Developers have a long list of projects for downtown Raleigh. Here are the details
The downtown core of the Oak City is growing and its skyline will look different in the years to come.
Local and out-of-state developers are building and planning the developments where people will live, work, eat and shop in the downtown Raleigh of the future.
There have been $4.9 billion in developments completed and proposed in this part of the city since 2015, according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.
That includes 1,006 residential units and $652.8 million of developments under construction as of September, according to the DRA. That also includes 1.6 billion square feet of planned or proposed downtown Raleigh office space as of the third quarter of 2021, the DRA reported.
Here’s a list of planned real estate developments that will pop up as apartment buildings, high-rises and more:
400H tower
One of the latest high-rises to be announced is a 20-story tower at 400 Hillsborough Street near the western entrance to downtown. The mixed-use 400H tower stems from a partnership between local developer HM Partners and out-of-town firms TrammellCrowCompany and High Street Residential.
Preliminary work began this summer for the $175 million 400H tower, which will have apartments, office space and retail, along with a parking deck building. The tower will feature 242 units across 11 apartment floors, 150,000 square feet of office space across five floors, a floor with amenities and 16,000 square feet of ground-level retail.
Completion is projected for the fall of 2023.
865 Morgan
Local developer HM Partners is also behind a new housing development just off Hillsborough Street near the N.C. State University campus. The proposed development on 865 W. Morgan Street would have 401 apartment units of one to two bedrooms, two courtyard areas and around 9,000 square feet of retail space on site, just across from the Irregardless restaurant.
This development will be replacing the current home of the Goodnights Comedy Club, which will relocate when site work and development plans are approved, The News & Observer previously reported.
The 865 Morgan project will be built within the area’s permitted zoning that allows building up to seven stories and is slated to be around 439,000 square feet when completed. The Goodnights building and a machinery supply business on the property, representing about 28,000 square feet, will be torn down.
Bloomsbury apartment building
A seven-story apartment building with retail space is in the works at 121 and 131 S. Boylan Avenue near the Bloc[83] office tower complex on Hillsborough Street, near Glenwood South.
Raleigh-based firm Neari Coleman Associates filed preliminary plans for the project in October. The firm plans to break ground in spring 2022 and no rezoning was needed for the project, according to the Triangle Business Journal.
The mixed-use Bloomsbury building will have 72 one-bedroom units, 25 two-bedroom units and 38 studio apartments, including two levels of structured parking across a total of 183,490 square feet.
Third Bloc[83] tower
Developers are planning to add an 18-story high rise for the final phase of the Bloc[83] office and retail tower complex in the Glenwood South neighborhood. It will be the third tower to accompany the project’s current two 10-story towers at the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Hillsborough Street.
The first tower, titled One Glenwood, was completed in 2018 and includes the only WeWork location in Raleigh as a tenant. Its sister building, titled Tower Two, was completed this year.
Earlier this year, Raleigh City Council approved a rezoning request for developer Heritage Properties to build up to 18 stories of office space, structured parking and retail at 615 W. Morgan Street, next door to the Origin Hotel. The rezoning request allows building higher than the previously allowed seven stories.
Plans filed with the city include a request of up to 277 residential units, 221,000 square feet of office space and 21,000 square feet of retail, but formal development plans have not been filed yet.
Raleigh East Civic Campus
Plans for the first phase of the city’s new civic campus downtown are underway.
Its first development will be the East Civic Tower, a $190 million, 20-story building that will serve as a new City Hall and administrative office complex more modern and welcoming than the current municipal buildings. Like the entire three-building campus built out in the next two to three decades, the tower will be located across from Nash Square park and be constructed to be linked to the park.
The first tower will be built where a vacant police headquarters now stands at 110 S. McDowell Street, which will be demolished.
The new building is slated to have roughly 420,000 square feet of space and house offices for over 1,000 city employees in the future, including conference space, council chambers and below-grade parking, The N&O reported previously.
It is currently in the design phase and is slated to break ground after construction approval in late 2022 or 2023 with completion in 2025, according to the city’s plans.
615 Peace condos
Doors will open this winter for the newest condo housing in downtown at 615 W. Peace Street near the rapidly growing Glenwood Avenue nightlife and restaurant district.
The 32,700-square foot 615 Peace condos are from Lock7, a Washington, D.C., developer new to building housing in the Triangle that bought the property in 2019.
The four-story building with 24 one- and two-bedroom units under construction is at the undeveloped corner of Peace Street and Boylan Avenue near existing housing and businesses. It will also include 2,170 square feet of street-level retail space.
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Raleigh Union Station Bus (RUS Bus)
Raleigh-based developer Hoffman & Associates in partnership with GoTriangle is breaking ground next year on construction of the new addition to the Raleigh Union Station titled RUS Bus — a new bus transit facility paired with new high-rise buildings.
Its addition to the Raleigh skyline are towers as high as 20 stories facing each other atop a parking deck with street-level retail space in the Warehouse District.
The $200 million project at 200 West Street will include new regional and local bus platforms, a pedestrian bridge connected to Raleigh Union Station, infrastructure for Bus Rapid Transit as well as walkable and bike-friendly spaces connected with downtown streets.
