I love local blogs. Last week, the DLA blog talked about a new proposal on the table for West Apartments II and then the major media jumps on it. Nice.

We’ve talked about West Apartments before, about a year ago, with no new details since but now there are plans for more according to the city’s development website. Another project from local developer Gregg Sandreuter, West Apartments II plans for 177 units (1 and 2 bedroom) right along Harrington Street in a ~100 foot building.

The elevation has a bit of a dip on this section of Harrington so the building looks to be about four floors on the highest end of the lot and six on the lowest. The plans on the proposal show some open space for retail but not much, maybe 6,000-10,000 square feet.

An interesting detail that I noticed while looking at these plans is that there is a space on the ground floor labeled ‘Bike Shop.’ If I recall correctly, this is a result of the new Unified Development Ordinance and this may be a common amenity built into these new, denser developments. Below is a screenshot of it.

West Apartments II looks like phase 2 of the overall West Apartments project as the two buildings seem to integrate together. As more residents move in, perhaps we can bring back the name of the old Smoky Hollow neighborhood that once was this area.

The 400 block of North West Street.

The Raleigh Planning Commission’s agenda for today’s meeting contains some new details worth sharing on the blog. The West Apartments is up for approval and may one day bring about 150 apartments to West Street in Glenwood South. The building, being designed by the same JDavis Architects that brought us the West at North tower, will sit adjacent to the same building you see in the picture above. You can see from the site map that the new building will remove the sales office along Harrington Street and the rest of the surface parking in the surrounding lot.

Screenshot from Google Maps

There’s nothing too exciting in the agenda as the 85′ tower will consist of two levels of parking (one above and one below ground) and five floors of residential. No rendering is included. The tower isn’t taking out anything anyone might miss but is bringing some retail space with it. The new development therefore brings upgraded 14′ sidewalks to West and Harrington Street. While not a requirement, 10 bicycle spaces will be provided. Check the agenda for floorplans also.

Private development is moving closer and closer to the county’s land along Capital Boulevard and while it will probably take awhile, I’m still hoping for Tucker Street to extend to the east towards Capital one day. I hope to see the east side of Glenwood South become a grid again so the neighborhood has room to grow.