The ‘shakedown’ I’m hearing about is more than affordable housing concessions but what borders political graft…things like “give my cousin who has no knowledge of construction or applicable skills of any kind a job” sort of stuff. Very shady. coming from a couple council people with City and maybe county.
Thanks for the context. Sounds shady indeed…
If that is indeed happening it would be illegal and should be reported if you know anything concrete.
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Not really? The OZ program was slipped into federal law and honestly surprised many local government officials. (Here’s what one DC councilmember wrote about it at the time.) States were required to participate by a certain date, at which point the gates were open. Again, speaking as a developer, I’d love it if there was a place that had a really well put together strategy around OZs, because that would make my job so very much easier. But… there isn’t!
This site is on the FLUM as having downtown densities, as are lots of smaller sites to its north in Caraleigh. I don’t see why this parcel should sign a CBA, while smaller projects in Caraleigh (much less sprawl subdivisions) shouldn’t.
And just to underline: the OZ tax break is (a) conditioned on the project making money, which is no guarantee, and (b) conditioned on creating job/housing opportunities in a part of town which has seen investment flow away from it for decades. The project does have substantial public benefits; new buildings containing new economic activity are going to be built here, rather than in North Hills or Pittsboro or some other sprawlsville. That’s a substantial benefit in and of itself.
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Hahahahahahha, like this is some surprise.
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Reminder of the public hearing for this project in 2 days. I’m not sure I’ll be able to join but hoping some others here can.
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My excitement for this project has dropped from 60% to 5% 
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I’m kind of in the same boat here. The initial shock and awe of this project with the renderings was very cool and exciting. We have a lot of very cool projects IN downtown that I’m more focused and excited about. I still think DoSo is good for Raleigh and I’m rooting for it’s success, but DoSo for me not much different than North Hills in regards to how much I’ll probably visit and consume it’s amenities.
That said, GO DOSO!!! 
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I thought you were going to be a founding member when we get our MLS team! Haha that’ll bring you downtown south at least 17 times a year.
But no seriously I’m still extremely excited about this. I know the concept said one thing but did we really expect the first two buildings to be huge? I think once these get in and running we’ll see some great stuff. I’m sure 20 years ago people thought NH would never be half of what it is now.
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That definitely changes my interest and yes, I’d LOVE to have a pro team that close!
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Agreed with your sentiment Dylan. Although considering it’s a couple miles closer to DTR than North Hills, I think it will be more complementary to DTR than NH is. Personally being on the South Side, I look forward to riding the greenway that connects to both DoSo and DTR.
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Agreed. This feels like it could actually help expand DTR itself, while North Hills feels like a Buckhead-style sealed-off satellite city.
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Once we get more stuff at 440 by wake forest and down Atlantic hopefully we’re looking at a Peachtree st type corridor!
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Even though it’s just an office building, the mass timber building will look way better than the open field that currently occupies that area 
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Right, this is the thing we all need to keep in mind for these redevelopment projects.
The other day, RALtoday posted on Instagram about the redevelopment of Midtown East using the two photos below. First comment I saw on there was speculation about how “none of those apartments are going to be affordable.” Which, yes, we should strive to include affordable housing in projects when possible, but any housing is better than the wasteland of parking and warehouses that currently exists there.
Same goes for Downtown South. If it’s good land use and increases the concentration of housing or jobs near downtown, it’s a win. It doesn’t have to blow our minds; it just has to be practical and beneficial.
Edit: forgot to include the photos in question.
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Walnut Creek Brews and BBQ wouldn’t be a bad thing, I suppose 
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Would love for DoSo to be filled with murals like this rendering.
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Would assume the lot is a placeholder basically like we see at NH
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