 2012, there was a sign on the front door of Men at Work stating that they will be moving, not far, starting on September 1st.

The parking deck/retail combo building will not be attached to the Citrix warehouse but instead be separated by approximately 26 feet of outdoor landscaping and walkways. Preliminary sketches have the block looking like the sketch below.

Parking Deck and Citrix building, east elevation plan.

The sketches show retail spaces and vehicle entrance/exits on West Street as well as a healthy amount of retail space along Morgan Street, including space along almost the entire length of the block minus the space for delivery access. 14 foot sidewalks and street trees will be put in place as is standard in new developments thanks to the city’s 2030 comprehensive plan. About half of the Morgan Street side will actually get 24 foot sidewalks. It’s also worth noting that the sidewalk improvements wrap the entire block.

See the document for more details but the plan looks promising to bring life at all hours of the day to the warehouse district.

by Leo Suarez

Townhomes Coming To Peace Street, Can Smell The Doughnuts

Corner of Peace and Person Street, August 2012

Little activity has been going on in the Blount Street Commons area of downtown over the past year until recently. Peace Street Townes is bringing 18 townhomes to the corner of Person and Peace. If all goes according to plan, we’ll see dirt moving this fall and owners can move in Spring of 2013.

Peace Street Townes is a scaled down version of what was originally planned for this plot along Peace Street. If you take a look at an older post in 2007, the plans called for “live/work over retail” development as well as a rendering of what it could look like. Things have changed since 2007 and while not as dense as planned five years ago, Peace Street Townes looks to deliver some new options to those interested in buying downtown.

by Leo Suarez

Skyhouse Apartments Helping The Edison Project Come To Life

Skyhouse Apartments Raleigh rendering

Here’s some very positive news for fans of The Edison, a multi-building development that was planned for the core downtown area. Skyhouse Apartments was up for review by the Raleigh Planning Commission yesterday, June 26, and was approved unanimously.

The 264 foot tower will sit at the southwest corner of Blount and Martin Streets and will consist of ground-floor retail as well 320 apartments. It’s a great location and turns an empty lot into an active, urban development with plans for one to four bedroom units.

Watch your Raleigh Planning Commission in action in the video below. Included are more renderings and conversation over a few concerns about the building.


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As a little side note, I thought it was cool that the presenter mentioned the William Christmas plan.

“The applicants received a variance from additional right of way dedication as most all projects do in the historic Christmas plan for the City of Raleigh and this project is no different. No additional right-of-way was provided and no additional street widening is required.”

If you are unfamiliar with the southwest corner of Blount and Martin, for years it has been a grassy field with numerous whirligigs made by Vollis Simpson. You may have seen a bigger one, titled Wind Machine, at the North Carolina Museum of Art. In the video, there was discussion of incorporating one of Simpson’s pieces into the new building as public art, most likely for the outdoor pedestrian plaza.

Here is a snapshot of the plan for the ground floor, click for a more zoomed out view.

Skyhouse Apartments Raleigh site plan

North is up in this picture so the intersection of Blount and Martin is in the top right corner of the image.

A couple of quick notes about the plan:

  • Along Martin, a small pedestrian plaza will be built along the west side of the building.
  • Between the building and the existing parking deck will be a driveway with a few more parking spaces.
  • Other than the few spaces mentioned, no new parking will be built as the deck that exists today will support the new tower.
  • 14 foot sidewalks and new urban trees will be planted around the building in keeping with the comprehensive plan.
  • Retail space will cover the entire Martin Street side of the building.

A concern about the building and it’s proximity to the historic structures in City Market and along Blount Street was brought up in the commission meeting. We’ve talked about building large towers next to small buildings before and I feel there is no issue as the corner of this block will accommodate all users adequately.

Earlier news reports claim that groundbreaking could occur as early as this year.

Skyhouse Apartments Raleigh rendering

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Wake County Justice Center construction in June 2012.

The Wake County Justice Center dominates the intersection of McDowell and Martin Streets. Almost three years ago, there was just a hole at this site.

For more trips down memory lane, over four years ago we’ve discussed the project and what buildings it has replaced.

The ugly parking deck, the Garland Jones building, and the Lawyers Building are all coming down for the expansion of the current site right next door.

via Justice Center Expansion, $200+ Million and a Historic Raleigh Cost.