Fencing has popped up around some portions of Seaboard Station. A demolition company has put up it’s sign around block B. I take it to mean that the central building, shown above, is about to be demolished.
Block B plans for a residential building over retail, described in more detail in this August 2020 post. Block A also has fencing around it as well. Residential is still a hot commodity in Raleigh so leading with this development over the hotel portion makes sense for this year if that’s what we’ll see take place.
The Raleigh Appearance Commission is going through the latest project in the works for Fayetteville Street. 121 Fayetteville is a 32-story tower for the 100 block that will bring a variety of uses. I thought this a good time to check out the current setup today and show off some key points from the documents submitted to the commission.
As always, you can dive right into the docs for yourself right here. (pdf link)
The site of the project currently has the Alexander Square parking deck. The deck is located on the northern end of Fayetteville Street and is a privately owned structure with retail spaces along Fayetteville and Wilmington Streets. There are about five-stories of parking with a mix of public spaces and monthly reservations.
The Wells Fargo tower is across the street and the scenic Capitol grounds are nearby. I’m not sure it gets any more prime than this and a tower of this height is in good company with PNC Plaza up the street as well.
Neighbors here include some quality structures from Raleigh’s past including one of my favorites, the Raleigh Masonic Temple building.
The submitted plans and renderings suggest that all or a portion of the Alexander Square parking deck will be removed. The new tower won’t occupy the entire footprint of the property as the southern half will consist of the tower with parking occupying the lower floors of the entire site.
It’s easier to show it rather than describe it.
The document, as well as their main website, mention the following uses for the new tower and parking deck:
Retail/restaurant spaces along both Wilmington and Fayetteville Streets.
Office space
Conference space
Outdoor terraces
Looking at the ground floor plan, their is practically continual retail space on the Fayetteville Street side, the rest being lobby space. This is great as Fayetteville should support those higher intense uses and street life.
That’s not to say that Wilmington isn’t getting some activity with some retail, it is, but on this side, there will be entrances/exits for the deck as well as a loading dock. (necessary to support the tower)
There’s no rezoning needed for this project so as these details are ironed out, construction could begin any time. I assume some solid leases will need to be in place so let’s hope the office market bounces back after the pandemic.
I’m sticking with the same Smoky Hollow location as last week. This time, we’re looking at the office tower at 421 North Harrington Street. The nine-story building looks almost complete when looking at it from the outside. Since the nearby Peace building across Johnson is open to provide parking, I would think the building could be up and running pretty soon.
Assuming companies are still wary to come back to in-person working, the office scene may stay quiet for the rest of the year. Still, this building will be among a few new office additions to downtown as we watch Bloc 83 and Raleigh Crossing rising up.
Over by Smoky Hollow, The Line apartments are really showing their presence on West Street. This is over 280 apartments in a key part of Glenwood South and part of the overall Smoky Hollow project.
Once open next year, this will project will really help solidify Glenwood South as the most densely populated area in the Triangle. It could probably use some sidewalks along West Street if that’s the case, am I right?
The blog and Community tend to focus on new developments in the downtown core, such as 301 Hillsborough or The Willard hotel, that we may be overlooking some other activity just on the outskirts of downtown Raleigh. I thought it time for another Walk Series post to show off the east side of downtown, mainly the New Bern corridor.
The New Bern corridor interests me mainly due to some key observations and upcoming projects:
Planned location of the city’s first Bus-Rapid Transit route
Increased residential units from new townhome developments
Upcoming zoning conversations for the area
Loosely defined, for this Walk post, I’m focused on New Bern and Edenton Streets between Tarboro and East.
BRT Transit is Coming
With the implementation of the 1/2 cent sales tax for transit in 2017, higher-capacity transit, among other improvements, are being planned all over the county. Along New Bern and Edenton Streets, bus-rapid transit (BRT) will be rolling through in a few years if everything stays on schedule.
Being one of four planned BRT routes, high frequency transit will be flowing in and out of downtown Raleigh to the eastern parts of the county. Read more about the plan for BRT here.
