Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

First Presbyterian Church Building For The Future

If you haven’t noticed already, the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of Morgan and Salisbury Streets has leveled their education center and construction is underway for the replacement. Why the need to destroy such an old and historic building? The good people of the church tell us why right on their site:

The main driver behind this ambitious construction and renovation project was the deteriorating condition of our “Old Education Building,” the part of our property that housed our library and some Sunday School classrooms. After a period of neglect, the building reached an unsafe state a few years ago. We no longer ventured into some of its scarier sections. Our Building and Grounds Committee raised a concern several years ago that portions of the building were subject to being condemned by the city and constituted a hazard.

Not only is the education building being replaced but the sanctuary is being heavily renovated as well. The sanctuary has been up since 1900 but the congregation goes back as far as 1818, meeting in buildings either on or around Capitol Square until the present day building was erected. While the present day capitol building was being constructed, the North Carolina Supreme Court used to hold meetings in the church’s session house from 1831-1840.

The renovation and design work was done by Frank Harmon Architect PA. Some may recognize that name as they are the firm that designed the NCAIA building that is now being built on Peace Street. The firm has designed a master plan for the church and their complex along Salisbury Street. From this press release:

According to Frank Harmon, FAIA, his firm is working on a plan that will unite the different elements of the campus, provide open green space within the campus, introduce principles of environmentally sustainability, and improve the property’s accessibility, which features a five-foot grade change.

The project will also involve replacing the current two-story educational building with a three-story structure (including basement), The new building will feature such “green” elements as a vegetated roof, an abundance of natural light and ventilation through atria and window placement, a geothermal heating/cooling system (or ground source heat pumps), and rainwater collection cisterns. Materials used will be locally available and, wherever possible, recycled.

Expect all the renovation and construction to be complete around Summer 2012. You can also catch a small rendering of the new building on Frank Harmon’s website.

by Leo Suarez

Rising Steel All Over Downtown Raleigh

This is a small gallery showing construction around downtown Raleigh. Click the photos for a larger image.


The Justice Center appears to be topped off and is taking shape into the Raleigh Skyline.


A family poses for a portrait in front of the globe, a part of the upcoming Nature Research Center, now being pieced together.


The new AIA headquarters is being built on Peace Street.

by Leo Suarez

Rendering Bonus, Green Square and SECU Tower


click for a larger gallery of renderings.

Sure Green Square is nothing new and we’ve been watching construction on this baby for over two years now. But the overlooked SECU tower, a separate project from Green Square is starting to rise out of the ground so renderings help give us a nice look at the future.

Enjoy some of these renderings of the SECU tower, now under construction, as well as some more of Green Square that you may not have seen already. Click on the image above for a gallery.

Thanks to Tom at preVision and O’Brien/Atkins Associates, PA for the wonderful renderings.

(reading RalCon in an e-mail? See the gallery on the site, go here)

by Leo Suarez

195 Apartments Coming To Glenwood South

600 St. Mary’s, as its called in the site plan, is a new development planned for Glenwood South. The site plan shows a mix of 1 and 2 bedroom units in a multi-level, depending on what corner you are standing, building. The plan has renderings from each side and the building style mimics that of The Tucker apartments nearby.

The residential units wrap an interior parking deck with entrances on Gaston and Johnson Streets. St. Mary’s will have all apartment frontages and the back of this building will face north behind the gas station and other shops along Peace Street. For a map visual, click here.

There isn’t anything breathtaking about it but it’s a step in the right direction in terms of what downtown needs. In short, the building has good urban form and is built right up to the sidewalk. Also, the parking deck is wrapped and is hidden from view from the outside.

The most interesting part in the site plan are the Live/Work units on the ground floor. They appear to have tall ceilings and I’m hoping the intent is for people to move in and build lofts. I found this example of one and I would imagine a Raleigh entrepreneur would feel right at home here.

Dive into the site plan and explore the new development yourself.

by Leo Suarez

First Green Square Skyway Under Construction

The Green Square project has been moving along steadily for over a year and hits its first milestone today with the 900 space parking deck opening up for use. From the Department of Administration press release:

the facility is the most energy-efficient deck in the Downtown State Government Complex, and one of the smartest examples of such construction in our state. Among the features that make the deck “green” are:
· LED lights, which consume one-third less energy and last four times longer than comparable fluorescent lights;
· A 20,000-gallon cistern will collect rainwater, flush it through an oil-water separator to remove debris, and store it until needed to irrigate state properties in downtown Raleigh;
· 23 electric car chargers for use by visitors and employees;
· Energy-efficient, lubrication-free elevators, which reduce maintenance and eliminate the need to dispose of hazardous waste;
· Design that maximizes use of natural light, which in turn reduces the need to burn those highly efficient LED bulbs; and
· Devices installed throughout the facility will track energy consumption and gauge savings.

Also another interesting note is that the first of two skyways is being built over McDowell Street. The section of the street between Jones and Edenton has been closed on weekends and is causing some traffic delays. Keep this in mind for the next few weeks as the skyway is not finished yet.

by Leo Suarez

Naked For Years, The L Covers Up?

What stands to be a great example of smarter development for downtown Raleigh, the still to come The L Building has been on hold for almost two years now. This office over retail project has suffered the same financial difficulties that other canceled or on hold projects have faced.

The L building, in its current plan, will wrap the Wake County parking deck that sits on McDowell Street, shown in the picture above. The deck, built to support the new county Justice Center now under construction, is open and currently in use. While the publicly funded parking deck happened, The L site now lays empty and the developer continues to ask for more extensions to get the books straightened out.

The L, if built, will hide the parking deck along McDowell and Davie Streets but for now we have a rather large gray wall. For almost two years, this wall has been naked but that should change soon.

The latest extension, until May 2013, was approved by the Wake County Board of Commissioners in their December 6th, 2010 meeting with certain conditions. Looking at the meeting minutes, here are some of the more interesting of those conditions:

  • Developer must obtain an extension until at least November 2013 from the City of Raleigh.
  • “Developer must obtain all required approvals from the City of Raleigh and pay the cost to design, fabricate, install, and maintain full-height durable banners substantially screening the entire unfinished east and north facades of the existing parking deck … Banner installation to be complete by April 1, 2011. In the event of default by the Developer, the banners become the property of the County. County reserves the right to reject banner graphic content.”

To the best of my online search abilities, the banner discussion has not made it to the city yet. The relationship with the city and Empire properties is a solid one so there is a good chance it will be approved by them as well. Below is a rendering of the parking deck with the proposed banners.

Expect the naked wall to be covered up in time for Spring this year.

See more posts about The L.