Here is a quick construction update on the first of two buildings at Bloomsbury Estates. The brick looks very nice and I think this condo building will stand apart from the rest of the ones going up downtown.
Sidetrack Brewpub is also coming along but at a snail’s pace. The bar is just now taking shape. Perhaps they are planning to open when the first of the BE residents move in. Who knows.
The early winter sunsets are really cutting into my weekday opportunities to go out and take pictures of things downtown. I really think pictures help to add more to the story but we’ve all got a life and a job to do. Anyway, today I have more quick news regarding construction downtown that may be worthy of a short golf clap.
Exciting news… We are approaching topping-out!
The roof-level is being poured this week!
Also, large windows are being installed on the 5th through 7th floors and the exterior sheathing is now up to the 10th floor! Interior framing is up to the 8th floor and exterior framing is up to the 12th floor! West is well underway!
301 Hillsborough is slowly coming down to make way for “The Hillsborough”. This project is brought to you by the same minds backing The Quorum Center. Click here for some background information.
I was doing some Downtown Raleigh internet digging and stumbled upon this little gem on the Glenwood Agency’s website. The so called ‘David Allen Building’ is described as:
The site currently has three buildings on it. One building will be renovated for offices, the adjacent warehouse will be replaced with a 4-story structure with retail on the lower floors and 3 condos on the top, and the third building is a 1930s warehouse that will be renovated into a restaurant with roof-top dining. Residents will have the luxury of walking to nightlife, dining, and shopping on Glenwood South. The redevelopment project is expected to take a year to complete.
It is great that some of the buildings there will be renovated as opposed to being demolished. The description however does not quite match up to the rendering of the new “4-story structure”. Unless I am looking at the picture wrong, I see a couple more then 4 floors.
Below is the map for the area and the three buildings the description refers to. Anyway, this is just another development to tack on to the long list of projects going on downtown and RalCon will post any updates that may come up in the future.
Blount Street Commons is moving forward and WRAL has some of it covered.
The Blount Street Commons project is designed to revitalize the neighborhood bounded by Peace Street on the north, Lane Street on the south, Wilmington Street on the west and Person Street on the east.
The 21-acre project, being conducted in four phases over the next three years, involves moving eight Victorian houses to make room for 495 condominiums, townhouses, row houses and carriage houses. The existing houses will be shifted to lots in the neighborhood now occupied by parking.
21 acres is very significant. I think this area will be a sleeper ‘hot spot’ for downtown. It may not have flashy skyscrapers but will have a good community type feel. Somehow, I hope it adds some life to the dead government district directly west of it. Click here for previous posts about the project.
(still trying to get WRAL video embed to work here)
712 Tucker, discussed here, has now become ‘The Lofts at Glenwood South’. I had forgotten about this project so I went out last night to see the situation for myself. There is a reason this project has been quiet; nothing has been built. The old warehouse that stood in this spot, unused, has been demolished and cleared out, shown in the pic posted. My realtor mentioned that the developer here had some money problems and it has stalled The Lofts’ construction. Will it ever be built? Who knows. I thought it was a great idea to bring rental units to downtown, especially two blocks away from Glenwood South.
With the Peace Street Streetscape Project being done just down the street, this empty lot will slowly become more valuable. Perhaps someone will step in and build taller.
For some background information on this project, this post is required reading. Some of the information is slightly old but the end result is the same nonetheless.
The picture below shows the area I’m referring to. Construction fencing surrounds almost the entire block, the parking lots have been cleared, and some have even been scrapped away. This picture I copy and pasted together, (yeah I’ve got skill) shows the google view of the block next to the planned view from the livable streets website.
I like what I see, less pavement and more green, plus more dense residential development. This may not be high-rise condo living but it is still urban living, being so close to downtown. The Blount Street Commons area should really turn into its own community as it gets closer to completion.
Hillsborough St. is on fire! The N&O reports of another tower in the works at the corner of West and Hillsborough.
A group including former Raleigh Mayor Smedes York wants to build an eight- to 10-story building including shops topped with offices, residences or both on the block southwest of the intersection of Hillsborough and West streets in downtown Raleigh.
HBS Properties, which is represented by York Properties, has assembled all but two of the 10 tracts on the 1.15-acre block.
………….Once that’s settled, the single-story storefronts dating to the 1930s could meet with the wrecking ball.
HBS is considering street-level shops with offices and residences — likely rentals — on top. Or just shops and offices.
York hopes to begin building within a year. The project would take 18 months to finish.
Kind of sad to see the old shops get torn down but that area always seems dead and the shops continue to remain empty. Along with all the other announcements that are coming to Hillsborough St., it will become the link between Fayetteville St. and the Glenwood South area.