The corridor may see dedicated bus lanes, expanded bike lanes, and new sidewalks on both sides of the street. It’s a big upgrade for the same corridor that currently runs the GoRaleigh bus route with the second highest ridership in that transit system.
Tarboro and New Bern/Edenton is loosely planned to get a BRT station on this upgraded route. The next stop inbound would be downtown itself.
Last reported, before the pandemic hit, plans were to be rolling buses in 2023-2024.
From Single-Family to Townhome
Historically, the corridor consists of many larger lots with single-family homes. You can still get a sense of the character going back to the early 1900s with the bungalows and larger houses facing the street.
However, it’s not hard to spot some newer homes, mostly of modern architecture style, sprinkled throughout the area. These homes were popping up between about 2008 until today. These homes add a stark contrast to the area as you can see in the photos.
And if you really look more, the modern townhome seems to be making its way into the corridor as of recently. First, the ten-unit project named 10 Arros completed along New Bern within the last few years. Construction is currently taking place at 625 New Bern where 18 units are planned. Similar modern style as the former.
Finally, across the street from 625 New Bern is Oak City Overlook. This development plans 20 modern townhomes and land has already been cleared at the site.
Could more be coming? I’ve seen plans submitted for more and you have for sale signs like this one at 914 New Bern which advertise, “Townhome/Condo Site for Sale.”
And there’s no shortage of space along this corridor. As I mentioned earlier, the single-family houses are on large lots that could easily be subdivided.
You also have the North Carolina State government vacating a large site at New Bern and Tarboro. The long-time site of the NC DMV is being vacated soon and that’ll put 5.4 acres of land a stone’s throw away from a rapid transit stop. Any development here, plus the adjacent surface parking that supported the NC DMV, could greatly change over if the state decides to sell it.
We also have 8 acres of undeveloped land at New Bern and Swain. Currently, the lot is only partially used by the Exploris school in temporary buildings but 8 acres offers a ton of flexibility, capable of a pretty transformative project. Just look at the map above, it’s that empty lot in the middle. That’s huge!
Zoning it Properly
From my perspective, you have two forces that are about to collide. The development is coming. Should transit only serve the single-family and new, high-end townhomes being built here?
To get more people access to the future transit network, an awkward conversation is soon to come, Raleigh. It’s time to talk about re-zoning the area.
This is a good time to revisit a collaborative post I did about a zoning tool called the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) and it just so happens that this area has one right in the middle. Below is the New Bern – Edenton NCOD and you can see, almost everything mentioned so far sits right inside it.
In short, the NCOD applies additional restrictions on height, setbacks, and is a tool to encourage new development be consistent with the current character. This NCOD was put in place in 1992.
To make transit more effective, these townhome developments help but we’ll need some larger projects in here to ensure additional office and residential density as they will be within walking distance of a high-frequency bus stop. It is a prime opportunity to get Raleigh residents on a car-less lifestyle at a variety of income levels.
I feel that the NCOD implemented in 1992 needs a revisit and with the current talks of more affordable housing around transit, it would be better to deliver hundreds (thousands?) of new units here rather than status quo townhomes near transit.
The land is still available but the development is starting to pick up. I’m hoping the city can start purchasing land for affordable housing as well as pushing for new zoning updates to match our 2030 and beyond goals as a city.
More conversations on this topic are sure to come.
Raleigh Crossing has really started to really climb. The lower portion, predominantly used for parking, has been poured and now crews are building the office portion of the tower.
According to the developers, the project should be finished next winter so maybe another year or so until opening.
Affordable housing isn’t a typical topic of the blog but this year, I’ve been following two initiatives that may provide atypical housing at a lower price point in Raleigh. These include:
The City of Raleigh wants to sell a plot of land in East Raleigh for $1 (one dollar) in exchange for affordable housing.
On election day, you’ll see an option to approve, yes or no, an $80 million housing bond. Jump to more on this on the city’s website.