The project will include two towers with approximately 350 apartments with 10% of the units with rents within 80% of the area median income. The towers will also include 550 parking spaces and 200 rooms for a future hotel.
Formal construction plans were submitted to the city in August, developers previously announced.
Salisbury Square multi-tower development
Site work is in progress for Salisbury Square, a massive $300 million high-rise and mid-rise project with housing, hotel, retail, office and parking space scheduled to have its first phase complete in 2023.
Plans for the first phase include hotel space, a residential tower and mid-rise building, including a parking structure. It will have 150 hotel rooms and 333 residential units, including 63 workforce housing units with below-market rent rates.
The second phase calls for a second high-rise tower with 242 multifamily units and 175,000 square feet of office and retail space, according to JDavis Architects, which is working on the project.
Plans call for the creation of the NCAE park for the N.C. Association of Educators between the structures as part of the development agreement through Dominion Realty Partners previously buying the land from the NCAE.
Seaboard Station
Construction started late last year on the major $300 million redevelopment of Seaboard Station, which currently houses restaurants and retail.
The former shopping center on West Peace Street near downtown Raleigh includes several restaurants and the popular Logan’s garden shop. The D.C.-based Hoffman & Associates firm — who is also developing the RUS Bus project — is behind the project.
Its first phase is slated to be finished in mid-2022 and feature 300 apartments with 30,000 square feet of retail, built on the corner of Seaboard and Halifax streets.
Plans were filed earlier this year for its second phase, which are pitching a seven-story building with 220 apartments built over retail space across a total of 526,728 square feet, the Triangle Business Journal first reported.
The redeveloped Seaboard Station on 2.3 acres will have more than 130,000 square feet of retail and up to 650 new apartment units across mid-rise buildings with communal spaces and plazas, renderings show.
When the new project’s three total phases are complete, there will be a hotel, additional housing and street-level retail.
The Creamery towers
The City of Raleigh is currently reviewing a developer’s plans for what will become one of the tallest buildings in Raleigh.
Those plans call for 32-story and 20-story towers with housing, office and retail on the redeveloped site of the historic Creamery building on the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Tucker Street.
The towers will include 200 one-bedroom and 61 two-bedroom units and include a 10-level parking garage, with space included for restaurants, retail and bars, plans show.
The Creamery building at 400 and 410 Glenwood Avenue sits on 2.4 acres and currently houses Sullivan’s Steakhouse, Milk Bar and Pine State Public House in addition to other businesses and office space.
When complete, the 32-story tower will be among the tallest in the city, joined only by the 32-story PNC Plaza tower, the 431-foot BB&T tower and the upcoming 35-story Walter tower in North Hills.
West South Street apartments
Virginia-based developer and investment firm Capital Square 1031 for a new 20-story luxury residential and commercial high-rise building with an attached parking deck.
The mixed-use development with structured parking will be located at 320 West South Street the southern part of downtown.
The firm proposes building 351,394 square feet of space, which include 297 multifamily housing units of between one and three bedrooms, plans show. It will include about 8,000 square feet of retail space.
Designs for the apartments include a rooftop deck on the 20th floor and a pool area on top of the parking deck. The project is expected to cost $121 million and $48.451 million of that to be provided by Opportunity Zone funds, the Triangle Business Journal reported.
The site is on over an acre of land in downtown near the Red Hat Amphitheater.
Rezonings for future high-rises
The Raleigh City Council approved various rezoning requests this year from property owners and developers seeking permission to build dense residential and commercial buildings in downtown.
The parking lot behind Marbles Kids Museum was rezoned to allow an up-to 30 story building on Morgan Street. That development could hold 530 apartments or condos, 150,000 square feet of office space and 16,000 square feet of retail. The owner of the property is considering including hotel space in it, The N&O previously reported. A hotel would still be allowed on the property under the rezoning.
The City Council also approved requests for two properties that allow potentially building up to 40-story buildings in the Warehouse District: one site is the corner housing the LGBTQ+ nightclub Legends, and the other is on the corner currently housing parking and one-story commercial buildings. The Legends site was purchased in late 2020 for $4.3 million by Raleigh real estate firm CityPlat and was originally zoned for up to 12 stories.
The rezoning allows up to 416 residential units and nearly 500,000 square feet of building space, including nearly 250,000 square feet of office space, The N&O reported.
The height now allowed on the second property also goes from 12 stories to 40 stories. The new zoning allows 700 residential units, and more than 800,000 square feet of building space with nearly 440,000 square feet of office space. Real estate firm Highwoods Properties has purchased the parcels and a nearby parking garage. Details about what’s planned for the two towers haven’t yet been released.
Rezoning for 40 stories was approved last September on a 1.5-acre parcel located at 506 Capital Blvd. The building could have up to 1,466 residential units and 1.7 million square feet of building space. It is near the intersection of Peace Street and Capital, it sits directly across from Kane Realty’s Smoky Hollow development.
More details have not been released by Zimmer Development Corp., the North Carolina firm behind the request. Developers previously said they may build multifamily housing with office space or a hotel alternatively, depending on tentative plans. The current land is vacant after the previous buildings were demolished for construction on Capital Boulevard, The N&O reported.
A list of major upcoming developments in the Triangle as a whole can be found at this link.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Developers have a long list of projects for downtown Raleigh. Here are the details."
