We haven’t looked at The L Building since the summer of 2014 and now this project is almost complete. The second floor offices appear to have tenants moving in and the sidewalks are being paved this week.

The southwest corner of McDowell and Davie Street look very nice in my opinion. The building’s retail spaces add some great urban form to the sidewalks. With so much morning and afternoon pedestrian traffic between the parking deck behind the building, maybe we’ll get a coffee shop here.

Should be soon before we can consider this project completed.

There’s lots of momentum behind one of downtown Raleigh’s longest stalled projects and The L may finally break ground.

Above is the latest rendering of The L, not the final but pretty close, and it shows how it will wrap the Wake County parking deck at the corner of Davie and Cabarrus Streets. This mixed-use project will consist of 93 studio, 1, and 2 bedroom apartments and 8,000 square feet of office space above 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

Ground breaking is planned for this Fall with a project completion around Fall 2014.

Photo taken July 2011

I noticed this small update yesterday on the city’s development activity page. The people behind The L, the still yet-to-be built office tower on the corner of McDowell and Davie Street, are looking to change it to a residential building. This five-year-old project keeps getting extensions from the city. That’s a good thing as this project is the missing piece that goes next to the Wake County Parking Deck.

With new residential projects being built and office space more in the renovations category, this may be a good move to build on the commitments previously made, ride the hot rental market, and finally be done with this project.

The site plan shows a lot of retail space on the ground floor and lists 100 apartments for floors 2-6. That should adequately cover up the walls of the Wake County Parking Deck, now only covered by colorful banners.