Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

The Gramercy Apartments Eyes Glenwood South, We Dive Into The Plans

The apartment trend continues with Glenwood South landing another pack of density. The Gramercy is a seven story, 209 unit apartment building planned along North Street between Glenwood Avenue and Boylan Avenue. The building will be on the north side of North Street and partially along Anson Place. The site plan is available here.

If you are wondering how this building conforms to the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, the plan tells us in its own words:

The comprehensive plans designates the site as Central Business district which supports mixed use buildings. The proposed plan provides the following on the ground floor; retail along Glenwood, leasing/club space and services areas on North Street, and residential with stoops and planters on Boylan Street. Residential will be provided above all ground floor uses. The comprehensive plan policy DT 1.11 calls for appropriate transitions in height, scale and design along the downtown edges. The proposed development will be XX stories and provides the transition in height between the North at West building and the Wiley school and Cameron Park neighborhood. The site is within 1/4 mile of a proposed light rail transit stops, has a CAT stop 1 block away, Less than 1 block to an existing R-line stop and providing 14′ sidewalks to comply with M.2 transportation Policy’s.

It’s a good thing site plans aren’t approved based on copyediting.


The corner of Glenwood Avenue and North Street in December 2011.

The building will add retail spaces which only helps fill in the gaps within Glenwood South. There is currently nothing there now that contributes to the pedestrian experience starting at the corner of Glenwood and North, past the always changing two-floor, club building and up to Cafe Helios. Plus, retail spaces along North Street will add more shop and restaurant density to Glenwood South giving it potential to lengthen its entertainment resumé.

Looking at the floor plan for the ground level, the vehicle entrance to the 209 parking, ten bicycle spaces will be on North Street. The plan indeed does include the fourteen foot sidewalks along North Street and Glenwood Avenue. The Glenwood facing retail spaces also appear to have their front doors and windows recessed a bit to create outdoor spaces similar to what 510 Glenwood’s Red Room restaurant currently has.


The corner of Boylan Avenue and North Street in December 2011.

The site plan doesn’t contain much on the looks of the building but it looks very similar to the now under construction Hampton Inn only a few blocks to the north. It seems like this is another example of the present day “starchitecture” that is making our city look like others. The density and infill is welcome but it’s not a long, lasting iconic building by any means.

630 North

Long time readers may remember that at once this section of downtown had a project proposed at the corner of North Street and Boylan Avenue. 630 North was planned here and could have brought ten stories worth of offices and condos. How times have changed since 2007. Click the link below to check it out.

630 North sneaks up on us (April 13, 2007)

by Leo Suarez

The Edison Scales Down, Shows New Renderings

And we’re back with more Downtown Raleigh. Actually I was working on a longer piece but this bit of news is too interesting to sit on. This comes from the great reporting at the Raleigh Public Record.

Edison Plans Scaled Down, But Inching Forward via Raleigh Public Record

At Tuesday October 18th’s Budget and Economic Development meeting, there was talk about The Edison project, a four building complex with about 540,000 square feet of office space for the block bounded by Blount, Wilmington, Martin, and Davie. You can see an old rendering here.[Link now broken] According to the meeting agenda, we now have:

The original plan for the Edison block included taller office buildings, but the recession has reduced the likelihood for taller office building construction for the foreseeable future. Today, Edison is proposing the first phase of its Edison project to be a $30,600,000 239 unit 6 story high end residential community with 18,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. This project would be on the southern side of the block, bounded by Blount, Davie, and Wilmington streets.
The Edison residential project is considered feasible in today’s economic environment.



I don’t think skyscraper fans will be happy about this one. Building this piece of The Edison also means we lose the building with Cooper’s in it on East Davie Street. Six stories of new building at a loss for two stories of history is not a good exchange in my opinion.

by Leo Suarez

Capital Boulevard Corridor Study Open House On September 29, 2011

From my e-mail directly to you, take note of this upcoming meeting on the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study.

Where: Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in the Meymandi Concert Hall and Lobby
When: September 29, 2011, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Related link:
Capital Blvd Corridor Study via RaleighNC.gov

Raleigh residents are encouraged to attend the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study open house and public comment opportunity on September 29 at Meymandi Concert Hall. The open house is a chance for residents to hear plans and options for one of Raleigh’s main thoroughfares.

The corridor study will look at options regarding the roadway, transit and high speed rail, bicycle and pedestrian needs, greenways, stream restoration, and economic development along Capital Boulevard. Representatives from the North Carolina Department of Transportation will be on hand to discuss the replacements of the Peace Street and Wade Avenue bridges. Residents are invited to make comments and ask questions about the corridor plan.

The meeting will be an open house format held in collaboration with NCDOT. Displays will include:

  • The City: vision options for the corridor including roadways; transit and high-speed rail; bicycle/pedestrian; greenway and stream restoration; and economic development
  • NCDOT: bridge replacement plans at Peace Street and Wade Avenue for public comment
  • Triangle Transit: rail alternatives under recent discussion
  • Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) plans under development
by Leo Suarez

Glenwood South Hampton Inn Ready For Construction, Pics

Here at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Johnson Street demolition occurred to make way for a future Hampton Inn hotel in downtown Raleigh. We saw pictures of that about two weeks ago and now the slate is clean for the hotel to be built.

Take in the openness as this intersection will start to rise over the next year or two. Perhaps the hotel may convince the state to put some crosswalks at this intersection. Yes, the state manages Glenwood Avenue and they are the ones we need to work with for any improvements to Glenwood. Keep that in mind.

Related link
Hampton Inn Glenwood South, We Dive Into The Specs

by Leo Suarez

Connoisseurs Report In, Demolition In Glenwood South

Reader Mark sent in these pictures of the demolition work taking place on Johnson Street. This destruction will make way for a new Hampton Inn hotel for Glenwood South, properly dissected in this post here.

While not a visually stunning building, the hotel elevates the district’s status as now visitors can stay right on the strip with easy access to the rest of downtown via the R-Line.

Thanks again Mark for the pictures.

by Leo Suarez

Parking Cleared For Outdoor Seating on Glenwood South, Cars Wimper While Driving By

This is a small project that was first mentioned back in 2008. What a nice surprise to find this lot torn up as I walked up Glenwood yesterday. I asked one of the construction workers what they were working on and he confirmed that they were putting in a patio seating area for the restaurants in the building.

For those that can’t tell, this is the building in Glenwood South with Zely & Ritz, Sushi Blues, Taiphoon, and Bottega Hair Salon. Glenwood South is leading the charge on the outdoor seating options.

by Leo Suarez

Bridge Replacement Projects On Capital Blvd

Capital Blvd is getting a little planning love from NCDOT. The bridge over Peace Street and the Wade Avenue flyover are in pretty bad shape. Both are on the books for an upgrade. From the NCDOT’s project page:

The bridge on Capital Boulevard over Peace Street (Bridge No. 227) was built in 1948 and has a sufficiency rating of 42.9 out of a possible 100. The bridge on Capital Boulevard at Wade Avenue was built in 1954, has a sufficiency rating of 34.1, and is posted with a weight limit. Both bridges are structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. While the existing bridges are still adequate to support traffic, they are nearing the end of their design lives and need to be replaced in a timely manner.

I’d like to thank the NCDOT for wanting to upgrade our “structurally deficient and functionally obsolete” infrastructure.

The project is in collaboration with the city’s Capital Blvd Corridor study which is still ongoing. This fall, expect a public workshop on the bridge replacement.

Capital Blvd Corridor Study via RaleighNC.gov