Checking in on West South Street

South Street seems to come in waves here on the blog. This time around, we have a few items to mention as the Western portion of the street has new activity worth mentioning.

First, plans have popped up on the city’s website for a new apartment development. Named 320 West South, 296 apartments are planned for the corner of Dawson and South in a 20-story tower. The new development would be situated right next to the storage building.

The plans show mostly one-bedroom units and ground-floor retail space facing Dawson. Parking entrances would be along Dawson and Lenoir with a bike room on Lenoir. I love that these bike rooms seem to be standard at this point.

The plans also mention 396 parking spaces which comes out to almost 1 per bedroom. (201 1br, 92 2br, 3 3br) One space per bedroom might be the level that the market dictates in Raleigh I feel.

Going west down South Street, there are two renovations worth mentioning.

The old First National Bank is being converted into a craft beer shop and bar appropriately called Vault Craft Beer. The small building holds a little historic significance as Vault’s website states:

Settled between The Raleigh Convention Center and historic Boylan Heights resides a historical building constructed in the late 50’s. Designed by locally famous architect Fred Carter Williams, 518 W. South St was once one of the first ‘drive-thru’ banks in the area and home to First National Bank. The building served the community with streamlined banking for 25 years and our goal is to continue that service to the community with ten of the eighteen taps dedicated to the great beers of North Carolina, all while staying true to the original mid-modern century architecture.

Vault Craft Beer

Last I heard, they were aiming to open this Fall.

Over by Boulted Bread, another renovation is taking place. The future Hartwell building is being upfitted to host a variety of community uses. Plans for the space seems to be fluid and will have a retail section for local makers and artists. The gathering spaces can be rented out and there will be ongoing pop-up events inside and outside.

They have partnered with the Raleigh Night Market if that gives you a sense of items they will feature. Make sure to follow them on Instagram and sign up for their newsletter.

Last, I can’t help but mention The Lynde condos across the street. This development has changed hands and stalled for years and, no surprise, continues to sit empty. No update on this but it’ll definitely be a Pic of the Week once, if, this project ever gets going.

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.

New Site Plans Show 42 New Residential Units for South Street

Looking East on West South Street.

Looking East on West South Street, October 2016

That momentum thing? West South Street seems to have it.

We’ve taken a look at the area before and now new site plans at the city show 42 residential units for a fairly large, combined parcel at the corner of Saunders and South Street.

Lambert Development South Street LLC will clear out most of the properties from Saunders to Florence Street and bring two new residential buildings. At 3-stories in height and a combination of surface and covered parking (covered by the units) it looks like townhomes and/or apartments are planned.

Site Plan Map of 611 West South

Click for larger

Site Plan Map of 611 West South

Click for larger

Simply called 611 West South for now, the plan will take out the Ice Market and Grill building, some empty lots, older homes, and auto-oriented business buildings on that side of South Street.

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

West South Street, October 2016

This area of South is a hugely neighborhood retail area so the lower-scale apartment/townhome combination (or whatever it ends up being) seems like a good transition out of the Boylan Heights neighborhood heading towards downtown Raleigh.

I enjoy seeing units brought up to the sidewalk as well. With 42 units and 78 parking spaces provided, it isn’t the most urban of setups. However, some residents might prefer a quick trip down Saunders and to I-40 for commuting by car.

As the two-way conversion of South Street continues, more residents may find that the 600 block of West South becomes closer to destinations that it was in the past.