Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

Shifting Houses To Blount Street

There is some activity on the Blount Street Commons Project at the block across the street from Peace College. The Jordan, Watson, and Merrimon Wynn houses are being prepped to move to Blount St. The Jordan House is planned to be placed at the southwest corner of Peace and Blount St. The small building there is currently being demolished. The Merrimon Wynn house will move down Blount St. and will be on the northeast corner of Polk and Blount St. This is all shown on the site plan which interestingly enough shows a splitting Wilmington St. continuing straight right at Peace. I’m curious if that is the plan and maybe the curve will be rid of?

Building demolition

The Merrimon Wynn house waits to be jacked up

Blount Street Commons

by Leo Suarez

Leisure Aquatic Features Coming to Downtown [UPDATE: 6-11-08]

It’s been a slow news week but RalCon strives to keep posting as much as possible. Pictures have massively been lacking but we can make it through the slump. Some travel plans over this summer have pushed back my purchase of a new camera. Once I get it, you’ll be begging for me to stop posting pictures. Until then we can still discuss other topics.

Summer is here and you can start to really feel the heat. This only means that it is time to relax from all of that stress at work by chilling next to a pool.(besides relaxing by reading a RalCon post while at work, right?) I hope most of you like to hang out by a pool as much as I do but this amenity is hard to come by when being in downtown. I decided to go through a running list of the aquatic features currently open or being built downtown.

RBC Plaza

Up high on the 23rd floor, this pool should be a very cool feature for people living in RBC Centura’s national HQ’s building. Tenants on the south side of the building will be able to look over their balconies at people getting or trying to get tan. High diving from your balcony is not recommended. Coming summer of 2008.

The Tucker

With the lower priced condos at this Glenwood South project, the pool will be covered with kids out of college, enjoying life out of school and less responsibility on the weekends. I may have too much fun if I lived here with a pool and Glenwood down the street. Coming summer of 2009.

West at North

Another Glenwood South project. This pool is 16 stories up above; you guessed it, West and North Street. Even though I vote this building to have the most unoriginal name in downtown, it earns pretty high marks and I’m excited about it being built. This may be the hardest pool to get to, if you do not know someone living there. Anyone? Coming late 2008

The Paramount
I have always had a hard time finding any information about the Paramount. The high prices just don’t work with me, I guess that is what it is. Anyway, I have to link it over to Raleighing for a tour of the building and pics of their pool.

The Lafayette Boutique Hotel

I have not found any concrete plans for this building or the rooftop bar/restaurant planned for this high-rise hotel. The pool is rumored to be a part of it and this rendering came out sometime last year. I think it will easily have the best view of Raleigh……if it ever gets built.

The Raleigh Municipal Fountain

This little oasis is probably the most accessible of them all and is downtown’s only hot tub. Some have criticized its small size but it is not the size of the pool that matters. It’s the rushing waterfall that massages out my arms from lifting too many pints at the flying saucer. Open daily.

[UPDATE: 10-18-07]
The Hue

This cozy little pool will be wrapped on three sides by 7 floors of condos. To finish it of is a nice parking deck. Oh well, better than nothing.

[UPDATE: 6-11-08]

222 Glenwood

This post is just plain fun to update. Here is a new image from the 222 Glenwood pool. It looks pretty slick and the squares on the parking deck wall are a nice touch.

Thanks, Ashton!

by Leo Suarez

Living It Since 2008

The downtown condo supply has been slowly rising and we all have seen new buildings open up over the past few years. Help me out with the years if I’m off but

  • Palladium Plaza opened in 2007
  • The Quorum Center opened in 2006
  • The Dawson and The Paramount opened in 2005
  • The Hudson opened in 2005 (?)

There are other buildings that have been holding it down for longer then this but 2008 has to be exciting for the downtown condo scene as we welcome four newcomers to the party. As an extension to the WRAL article that touches this, here is the list.

RBC Condos

RBC is probably the most obvious and more unique of the group. It depends on your definition, but I think this is the first example of true high-rise living in Raleigh. Word is that all 139 condos have been sold.

Bloomsbury Estates

The seven story, 56 unit condo building is over half sold and should also open this year. Hopefully in the near future we will see the second phase of the project, which consists of the twin being built in the back.

222 Glenwood

The website is claiming that only nine units remain available in this building as of this writing. The location cannot get any better for fans of Glenwood South. The added retail presence along the street is a big welcome also. I heard from a friend that the views from the top are excellent.

West at North

This is a spacious building with a large footprint. The residents within the 170 condos will have a rooftop pool and easy access to Glenwood South. The ground floor retail will help West St. become Glenwood’s little brother.

by Leo Suarez

Waiting For The L

The parking deck at the corner of McDowell and Davie St. is starting to rise out of the ground. This is also the site of the future ‘The L’, office over retail building, which will hide the deck from the sidewalk.

At this pace, do not expect it any time soon because this deck will be nine stories tall and they are not building it lego-style like RBC’s deck. At least we will all feel safe parking in this slowly built deck.

by Leo Suarez

222 Parking Deck Paint Job

Edit: The RalCon Tumblelog has been discontinued.

I threw up this picture on the RalCon Tumblelog but remembered that recently there was good discussion related to 222 Glenwood. It appears that this is the final paint job of the parking deck and the flat wall along Jones St. is looking a little ‘simple’. We also had discussion about the murals of downtown and this blank wall was mentioned as a good space for another mural.

by Leo Suarez

The State of Hillsborough St.

Hillsborough St. gets my vote as being one of the most important streets for downtown. From the Capitol building out to Glenwood, the first six blocks will be a major route that connects Glenwood South and Fayetteville St. The zig zag route should become the spine of activity for downtown. It is pretty clear that Fayetteville St. and Glenwood South are already budding entertainment centers but Hillsborough St. is on the rise.

What Is Planned
The weak economy and I’m sure a couple other factors have held back some of these projects and they are currently on standby. It is still a bit exciting to see these proposals because if all are eventually built, Hillsborough St will be its own urban corridor.

Winston Hotel Tower

A 25 story hotel and condo tower will occupy the block shown above.

The Hillsborough

Another 25 story hotel and condo tower. It is currently on hold because of the bad credit market.

Campbell Law School Relocation

Classes should start in summer 2009. I think this a key move that should create traffic on Hillsborough St. I’m worried though because there is a serious lack of rentable apartments nearby and students will be prime renters.

HBS Properties Tower

HBS Properties has bought up a majority of this block. Last I heard, they were floating around the idea of a 10 story tower that would wipe out this streetscape.

The Potential

There are a couple of empty lots and surface parking lots that are in prime locations. There may be controversy in the future over established churches and businesses versus developers willing to offer big money for these lots. However, we are still not there yet so let’s save that argument for later.

I see this stretch of Hillsborough St. becoming a hotel row. Two hotels are in the list above and The Clarion is already in service in this location. This is a central, easy to get to area and with a wider street, it is car traffic friendly. It connects our two major entertainment centers and any visitor has an easy walk to either one.

I also think that the triangle near the Hillsborough/Edenton merge could be something really unique for downtown. I had an idea once.