by Leo Suarez

2018 Downtown Raleigh Hotel Roundup

Marriott Hotel on Fayetteville Street

Marriott Hotel on Fayetteville Street.

I recently was having a conversation about downtown Raleigh hotels with some out-of-town coworkers. That got me thinking that it’s a good time to take a look at the current and upcoming hotel options to see how things are coming along. This is more of a wrapup post and I don’t have anything new to share.

Here’s the TLDR. Let me know if I’m missing something so we can make this list complete.

Currently open – 1310 rooms:

Under Construction – 134 Rooms:

Upcoming – *837 rooms:

On the radar:

Of the currently open list, the Residence Inn opened as recently as Fall 2017. In the last ten years, we’ve watched the Marriott and Hampton Inn go up. Can any readers date the Sheraton and Holiday Inn? Days Inn? They predate the blog as well as predate the downtown Raleigh revitalization of the 2000s that came from the Livable Streets plan of 2003.

Construction of The Origin Hotel on Morgan Street. March 2018.

Construction of The Origin Hotel on Morgan Street. March 2018.

Across the street from One Glenwood is the construction site, seen above, for the building’s parking deck. Plans call for an Origin hotel on top of the deck. I put this in the Under Construction category but I certainly could be wrong as the parking deck is certainly underway. I’m not sure if the hotel may come later or crews are planning for it now.

Renovation taking place at Guest House Raleigh on Bloodworth Street. March 2018.

Renovation taking place at Guest House Raleigh on Bloodworth Street. March 2018.

I know that I’d love to see boutique hotels popping up around the periphery of downtown Raleigh so am excited to see Guest House Raleigh come along on Bloodworth Street. If successful, hopefully, others try their own take on the smaller, more personal stay in downtown.

Most of the upcoming hotel projects have been quiet, some for over a year now. The Willard seems to be moving through the process and the rezoning case for the boutique hotel on Peace is currently going through a public hearing. (at the developer’s request)

Let me know if I missed anything.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

New bike corrals installed on Wilmington Street.

The bike parking scene is strong these days on the 200 block of South Wilmington Street. Two bike corrals have popped up near the crosswalk into GoRaleigh Station. The first incorporates street art and decorative planters. The second is shaped like a car, a common tool used to show that multiple bikes (people) consume much less space than a single car.

Bike corrals now seem to be the norm in and around downtown Raleigh especially with the incorporation of art now. Keep them coming!

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Email readers: This blog post has a virtual reality image. Read the post on the blog to see it. Click Here.

Dillon. #downtownraleigh

A post shared by Leo Suarez (@dtraleigh) on

I’m getting lots of love on the above photo I posted on Instagram and wanted to share it here on the blog. The portico at the corner of West and Martin is pretty striking and screams industrial. It has a great look and feel, showing off the “guts” of the brick warehouse. It brings it outward for a passerby to enjoy.

In addition, I popped a 360 photo of the portico for readers to see also. Enjoy!

by Leo Suarez

Historic Homes Should Be Saved After Council Approves Land Sale

Old homes along West Street, planned for demolition.

Old homes along West Street, planned for demolition.

The two houses in the photo above should be saved after all. The city council last week approved the sale of city-owned land along Bloodworth Street to become the new home for these two houses. March 19 was the demolition date for them so this comes quite a bit close but hopefully, with this approval, everything goes smoothly.

The houses were planned to be demolished to make way for The Fairweather, a five-story condo project. A Raleigh citizen pitched a plan to move the houses into the Prince Hall Historic district, the site of the city-owned parcels, but the land sale had to be approved by council. At first try in December 2017, it was not approved.

For a detailed review of the story, jump back to this December 2017 post.

The city council video of the discussion is embedded below. I’m going to leave the politics for the comments or a future reader meetup but you can really see some council members struggling with this one, almost intentionally avoiding trying to make a decision. As I said in my previous post, creative problem-solving seems to feel like a foreign language sometimes to the council.

For the record, Councilors Crowder and Thompson voted against. My huge thanks to our Mayor who brought up this issue and got the discussion rolling.

If you can’t see the embedded video, watch it here on YouTube.

by Leo Suarez

Plans Show New Townhome Project for St. Mary’s Street

St. Mary's Street near Calvin Road. February 2018.

St. Mary’s Street near Calvin Road. February 2018.

Plans on the city’s website (S-050-17) show a small project that will include six townhomes for an area on St. Mary’s Street near the intersection of Calvin Road. (between Tucker and North) Three lots are being combined for the townhomes and currently, only a single house sits on these lots.

There were two other homes here but they were demolished sometime in 2016 so I imagine the last one, shown above, will come down with this project.

Preliminary site plans show the six units in one building with rooftop decks and parking garages located along an existing alley behind the units. The alley is currently accessible on Tucker Street and is mainly used by the residents in The Devon.

Map of proposed townhomes

Seems like a straightforward project and a product that’s much needed in and around downtown. I like the idea of further using an existing alley for additional vehicle access rather than creating new streets.

Rendering of proposed townhomes

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Renovation work in the lobby of Two Hannover Square

Lobby of Two Hannover Square. February 2018.

The lobby of Two Hannover Square is being renovated. A rendering of the new lobby is laid out on display, seen below, showing a sleeker, more modern space.

This is probably a minor point by itself but with the recent renovation of One City Plaza maybe the tide is rising on office rents in downtown Raleigh. I imagine nicer lobbies are intended to attract higher-paying tenants.

Or it could just be a changing of the times as the buildings may have been the same for decades. Something to look out for in our older office buildings.

Renovation work in the lobby of Two Hannover Square

by Leo Suarez

Reader Meetup on Tuesday 2/20!

Fantastic turnout to our meet up!

A post shared by Inbound Raleigh (@inboundraleigh) on

Get this one on your calendars. We’re organizing the next reader meetup for the season. We had so much fun at the Fall 2017 meetup, we just had to do another.

Reader Meetup

Date/Time: Tues., Feb. 20 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Tobacco Road Sports Cafe

As an effort to help cross promote and bring new people together, I’m partnering with those behind the Raleigh-transit focused podcast, Inbound Raleigh, as well as the food and retail blog Welcome to Raleighwood. They are all good people that deserve your attention.

We should be back in Tobacco Road’s game room and will be keeping it casual. Come out and say hi!

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Steel rises at the site of One Glenwood. February 2018.

Steel rises at the site of One Glenwood. February 2018.

Steel is starting to take shape at the site of One Glenwood. This and the Origin Hotel planned for across Morgan Street are really going to create that bookend feeling for Glenwood South. This complements our earlier discussions around the nearby Willard Hotel at the corner of Willard Place and Glenwood Avenue also.

I actually like this zoomed-out image below as I think it shows how the end of Glenwood is going to get a nice urban presence which could bring more sidewalk activity to this area. Just use your imagination, or the crane, to put a 10-story building here.

Steel rises at the site of One Glenwood. February 2018.

Steel rises at the site of One Glenwood. February 2018.