What we’ve been calling Boylan Flats turns out to be an extended-stay hotel on Boylan Avenue and they appear to be getting close to looking like they will open. Called Revisn, the hotel offers fully furnished residential units for stays longer than 30 days.
I’m not sure Revisn helps with the hotel room needs directly but it’s certainly interesting that we may have a market for long-term stays in Raleigh. 30 days in a traditional hotel room gets old fast, I’m sure.
The southern end of Glenwood Avenue is mushrooming with new growth. In addition to One Glenwood and Two Glenwood, which we’ve discussed in the past, site plans were submitted to the city for Two Hillsborough, a 10-story tower for the same block as One Glenwood.
The plans indicate that the new development would replace the current buildings on the block. If I recall correctly this includes the two-story buildings along Hillsborough containing Stop Hunger Now and Audio Exchange, the one-story office building along Boylan and Morgan (not sure who’s in there) and the renovated former Esso station with the bar, Dram and Draught.
Some maps.
The mixed-use project is described as:
Development of 10 story, 275,000 sf mixed use building and two 1 story (4,850 sf total) retail buildings on 4 existing lots to be combined into one lot.
The site plans suggest that Two Hillsborough will be an office tower with ground-floor retail. One Glenwood, already under construction, plus Two Hillsborough will also have a courtyard in between the buildings with these additional retail stand-alone buildings. Gensler is the architect on this plan and it looks like they may be proposing a shipping container reuse for these one-story retail buildings.
Parking will be off-site, most likely in the deck already under construction across the street.
The site is zoned for 12 stories so the pair of towers, One Glenwood and Two Hillsborough, seem like a perfect way to maximize that area. I’m happy to see another infusion of office space at the southern end of Glenwood South.
I will have to visit the old Esso station on the corner a bit more before it’s possibly demolished. That building does ooze with Raleigh character and I hope Dram and Draught, if they have to move, can find a solid new home. With good architects, I think, and a much higher density plan in a transit-friendly area I can only be excited for the things happening on the 600 block of Hillsborough Street.
Discuss Two Hillsborough on the DTRaleigh Community.
Trophy Brewing on Morgan Street. June 2018.
Trophy Brewing is expanding. The brewery that started in a small retail building along Morgan Street has taken over the entire building now and site plans were submitted for a small expansion. The plans suggest that more of the angled parking in front will be used for outdoor space and some for a small building expansion.
The site plans show a small addition on the eastern side of the building facing the street as you can see in the screenshot below. For reference, I’ve added an overlay of the “Morgan Monsters” mural which I hope you’ve seen by now. (cause it’s great!)
Click for larger.
Click for larger.
The new space should be finished by next Summer.
Not much else to report on this. It is great to see a downtown brewery expand due to, I’m assuming, continued success. Some of Trophy’s beers are at the top of this blogger’s favorites for sure. Go Raleigh beer!
Raleigh Municipal Building. June 2018.
During a March 27, 2018 meeting of the Economic Development and Innovation (EDI) Committee, there were some good details discussed over the future Civic Campus Master Plan. I wanted to bring out some details from the meeting minutes here today.
You can watch the video of the meeting on YouTube here or embedded below.
To quickly recap, the city is currently working on a master plan to possibly redevelop city hall as well as offload various city-owned property in and around downtown Raleigh. The point would be to consolidate the downtown workforce as well as expand for projected growth. The epicenter of the project would be on the block consisting of the Raleigh Municipal Building (RMB) and former police headquarters. (Basically the Avery C. Upchurch Municipal block)
You can dive straight into the minutes here. Some additional relevant reading:
First, let’s take a look at the municipal block today. There are three main structures:
With the city owning the entire block, it’s basically agreed that the new campus will consist of new development there.
The civic campus is assumed to include the following departments:
With internal conversations and surveys, the consultants found that a conservative 1.5% city staff growth rate would be appropriate to ensure that any new buildings would be useful for 30 to 50 years after being built.
But before we get into what can be built, the “do nothing” scenario was considered. The cost to maintain current buildings and continue to lease space as growth is needed over the next 30 years will cost around $200 million dollars. $80 million would go towards maintenance of current facilities with an estimated $120-160 million going towards leasing space.
The Build Scenarios
Buiding a new tower presents a few options that allow the city to be more flexible in the future.
With the RMB offering some flexibility, it would be possible to extend the life of that building while still putting downtown workers into a new one. There are three scenarios on the table. (emphasis is mine)
Option #1: 20 stories (above capacity)
Option #2: 17 stories +/- (at capacity)
Option #3: 14 stories +/- (below capacity)
Options 1 and 2 allow the RMB to be vacated and therefore, avoid maintenance and upfit costs. If option 3 is pursued, then outside space will still be needed whether it is within the RMB or elsewhere. RMB then presents a $40M renovation cost.
That’s as far into the details as I’d like to get into it, please take a look at the minutes and watch the video if you want more. I’m sure this will be an ongoing discussion within the EDI committee.
It’ll be interesting to see where they go with these options but either way, the options to build a new consolidated tower sound like a cost-effective option compared to leasing space across downtown Raleigh.
Join the discussion about the Civic Campus Master Plan on our DTRaleigh Community.
One Glenwood is really coming along with the lower floors having their facade being put in place now. The parking deck, seen on the right from this angle, flew up and is giving Morgan Street an urban feel. At the pace I’m seeing, it seems the building will be ready by this Winter for sure.
Join the discussion about One Glenwood on the DTRaleigh Community.
The Rogers House has landed at its new home at the corner of Bloodworth and Cabarrus. It’s one of the two homes that were saved from West Street where The Fairweather, a 45-unit condo building, is planned to go. The second house, larger home, the neighbor to The Rogers House, could not be saved.
I’ll have to visit the West Street site next as crews start to work on The Fairweather. Meanwhile, the new foundation for the historic Fourth Ward house is already being put together as the renovation work is underway. It’s a good fit for the Prince Hall Historic District.
Join the discussion about this historic home and the Prince Hall Historic District on the Community.
The site of 611 West South. April 2018.
A plan for townhomes at 611 West South, which has seemed to stall throughout 2017 has changed and now includes more units. Site plans (SR-48-18) show 87 units across two, 3-story condo buildings.
Renamed to South Street Condos, in short, the plan has changed from this:
Plan submitted in 2016. Click for larger
to this.
Plan submitted in 2018. Click for larger
If you haven’t seen the site, there’s a very large culvert that runs straight down it. Similar to the original plans, it looks like the developer won’t even touch it and will leave it as open space.
The plans mention a possible future greenway here as well.
The plans show a parking deck entrance in both buildings as well as some surface parking along the western building. I want to guess that with it being only 3-stories tall, the bottom floor will mainly be for parking and ground-floor amenities.
The very rough renderings included in the site plan, however, seem to show units on the ground-floor going all the way around so I’m guessing the renderings are more for massing then actual look and feel.
Raleigh Architecture Company is leading the design on this project.
It’s interesting to note that they only required 71 parking spaces but are providing 126.
At the end of the day, I’m glad to see more units coming to the area. I’m crossing my fingers for one or two retail spaces but this site plan does not suggest that that is the case.
Join the discussion about this project on the DTRaleigh Community.
The corner of Blount and Morgan is looking very colorful these days.
Marbles have demolished the car service shop here and, for the time being, installed this colorful mural and plaza. It’s a dramatic difference for sure and with evening shade is quite pleasant to walk through.
With expansion plans on the horizon, Marbles is sure to grow and I can’t see it being a total shocker that this lot is a holdover for something much grander down the road.
Kudos to the team behind this install though as it’s a great contribution to downtown’s public space!