Yes, sounds nice but typically all of that work should be done first so you aren’t damaging your brand new roof system. Would be amazing - just have to see it to believe it for it to happen here.
Buuuuuuut hold on… they do seem to have removed/ relocated tons of the rooftop equipment to seemingly open up the space…
Before:
Could be they are just replacing the equipment as part of the upfit? Could have been in disrepair or close enough to EOL to just chuck it. Hopefully not though. The more actually useful rooftop/outdoor spaces the better imo
not sure if similarly applicable…WTC in Baltimore had 360 views all inside…also with an elevator and admission fee.
I’m guessing the reduction of equipment is to allow for the new membrane then we’ll see it re-installed (as @Mitch suggested).
Looking to be a typical boring roof. (Vapor barrier membrane and to be followed by insulation and surface membrane). If it was going to be a terrace they would’ve likely done an ‘inverted’ system with the waterproofing membrane applied directly to the deck.
Well dang, you just burst my bubble. I was looking forward to something way nice on that roof. Like a (revolving lol) bar thingie.
I’m gonna kindly ask that everyone on here severely temper your expectations for this project lmao 
My pessimistic but realistic expectations are that they will do bare minimum on the exterior (only necessary functional improvements, zero to few aesthetic enhancements) while the vast majority of changes are to the interior, unseen from the street. Lipstick on a pig, basically.
That’s insane!
…
oh ye of little faith and hope. I bet you didn’t get much under the tree from Santa Clause either. I digress. LOL>
Crazy insane, got no brain.
Had an insane idea recently for what to do about the gravel lot next to this thing.
Move the Char-Grill there. They’d fit well next to each other. The Char-Grill (which I think has more historic value), could be protected as well. Then a block still gets freed up for something big.
not much new in this article but this new Hotel Indigo will join others around the world as a round building. https://raleighmag.com/2025/07/round-hotel-indigo/
Yeah one of those buildings isn’t even a hotel. The Boston Hotel Indigo closest to the State Street tower is a few blocks away and directly across from TD Garden.
had to walk by here on my self guided walking tour of downtown. Love to see it being saved now lets build a high rise next door on the vacant lot. Bonus shot of Second Empire love that building.
My potential hot take is that saving this frankly ugly and outdated hotel building WILL come at the cost of the vacant lot next to it either A: never being developed beyond surface parking, or B: being developed with a mid-rise (like 3 story) nothing-special building. Best case scenario is that B happens and we get 1-2 ground floor retail spaces to activate the sidewalk, but I just don’t see a “high” rise being built on such a small footprint that once was home to a gas station (the ground pollution that would need to be dug up just to develop this plot makes me think option A is the most likely - a developer would for sure be much more likely to pony up the cash it would take to make that small section viable if they could then develop the entire plot including the space that houses the hair-curler).
Sadly, I have to agree with you. Too small and too much mitigation to make much of anything worth while, unless we get to Austin like land prices.
Well… not exactly. I work in environmental remediation. There are ways to redevelop the land and mitigate risks to future tenants with out “full cleanup”. Unless you are talking about the fringes of any urban area (greenfields) there are always environmental issues. ESPECIALLY in urban cores. As an offhand example, the Hue and several of the State office buildings are built on historic gas stations and former drycleaners. Smoky Hollow Site 3 is another former drycleaner site. (Full disclosure I primarily work with the DEQ drycleaning program as a contractor. 
)
Point is, I really wish folks would stop with the “MASSIVE CONTAMINATION” and “Expensive Environmental Cleanup” talk. Yes it costs money, but there are much less complicated ways to address these env. issues via engineering and land use controls.
