Capital Square - 320 W. South Street

I seriously don’t understand any decisions not to put more/any ground floor retail. It’s as if the developers who build around here don’t anticipate there being tons more foot traffic as the very apartments they are building fill up…

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I could see a casual bottle shop bar here would be successful.

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I’m thinking some kind of business that’s more interested in the branding/exposure than foot traffic. At least that’s what should probably go there.

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Maybe a good place for a branding sign like this but the road noise would be tremendous and there’s not much nearby so I’m sure this location is not ideal for many retail formats.

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I can vouch for the noise as you’ll get a decent amount of police (police station a block away), fire trucks (fire department 3 blocks away) and train horn, though once the Cabarrus St is closed off that won’t be a factor.

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A little off topic but how in the world has Raleigh not applied for a “quiet zone” designation yet for the train horns? I think pretty much every municipality has adopted that now in metro Atlanta. Trains can only blow their horn in emergency within city limits provided all crossings are active (have bells lights and gates)

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Great question! I think some of the crossings would need to be upgraded for a blanket quiet zone though I’d defer to some of the much more well educated rail members on here.
@orulz or others?

9300 sf of retail seems very large. but yea not very pedestrian friendly experience there.

might have similar retail struggles to the L building along McDowell?

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I’m traveling and only skimming. Are these apartments or condos?

It ain’t absolutely perfect in every way, but at roughly 250 units per acre, this is a tremendous step in the right direction for Raleigh. I’ll take it.

Hopefully RHA gets the memo, and bumps up the density for their Heritage Park redevelopment, which is right across the street, to match.

Heritage Park is 12 acres; similar density would yield 3000 units there.

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Hope those exterior walls/glass are thick enough to absorb the decibel beating they’re going to take from Red Hat. Or, the tenants just like free balcony concerts!

Kidding aside, this is an exciting development that will stretch downtown’s walkability and skyline to the south.

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This is actually something that has been tried before but never really went anywhere.

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Probably apartments I believe but these site plans never reveal anything. I’m assuming here as a 200+ condo tower would be incredible compared to what has been delivered in the past 5-10 years.

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If condos, this would essentially be the 2022 version of The West condos almost to a tee. Instead, it’s almost SkyHouse but with an integrated parking deck.

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Quick sketch of how this building might appear in the skyline:

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This is another project I am involved with. 20 floors of apartments. Bottom floor is retail. Still a massing model at this point

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Hell yeah!!! Feedback is listed above: more emphasis on walkable retail facing South and Lenoir street!

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I really hope not, the barbecue place close by that lot is doing just fine and it’s by itself retail wise.

Ground floor retail demand is very easy to over-estimate. There’s about 25 sq ft of retail space per person in America; even if all the residents upstairs do all of their shopping without leaving the building (or going online!) that’s only 7,400 sq ft of new retail demanded.

Re: rental vs. owner, this building will definitely be apartments. Its developer is organized as an Opportunity Zone fund, which pretty much requires a 10-year hold. But if you’re itching to plunk a large amount of cash into DT Raleigh real estate, perhaps because you are sitting on stock options (or similar appreciated assets) with a large built-in gain, this particular project’s developer makes it easier than most to contribute. (No details yet on their website, but it should eventually be listed there.)

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TBJ Article on the site.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2021/06/03/virginia-plots-20-story-tower-in-downtown-raleigh.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=me&utm_content=ra&ana=e_ra_me&j=24041041&senddate=2021-06-03

Will be officially called 320 W. South St. Will have 295 units. Also hints that Salisbury Square is moving forward with four total buildings and that a company is assembling parcels at 301 W. Carrabus St for a residential development.

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