The McDonald’s at the corner of South and Wilmington Streets has been demolished. The plans are to rebuild it to modern standards as has been common around the country.
The fast-food rebuilds usually turn around in no time. Before the end of the year perhaps?
Sitting right on the edge of the downtown mixed-use zoning district, I feel there could have been a lot more done here especially with the city trying (but now on hold) to maximize the development potential right across the street.
Raleigh Crossing has been slowly rising up. The crews at 301 Hillsborough Street are still working on the parking deck portion of the office tower. You can’t help notice this project when walking or driving through the area as it is starting to show its presence.
There are some details that can be picked out from seeing the site. The lobby will have some nice tall ceilings. There will also be plenty of retail along Hillsborough and Dawson. The building should add some great sidewalk activity all around it.
This has been a great development to watch go up and while the office market has some question marks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m hoping Raleigh Crossing still commands some attention in the future.
Smoky Hollow is looking pretty nice these days. With some gorgeous May weather, the building at the corner of Peace and West Streets, Peace Apartments, looks good from the top of the Capital Boulevard bridge.
If not already, residents will be moving in to Peace soon. Work on the Publix on the bottom floor continues as well. There’s no firm opening date for the grocery store yet.
The location for The Willard hotel has been cleared out for awhile and now a crane is being assembled on the site. Looking west, the hotel should have a pretty nice view of the downtown skyline.
The Cameron Crest Townhomes on St. Mary’s Street are mostly in shape. These townhomes are the latest high-end offerings after The Saint townhomes were completed further up St. Mary’s.
The residences should be finished by the end of this year.
More demolition is taking place in downtown Raleigh. This time, it’s along Dawson Street on the Caswell Square block.
The century-old, state-owned buildings, the biggest being a former heating plant for the state government complex, had interest from a developer but the Council of State did not approve selling to a private entity.
At this time, there are no plans for the land and there have been no released master plans for the Caswell Square block. I feel it’s a shame to see more Raleigh-history demolished, especially when there was interest for renovation. At the same time though, I’m not sure about selling the land for private use.
The state government is probably the worst landlord in Raleigh so behavior like this is not surprising.
You can revisit Caswell Square on this December 2016 blog post.
Downtown is getting a new surface parking lot.
Starting at the southeast corner of Hargett and Harrington Streets, a string of properties including some buildings that housed the former Goodwill are now being demolished. The lots will be a parking lot until future development plans are put in place.
For clarity, the building where the wine bar Vita Vite is located is unaffected.
Surface parking is a common tactic for property owners to hold on to property and still generate some revenue. This puts it in a position that’s shovel-ready (no buildings to clear) and no labor is needed. (a kiosk does all the work)
Highwoods Realty currently owns it and is using the same tactic on the southeast corner of Martin and Wilmington. Let’s hope it’s not parking for too long.
You can see more photos of the site demolition as we follow it closely on the Community.
The Fairweather condos are coming together and has already topped out. The building is on track to have residents move in this Summer.
According to their website, there are 8 units left out of the 45 total.