Lane-Idlewild Affordable Housing
The city wants to leverage over an acre of land on East Lane Street to get some affordable housing units built. The proposal on the table is that the land, valued at over $1.4 million, would be sold for $1 (yes, one dollar) in exchange for more affordable housing.
Click for larger
One of the key criteria here is having at least 51% of the proposed residential units being affordable. In this case, affordable means that it is targeting individuals at the 80% area median income level. (see more about AMI here)
The proposal submission date was in August and the city was flooded with around 32 proposals. This week, the city council moved ahead and the list of applicants has been reduced to four.
Here is a brief overview of the four applications.
Archive Development
Rendering shown above
proposes 10 lots, each with a duplex and an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU).
mix of rental units available to <50-60% AMI, <70-80% AMI and <80-100% AMI
affordability preserved for a minimum of 20 years.
CASA
proposes 11 rental units across duplexes and quadraplexes
all units will be available to <40% AMI
tenants will pay a maximum 30% of their income for rent
minimum of 30 years of affordability
will provide a community garden and on-site management services
Merge Capital
proposes a mixture of 44 rental suites and units across detached, attached and ADUs
the single-family building types include 1 and 2 bedroom living options arranged as a co-living layout
propose a mix of 50% of affordable suites for <50% AMI and 50% for <80% AMI, or 40% of units at <50% AMI and 60% of units at <80% AMI
a 25-year initial term of affordability.
Raleigh Area Land Trust
proposes 16 Cottage Court units for sale across 8 duplexes
propose 50% (8) of the units be sold to <50% AMI
25% (4) units to <60% AMI
25% (4) units at Market Rate.
RALT would retain ownership of the land while leasing it to the homeowners through a 99-year, inheritable, renewing ground lease, while limiting equity accrual in order for the homes to be resold to other income-qualifying households.
This is such an interesting project and some good proposals are on the table.
Affordable Housing Bond 2020
With voter approval in November, $80 million would be used to fund affordable housing in a variety of ways. From a July 2020 update, the breakdown of those funds are shown below.
What has me most interested in this bond is that money will go directly into purchasing land around transit. We already know where that land is going to be as we’ve been undergoing a Wake Transit Plan since adoption in 2017. I wouldn’t be surprised if the BRT routes are the areas where land purchasing will take place.
In response to concerns about getting the needs from this bond to the ones that need it most, those at the lowest income scale in Raleigh, I’d like to borrow Councilor Melton’s update after the council’s September 1 meeting.
We also adopted the recommendation to produce more housing units affordable at 30% area median income (AMI). At the meeting this week, staff presented policy recommendations for producing more housing affordable at 30% AMI.
Staff recommended allocating $10 million from the bond funds for permanent supportive housing for very low income (30% AMI or lower) chronically homeless individuals, $10 million from the bond funds for non-profit partners to create or preserve small scale projects where not less than one-third of total units serve 30% AMI or lower, and $8 million from the bond funds plus regulatory incentives for new rental developments where not less than 20% of the units are affordable for not less than 30 years. Staff also recommended requiring 25% of units in 9% tax credit projects and 10% of units in 4% tax credit projects to target creating housing affordable at 30% AMI.
We voted to adopt and approve all of these recommendations.
9/1/2020 meeting summary: Affordable Housing Bond, micromobility (scooters!), big rezoning – link
It’s a pretty large initiative that certainly attempts to close the gap on Raleigh’s housing needs and deserves your consideration when voting this Fall.
The latest iteration for the property at 615 West Peace Street is now a residential building named 615 Peace. One and two bedroom units are planned for an empty site that has gone through a few proposals over time, including a hotel with a controversial rezoning.
Even with the ongoing pandemic, downtown residential occupancy is very strong according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s latest State of Downtown Raleigh report.
The project’s site also mentions ground-floor retail which is refreshing to see on a busy street like Peace. The plans look pretty decent so I’m hoping the condo market makes it happen as rentals still seem to dominate downtown.
