Demolition is taking place at Stone’s Warehouse. The project is moving along now as the former Rex Senior Center is coming down and new art projects line Davie Street. Banners on the front of the warehouse tease a 2018 opening.
The Expansion of the Upcoming Smokey Hollow Project
Corner of Peace and West, August 2016.
This is kind of a backlog post so you may have seen this already. The developers behind the Smokey Hollow project are buying up even more land. The area along Peace Street between Capital and West are being combined into much larger properties.
At this time, no plans have been made public but being associated with the mixed-use Smokey Hollow project, we can guess that even more mixed-use development is in the future.
In addition to the land along Peace, Kane Realty has picked up properties formerly owned by Gregg Sandreuter. The former apartment projects here, the West Apartments, never materialized so perhaps Kane will give it a go.
The Glenwood South Neighborhood Collaborative has this map of the area showing the recent owners.
Over the next few years, this will be quite a transformation as multiple blocks could be developed alongside the Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street and the square loop configuration.
We also have the latest renderings of Smokey Hollow, more specifically, the building for the corner of Peace and West Street, to give us an idea of what the area will look like. Big thanks to Cline Design for allowing me to post them here on the blog.
Renderings of City Gateway Show 10-Story, Energy Positive Building
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
We have the first renderings, provided here on the blog with permission, of what is called City Gateway, the office and campus building planned for the Southern Gateway area of downtown Raleigh. For a quick recap, jump back to this December 2016 post.
City Gateway will be home to the Exploris K-8 charter school and a number of other businesses. The building comes to us from SfL+a Architects who have worked on a few other projects including energy positive schools. That means City Gateway will “on average over the year produce more energy from renewable energy sources than it imports from external sources,” according to the Global Buildings Performance Network.
According to the Triangle Business Journal, City Gateway should break ground this July with completion about a year and half later. (or whatever Winter 2018 means to you)
For clarification, let’s define a few “gateway” terms:
- City Gateway is this upcoming energy positive building.
- Gateway Center is what the city has defined as the area on the southern side of downtown. Explore more on that in this post.
- The Southern Gateway is a much larger area from the southern end of downtown towards I-40 and ending around Tryon Road. There’s a study on that ongoing and you can dive into that project on the city’s website.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Renderings come courtesy of SfL+a Architects/Firstfloor.
Pic of the Week
Northeast corner of Jones and Harrington Streets, February 2017
Southeast corner of Lane and Harrington Streets, February 2017
I present two wide shots of the currently under construction The Metropolitan Apartments. Judging by the height of the stairwells relative to the wood construction apartments, the building is almost topping out along Jones Street. There is still a lot of room for more units as you go down Harrington and turn around Lane Street.
At this pace, the units along Jones could have residents moving in before the year’s end. August 2017 was a planned move-in date about 6 months ago, according to the folks behind the project.
Dollar General Express Now Open in Downtown Raleigh
Email readers: This blog post has a virtual reality image. Read the post on the blog to see it.
A new concept for the company, this store, Dollar General Express, is now open in The Edison Lofts at the corner of Davie and Blount Streets. The store contains more convenience items rather than cheaper home goods like the larger stores. It’s actually a decent convenience store with some grocery items.
High-end, gourmet retail is nice but sometimes, you just need the quick and easy. From a resident’s point-of-view, I welcome the new store and hope it succeeds.
8-Room Boutique Hotel, Guest House Raleigh, Takes Big Step Forward
400 Block of South Bloodworth Street, February 2017.
This past weekend, two historic homes rolled through downtown Raleigh from previous sites to new ones. The two houses along the 100 block of East Lenoir Street were moved to the 400 block of South Bloodworth Street to make way for a new 12-story, Element-branded hotel. Demolition of the Baptist Convention Headquarters building should follow soon.
Catch up on that project here.
Ahead of schedule!!
As the new hotel is being worked on, one of the two historic houses will also be used for some downtown hospitality. The Gorham House will be renovated this year and there are plans for it to house an 8-room boutique hotel called Guest House Raleigh. You can follow the progress of the project on their Instagram account.
For a boutique hotel, this area of downtown is actually a great location being only two blocks from City Market and four from Fayetteville Street. It also won’t feel like the edge of town as progress on Stone’s Warehouse, to the east of Guest House, should start up as the developers finally closed on the site.
A huge congratulations to those behind Guest House Raleigh. I’m hoping big success there so others might take a stab at going the boutique route rather than the safer, more sterile hotel route.
New Townhomes at West and Lenoir Called West + Lenoir
Submitted rendering of West + Lenoir. Click for larger.
Now for sale are the 12 townhomes that we’ve touched on before in the West South Street area. The West + Lenoir Townhomes are billed as luxury homes with a long list of amenities including a private rooftop terrace. Location is the key selling point here, according to the realtors. The location puts you close to downtown Raleigh as well as the future Dorothea Dix Park.
The 12 units range from a 1,300 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2.5 bath with 2-car garage to 1,729 square foot 3-bedroom, 3.5 bath with a single space garage. Prices range from $469K to $579k as you can see below.
Submitted rendering of West + Lenoir. Click for larger.
Submitted rendering of West + Lenoir. Click for larger.
Submitted rendering of West + Lenoir. Click for larger.
Click for larger.
Those rooftop views look great but may get crowded if the plans at 522 Harrington take place.
Townhomes seem to be the luxury item right now in downtown Raleigh. I recall downtown condos being the “luxury” item in the mid 2000s with lots of rentals following afterwards. Perhaps we’re at the beginning of a townhome boom. Or maybe not.
Current site at West and Lenoir, February 2017.
Pic of the Week
Email readers: This blog post has a virtual reality image. Read the post on the blog to see it.
If you haven’t been by in awhile, there is a lot of activity taking place around The Dillon site. The parking deck is starting to rise up and both apartment buildings are in the beginning phases of their work. I’m referring to the ones on both sides of Hargett Street.
Enjoy the VR view, taken on February 21 as I get back into my blog rhythm.