Have you been by Smoky Hollow recently? It’s looking almost finished and real polished. Above is a shot looking into “the hollow” (or so I’m calling it) with the office tower on the left and The Line Apartments on the right. Retail and lobby spaces are on the ground floor and this pedestrian-only plaza may make for a nice spot this summer.
I saw some chatter out there about any retail announcements and so far, I haven’t seen any but let’s hope residents start moving in soon and some unique offerings take hold here in the Hollow. (and that the closest R-Line stop is renamed to that too)
16 townhomes are planned for a corner spot along Boylan Avenue and North Street. The fantastic corner location, as seen in my brilliantly picturesque photo above, is just a block away from the bars and restaurants of Glenwood South.
Some of the combined properties are currently empty but two existing single-family homes will be demolished for the new townhomes. One includes a smaller home from 1900 with a fantastic collection of palm trees out front. If you know me, I have an eye for our frondy friends around Raleigh. It’s sad to see them go.
The townhomes will be 3-stories tall with rooftop terraces. The rooftops are definitely what’s in these days, becoming almost the standard of any new townhome built in and around downtown in the last five years.
The developers of this project are White Oak Properties and CityPlat. JDavis Architects are the designers and Glenwood Agency is the realtor.
Plans for more apartments popped up on the city’s website, this time on the 800 block of West Morgan Street. The sites are mostly empty now, parking lots really, except for the building that the Goodnights Comedy Club currently occupies. The plans would lead to the demolition of that existing building.
In the future, around 400 apartments and ground-floor retail would be built. You can see an artist’s rendering of the project above. The site is a little more interesting with it being along that “curve” where Morgan shortly travels North/South and then changes to East/West.
Articles are stating that Goodnights is looking for a new home which is good to hear. Let’s hope they stick to downtown Raleigh.
It’s unfortunate that a building in downtown with a more interesting facade couldn’t be saved or incorporated into the new development. Even just saving the front doesn’t seem to be in the plans but we’ll have to wait and see. Raleigh doesn’t seem to have a track record of doing that kind of thing too much, although there are some examples. See the Lumsden Bros. Building as well as the nearby Raleigh Industrial Bank Renovation.
I still see a lot of positives here with a future with 400 apartments and more retail spaces along a walkable, urban street. The development is still in the early phases at this time and I’m not aware of a zoning request either. The Goodnight’s property is zoned for seven stories max while the adjacent lot along the Morgan Street “curve” is capped at four.
Some real fun plans were announced for the land at 504 Hillsborough Street. A dog park with outdoor bar was announced by those behind CityPlat, the new owners of the property.
Used as a parking lot for years, probably decades, the triangle-shaped lot where Edenton merges with Hillsborough will soon have drinks served out of shipping containers around a dog-friendly outdoor space.
Coming soon to the intersection of West Street and Edenton in downtown Raleigh is a DOG PARK & BAR complete with concession (think coffee, beer), retail, and a large play area for dogs to roam around. Picture an open and welcoming, community-focused space for dog owners and dog lovers alike to connect and play fetch, right in the heart of the city.
I’ve been watching that site for years and finally, someone comes in with a very unique, very cool idea for it. The trees are mature enough to make the space feel cozy but open enough that you’re able to people watch as if you’re in a park.
I wanted to get a photo up of the northeast corner of Hargett and Harrington as development plans are in the works here. The Legends “block” may see a rezoning request for up to 40-stories according to this TBJ article. That intersection looks to be pretty significant in the future if any kind of building takes place there.
When I look around, I see The Dillon apartments with Weaver Street on the ground floor. The apartments are on two corners actually with the third being a gravel parking lot, also in a holding state for future development.
The Warehouse district has got a lot of potential.
Above is a short but really nice video showing off the progress over at Chavis Park. It looks quite different from a year ago, about the last time we checked in.
I’m hoping energy and positive experiences in the near future could drum up support for bringing the other aspects of the master plan to bear. I still believe that Chavis could be the park for downtown Raleigh residents as it plans to provide services and amenities that nearby destination park Dix won’t have. (or at least won’t have for awhile)
The Cameron Crest townhomes on St. Mary’s Street are looking sharp now that they are completed. These are million dollar townhomes that pack a lot of space in their small looks here in the photo above.
I wanted to highlight the homes’ completion but also take a chance to share that the Downtown Raleigh Alliance has this project on their next Discover Downtown Tour on February 12. Register and take a look at these beauties for yourself!
In the last few years, I’ve been trying to get in touch with more people, more readers, and bring the conversation about downtown Raleigh into the real world.
Year 14 absolutely did NOT happen in the real world and what I learned most is that my interest and my social life depends on the face-to-face and group meetings I have, planned and unplanned, throughout downtown Raleigh. If you are reading this and I’ve met you at least once in real life, I thank you and want to meet you again after the 2020 pandemic is over.
I enjoy the chatter and banter on the DTRaleigh Community but it just doesn’t quite hit it compared to the in-person meetings at the bar. Discussions over public projects at community meetups aren’t the same online. And Zoom? It’s ok, I guess.
Maybe the kids are rolling their eyes at me but count me still 100% IN for downtown Raleigh and face-to-faces in the future. In fact, I can’t wait to start planning meetups and getting people together again. Maybe even more frequently than before.
My extreme binging of pop culture in 2020 was certainly fun while being indoors most of the time but I’m getting over it. The blog has certainly slowed down as a result of the lack of in-person meetings and inspiration from life chats with people.
This site is only the surface of what’s really going on out there. And I just cover development and some city meetings. There’s a lot going on out there and lots of people to meet.
The 100+ movies I watched and 100 hours of video games may have been a factor as well last year. Had to stay safe, am I right? Remember when we watched movies in City Plaza? (photo above) Nostalgia is so good sometimes.
It was a down year for the blog as content was less frequent on my part. I hope to remedy that with a positive outlook on 2021.
If you share my optimism then I hope you can consider donating to my work. I ask once a year, today only, and anything you can contribute helps.
