by Leo Suarez

South Street Townhome Plan Flips to Condos, Adds More Units

611 West South

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:

Site Plan Map of 611 West South

Plan submitted in 2016. Click for larger

to this.

Site Plan Map of South Street Condos, 2018.

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.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Corner of Blount and Morgan Street

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!

by Leo Suarez

State of Downtown Raleigh 2018: Highlights Part 1

Aerial view of downtown Raleigh

Every Spring, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance releases their “State of” report and it’s full of data goodness about our city’s core. If you want to dive into it, go here.

Having seen a few of these, there are some stats that I go for each year and I wanted to put them down here for Part 1.

Employment

Government everywhere.

We’re still a government town and the figure below shows the latest breakdown of employment by sector.

Employment by Sector - State of downtown Raleigh 2018

Downtown Raleigh has the densest office market in the Triangle. The count of urban workers is now at 47,000 and is projected to be at 56,500 by 2030.

Compared to last year:

  • Government went up 1%
  • Tech is up almost 2%
  • Accomodation and Food Services is up 1%

The rest more or less went down a percentage point.

Population

8,500.

There are now 8,500 residents living in downtown Raleigh and we’re projected to hit 10,000 by 2022. The occupancy rate is also at 95%, up one over last year so we’re ready to absorb more units.

Population Highlights - State of downtown Raleigh 2018

List of Projects

And finally, here’s the big list of developments from the report showing completed, under construction, and planned projects in downtown Raleigh.

List of developments - State of downtown Raleigh 2018

by Leo Suarez

Introducing the DTRaleigh Community

Logo for the DTRaleigh Community

I’m excited to announce that I’m making a drastic change to the commenting that has been taking place for years on this blog. Soon, it will be closed for good. Instead, I’m hosting a much more powerful platform for online conversations and discussions that will all take place on the DTRaleigh Community.

Built on Discourse, this will allow readers to engage on topics much easier and with richer features. Embed maps, images, docs easily and keep up with the conversation on the go with the Discourse app.

While the Community is technically separate from the blog, I’m going to try my best to keep all blog content on the Community as well. In theory, you could never visit this site again and not miss a beat.

For those that don’t follow the conversation, it’s business as usual. I encourage you to follow however as the conversations typically dive into the topics even deeper than here on the blog and sometimes, the community reports things first before anyone else.

See you on the forums.

NOTE: Commenting on this blog will close on June 1.

by Leo Suarez

Plans Submitted for Bar Renovation at 612 Glenwood

612 Glenwood. May 2018.

612 Glenwood. May 2018.

The 600 block of Glenwood South just might become the densest cluster of bars in downtown Raleigh.

At 612 Glenwood, currently shown above, submitted plans to the city show a proposal for adding a second floor to the building for outdoor bar space. The outdoor bar is basically the roof of the building and is mostly open to all views.

In addition to a second floor, most of the outdoor space around the first will be cleaned up. According to SR-042-18, the “10 existing parking spaces to be obliterated…” Basically, the rear parking lot and driveway will be paved over and an outdoor bar will be built towards the back.

Here are the renderings as part of the plan submissions with an aerial view from Google Maps as a reference.

612 Glenwood. May 2018 via Google Maps.

612 Glenwood. May 2018 via Google Maps.

Plans for 612 Glenwood, SR-042-18.

Click for larger

Plans for 612 Glenwood, SR-042-18.

Click for larger

The retailer, Feelgoodz, is moving (has moved?) from the space as retail struggles in Glenwood South these days. This makes sense that 612 Glenwood could be a bar for a while as the biggest use here is nightlife. Even with so many residents, perhaps the district hasn’t hit critical mass to really land some solid retail.

Who knows though as the dynamic could change in the future with even more residents coming nearby at Smokey Hollow. It shouldn’t be too surprising to see even more development along Peace so retail might have a chance in the future. If only office space could land along Glenwood, then the dynamic might really mix up.

by Leo Suarez

Spring Meetup is on May 30

Another season, another great time for a reader meetup. I hope some of you are in town the week of Memorial Day because if you are, come join us at the London Bridge Pub on May 30 from 5-7pm. The format is casual and the folks that come out are always a classy bunch.

Our hosts for the evening include:

  • Oak City CRE, a newsletter about Raleigh development projects.
  • Neighbors of Raleigh, a podcast featuring the stories of Raleigh.
  • Inbound Raleigh, a podcast about transit and transportation in Raleigh.
Spring Reader Meetup

Date/Time: Wed., May 30, 2018 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
London Bridge Pub
Right next to the GoRaleigh station. (easy bus access)

I think this one will be a good one. See you there.