I wonder if anyone is ever going to try to acquire the air rights for the railroad just to the west of this… Seems like the new bridges on Hillsboro and Morgan St right there make it a prime candidate
Funfact:This project was held up by the tiniest lot that finally got added to the mix in 2019
12/21/21 updates: more greens, dark gray on the Hillsborough St side.
more greens, blue, and gray variation on the railroad side
West & Morgan sides look unchanged.
Still ugly, still short sighted as hell in one of the fastest growing cities in the country. DUMB.
Kinda funny to think about… if you flipped the locations for two Cline projects: Madison/603 Glenwood and 501 Hillsborough they both probably fit in better at the other location.
I thought this was supposed to be 8 floors?
1 level of parking is below grade.
It’s ugly, but dropping that many residents into that part of downtown is fantastic.
It’s sad that they are ripping out the charm of the storefronts that face Hillsborough. Adding residents is the only positive of this project in my opinion.
Agree and disagree. I like adding height in other places downtown to widen the skyline.
It would have been really nice to see them even just save the facade and maybe build new retail spots into the same space. I’m sure something creative and tasteful could have been done. Just no financial ju$tification to do $o.
$ee what I did there?
That would have been nice, but no.
I’ve always liked walking that block of Hillsborough, and it’s been sad to watch it deteriorate over the last decade. So much potential lost, not to mention the tree canopy that may also be gone.
General question: if, hypothetically, they have to pull up those mature oaks to build the building - are they required to replace them with the same kind of new trees? I know NYC has all kinds of regulations about maintaining tree cover and types of trees on streets.
Luckily that is one good thing the appearance committee actually does. I believe each new development downtown must include a certain sized sidewalk, smaller square concrete dividers and trees planters every certain amount of feet.
There are specific tree species that can be planted. It’s up to the developer to propose to the appearance committee (as @Drew mentioned).
eh. I don’t really think a facadectomy would have come out very well here.
Single story facadectomies are iffy. Here’s one in Asheville that I kind of consider the minimum bar for a “successful” facadectomy where the preservation adds something to the project. (The apartments above are an affordable housing development)
This one, in Raleigh on West Martin in the Warehouse District, where a two-story facadectomy is planned? Yeah, definitely worth it. This will look fantastic.
This one on Hillsborough, though? I mean, maybe. The center building, sure, but the two flanking buildings? Not really seeing it. And if you’re only preserving the center building, then why bother? That’d be pretty hard to integrate in a coherent way.
Unlike Goodnight’s (which I’m pissed about), I’m highly ambivalent about this one.
Agreed. The general texture of a bunch of smaller-footprint shops is great, some of the door/window treatments are charming, and the 1.5-story one has some nice facade detailing that’s rare for Raleigh, but it’s hard to say any of that would carry through or be worth the investment if they did a “facadectomy” as you say.
Basically for any project that would bring the needed density, it would never pencil out.
Yea I think the bigger missed opportunity is not maxing out the zoning by going to 12 floors.
It just seems like such a desirable location to live downtown, on the crest between the two most happening areas downtown. I am mildly surprised the developers aren’t monetizing the heck out of this location. Or maybe the money doesn’t add up! lol
That’s exactly what I mean by “short sighted” - while most other lots in the main downtown core are being upzoned and building to maximize zoning, this one is just doing the laziest, quick-cash-grab development possible. It’s unbelievable, honestly. In 10 years when they realize they could’ve rented out two, three, five times as many apartments as they chose to build, they’ll … idk, probably build another matchbox 5-story mega-block 
How dare you call this a matchbox 5-story mega-block!
…this is a matchbox 6-7-story mega-block.
