I didn’t realize that this was the site of the Publix he and others killed. LOL!
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The GNR moved to remove height limits for buildings at 7-stories and higher but to not change the heights for 5-story and below.
I was hoping for some kind of talk about the shorter buildings for the downtown area as there are small lots that need 3-5 story buildings with more flexibility and no parking requirements to make it work. I’m thinking about these “missing teeth” along Hargett and other streets.
For now, I hope council approves this and GNR can revisit this at another time.
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Whoa! No height limit for 20-story buildings?! When does this go into effect? Chance for Nexus to go from 19-floor/250’ to 20-floor/300’?
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The development at Falls/Dunn is a huge improvement over the Publix rezoning. I live in a neighborhood next to this property.
A vast majority (think 80%+) opposed the Publix rezoning due to concerns related to the cut through traffic it would have created on neighborhood roads that were not capable of handing it.
That property now has a very nice senior living apartment community that just opened and the development mentioned above that is currently under construction.
I have not heard a single person oppose what’s on that property now. This includes everyone that opposed the Publix related rezoning. To a person, everyone that I have spoken to is excited we will be getting a Pub, Brixx Pizza, Bottle Shop, Butcher Shop, and coffee shop in the neighborhood.
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Still needs to be approved by council.
During the meeting above, Cox claims he is getting tons of feedback that what is being built is an “abomination.” 
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Reminds me of when the church on White Oak Church Rd in west Cary wanted to build a place for senior citizens across the street from the church and a lot of residents starting complaining about traffic and ruining their rural community so the church pulled the request and killed their plans because they wanted to be “good neighbors”. Well some years later the White Oak Elementary School was built on that very same site. I get a good laugh every time I drive buy the school because I think that a school has to be much worse than homes for senior citizens when it comes to traffic. This discussion reminds me of that situation. Eventually some people might end up wishing they got the Publix…
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Probably too late for these projects as they still have to go through months of back and forth before a text change is made to the UDO.
Plus I suspect the changes only apply ‘going-forward’ and developers will have to go through very pricey and lengthy reviews.
I don’t disagree with this recommendation. The floor to floor heights at 5 floors and below is adequate for a variety of uses, and these parcels are more likely to be among residential areas/transition areas. If in fact we are talking about the height of buildings to the roof, and not to the top of a parapet wall or crown, then I’m good.
With the change to the 7 and above, I’d suppose that we’ll start seeing parking podiums dealt with differently because they can now be offset to a tower of full commercial floors, instead of requiring the shorter parking levels to make up for taller commercial levels and maintain a total height under a height cap. This might result in better looking buildings where the full street experience is commercial/occupied space, while parking is partially behind it. To paint a picture, imagine if the Element Hotel grew beyond its height on top of itself and the parking garage behind it. It would appear as a more cohesive building compared to a building where the parking was sandwiched between an occupied first floor, separated by parking before the next occupied floor, several floors up.
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Very encouraging tho, especially since the GNR committee is made up of a bunch of members I’d expect to oppose this.
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Looks like this topic made it on the Sept 17 council meeting.
http://go.boarddocs.com/nc/raleigh/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BFXL7C530854
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City Council has approved the authorization for staff to draft a text change to remove height restrictions for buildings of 7 floors and above.
Next steps are to go through the draft review and approval process. This process might take months, fyi.
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Well of course it will. However, I would HOPE at this point, there’s nothing to stop this as it has already been discussed and voted on.
We’ve all been surprised before though.
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Seems like they would just delete the text that specifies height. Maybe ctrl-F. Am I being too logical for local government?
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Great news! Even without explicitly allowing more floors, this should allow builders to actually build the number of allowed floors.
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Yep. Let’s just look at this conservatively per below for a 20 story, all commercial, building.
First floor lobby is 2 feet above the sidewalk and has a higher ceiling height that results in 18 feet from the ground slab to 2nd story slab, for a total of 20 feet. there are then 18 floors at 15 feet slab to slab for another 270 feet. Then top that off with a penthouse floor that goes up a little higher, and also includes the built-up roof for another 21 feet. Then, add a modest crown feature of 60 feet that also visually shields the rooftop units. Add all of that together and you have a new 20 story building that rises 371 feet from the sidewalk.
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I’d like to see someone build a 40 story building with 30 foot vaulted ceilings on every floor.
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I see you’ve been inside Russ’s nightmares.
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Economics will put a cap on that idea! A developer is going to meet the market’s requirements but they are not going to exceed them because they have to actually sell what they build.
Using the same math as my previous 20 story example, a 40 story building could easily be 671 feet, and I’d be totally okay with that! With a taller crown like PNC has, a 40 story building could easily push 750 feet.
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Lol I mean I’m kidding (I know you knew that)…but who knows. Maybe they sell condos in that building for 10 million apiece. If you build it they will come. Or you’ll get laughed out of the bank
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