Sweet! Love the timber office design. Glad to hear some updated dates as well. Was wondering if kane would drop new info before the public forum next week. He’s doing building plans like Netflix series by dropping them in batches.
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Mass timber office building!
And a residential building—280 apartments and 14,000 ft2 of retail space:
DTS buildings expected to break ground in Q3 2022, open 2024.
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Any clues/guesses which are the first 2 buildings?
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Very excited for Raleigh’s first mass Timber building! Environmentaly friendly and just plain cool! 
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The article states they will be at the entry from S Saunders St. TBJ mentions three buildings but only goes into detail on 2, unless they were saying 3 overall between downtown south and park south. That mass timber bldg really kicks off DTS with some serious personality.
Edit: added detailed image for building location clarity. Maybe these??
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Kane was (apparently still is per my last conversation with my source) looking at Mass Timber for the 2nd phase of the The Platform/Cabarrus Project as well.
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Well the height of the office tower has significant decreased, sad case.
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eh, I don’t know if the heights in the original rendering really meant much in the first place.
These designs seem to confirm my hunch that the masterplan image was marketing fluff, and 10 Design is not continuing on to actually design the buildings for Downtown South, so looking at their portfolio is kind of meaningless. These two buildings are being done by Duda Paine and SK+I. Bit of a shame.
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Beginning to think DS isn’t gonna be the existential threat to Downtown that many had feared…
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Did we think that Downtown South was going to be a threat? I looked at it as more of a supporting node of activity off of a major thoroughfare that would add value to the fabric of the downtown core and would invigorate some, much needed, development for South Raleigh.
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One of the main concerns was this is in a designated Opportunity Zone, which gives tax breaks to investors for projects that, in theory, are supposed to benefit the poor people that live in the zone (OZs are chosen because of the % of poor living there). So part of the debate was whether this was truly meeting the intent of that program. The potential of a Community Benefits Agreement was raised as a way to ‘offset’ some of the displacement impacts (there have been naturally occurring affordable housing units torn down here, but not a ton compared to other parts of the city). But that hasn’t been done in Raleigh before, and usually those are between a third party non-profit that represents the area and the developer, and there isn’t (or wasn’t) a 3rd party community org that had a clear cut interest in the area. So community activists were looking to the city to negotiate with the developer on their behalf (an awkward spot for the city). I’m not sure where it went from there, maybe someone else here does. But the Opportunity Zone designation, and what it represented, was a big catalyst for the conversation.
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NOBODY is being displaced by Downtown South!! There are NO homes on this site!!
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Not on the site, but in the zone, yes.
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Yes, that’s part of the argument. The part of the OZ where this is going to happen probably shouldn’t (in theory) be part of the OZ to begin with. But it is because it extends further south. From all that I’ve been able to read about this project, it does not sound like Kane was interested in this part of town until it was designated as an OZ, but I don’t know that 100% sure. Either way he and his investors will be getting millions in tax breaks because of a program geared to help the low income people ‘nearby.’ It’s neither his fault or the low income folks fault that it was a large zone, but it does create this awkward situation…especially when he’s asking for additional public money (which is an additional conversation).
" Just on the other side of I-40 are neighborhoods that include modestly priced single-family homes and multi-family units. The census tract that encompasses both the stadium and these neighborhoods is nearly 60 percent minority. Its median family income is less than half that of the metro area; 28 percent of residents live below the poverty line. More than half of its housing units are rentals."
Edit: I thought someone above mentioned that the stadium was considered by some to be a threat, but I see they were referring to its relationship to core downtown, not the whole city. I’m actually ambivalent on this project, as a big soccer fan I’d like to see it succeed, but 1) for reasons others have articulated on this site, I’m still wary of the whole MLS ponzi model 2) I hope they’re able to work something out that helps provide some benefits for those across the beltline since the OZ will be giving millions to its investors 3) those that have called the process playing out as “extortion” above give me pause that support for the project goes beyond mere navel-gazing, for reasons already highlighted.
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… maybe I’m confused but this is honestly how Opportunity Zones are designed to work. The states designate census tracts below median income in which they want to prioritize investment, the IRS cuts a break on those projects, and more investment theoretically comes to those areas. The State of North Carolina designated those tracts and I can assure you not an inch of ground was “accidentally” included.
That of course is a silly trickle-down-economics voodoo system designed to shovel money into plutocrats’ pockets. You might wonder why Uncle Sam doesn’t just invest that money directly. Well, this was part of the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs and Ponies and Candy Act - you know, the one that disproportionately benefited big businesses and wealthy individuals, expanded the deficit, and failed to generate appreciable investment or spending.
Personally I think gentrification is a very interesting and complicated issue that needs to balance a lot of different interests. But if the argument is that a gentrifying apartment building doesn’t meet the intent of the OZ, we’ll, that was the intent
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I agree that it was a very weak and poorly designed program to do what it says it was intended to do, what they told voters it was going to do. Nevertheless, that doesn’t make the impacts disappear, nor excuse our own responsibility as a city to review these impacts. And you’re right, I wasn’t saying the OZ should have been cut up, but more acknowledging that it’s an odd urban census tract.
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This area (Penmarc Dr to the Bain Waterworks) has sorely needed someone to DO SOMETHING with it for years and it would appear from the far far edges of the peanut gallery that the OZ did in fact spur interest in this development moving forward. I’m of the mind that if you want to avoid ‘complex’ development, you probably don’t wade into an OZ but rather, you considered the complexity and all that comes along with it. So, maybe lucky for us that Kane has some experience in navigating through some complexity to achieve desired developments and maybe, through significant conversations the end result sparks the rest of the OZ to benefit of many.
The pratfalls and challenges of the increased visibility of the region’s promise will intensify the decisions to be made as the city continues to level up and I honestly think this corridor is one to keep a very close eye on as we factor where investment in ‘Liveable Raleigh’ (the place, not the shout at the clouds types) should be made.
If this image is to be believed then why all the extra work and cost to have it up-zoned to 40 floors? 
Maybe their intention is to sale like all the other developers? Sad, because this rendering doesn’t even look as good or as developed as Mid-Town much less North Hills 
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So what does that have to do with shaking down the DT South developers? Because everyone around is getting displaced (by market dynamics…from unrelated developers)….why should Malik & Kane have to be punished for something that started years ago?
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