In the drawing, the dotted line is the parking garage wall (labeled on the bottom, but hard to read). Also, the building is labeled “Building 1” which would separate it from the parking deck. Therefore, I believe the estimation from @bennettzug is accurate.
How many levels of underground parking does this building have or do you think?
726,000 sq ft of office space would make this the largest office building in the city. I think that does include the garage. UNC system is leasing about 50K sq ft in the Dillon I think. It was said to cost $400M right? The math is not mathing as they say.
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this is what Bing AI Image Generator told me this new Education building would look like in Raleigh.
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Is the education department going to be run by The Wizard of Oz?
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It will also house the Community Colleges System, Department of Public Instruction, and Department of Commerce. Should be at least 2 levels of underground parking. “Building 1” is outlined separately from the parking garage.
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Then, if it is 726,000 sq ft, this is the largest office building in the city of Raleigh by a long shot, and could be why it is under wraps and so secretive. The new DHHS building on Blue Ridge is 460,000 sq ft. for example. I guess is the 726,000 sq ft under roof or actual office space size? People do quote buildings under roof but include unheated/cooled areas like garages. But maybe the whole secrecy is because it is so large and open to taxpayers criticisms of wasteful spending on a huge edifice.
https://www.ls3p.com/portfolio/north-carolina-department-of-health-and-human-services/
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6 Fl south wing, 8 Fl along the north side of the block. 136’ height from level 1 to roof level but then another ~20’ for mech penthouse. But level 1 is about at Jones st elevation so will seem taller where the grade drops.
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this comes to ~342k sqft, that other figure must include parking, or be wrong, or something.
342k seems reasonable when you consider
UNC system is currently using 51k at the dillon
NCCCS is using ~78k across the street
and the DPI + Dept of Commerce + some other agencies seemingly share the “New Education Building which is ~321k
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Just one level of parking, underground from the south and west elevations. Like a walk-out basement.
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Now that sounds in line with what I was thinking in terms of square footage and heights. I saw some new state office buildings in Texas and they were not over 500K sq ft. I wish the state would not let its buildings go downhill so much with deferred maintenance. It is like buying a new house and never doing anything for 20 years and then complaining you can’t afford to make the repairs. NC is not the only state government who does this VA has some buildings in downtown Richmond they want to abandon. Of course the Federal government defers maintenance too.
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Yeah, right now at that height, it’s basically matching the height of the building it’s replacing (just going from memory, that building even at 5 stories wasn’t very tall)… so even 5-6 more stories (if we’re assuming max of 8 stories) will look pretty substantial. It’ll definitely add to the view coming in from the North, as the Municipal building certainly has now. Add the Highline to the right of that view, and the skyline looks a lot more dense from the northern entrance.
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Someone “in the know” is reading this thread laughing their ass off at the guesses we’re making. IF this is true, come out of the shadows Mr/Mrs lurker and GIVE US SOME INFO!
You can do it anonymously, just please, leak renderings!
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Not trying to steal your thunder, @GucciLittlePig — you’ve basically adopted this project at this point lol — but I noticed more steel popping up on the site today. Going to be fun watching this one take shape, especially since we’re all still flying blind on the renderings.
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Lol I do the work because no one else does. 
Please feel empowered to share updates too .
I actually often have this webcam on in the background on my personal desktop when I’m WFH on my laptop. I noticed they dropped off a bunch more beams Thursday but didn’t do anything yesterday with the rain, and assumed nothing to do since it’s the weekend. So I appreciate the update.
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For a little context, the UNC system office left the Spangler complex (80,000 sq ft) because it was too small, and moved into temporary leased space at the Dillon until a permanent solution was figured out. They’ve made it work, but only because many core staff are WFH or off-site. It’s definitely not ideal, and they haven’t had an adequate meeting space that can accommodate large groups (like the system-wide Faculty Assembly) since COVID. The current community college system office (direct across the street from the new construction) it is woefully inadequate and frankly embararssing . I don’t know what their specific space needs are but they’re currently operating out of Class C office space that’s just barely functuional. The community college system serves 600,000+ students and plays a big part in economic development through customized training initiatives. Higher ed is facing serious headwinds these days from both the federal government and the state legistature, but there are good people in both offices trying to do right by taxpayers despite considerable odds. They deserve a respectable space worthy of the service they provide.
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I gotta say, those are some HUGE floors. Like that seems almost above average floor-ceiling for even an office building. I could be off base, but driving by in person they seem extra tall.
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I’m pushing back on the negative vibes in this thread around this project provided this building is actually full of M-F in office workers. Downtown desperately needs more of them and my assumption is this will bring a lot. That’s a huge win
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The ground floor (the one above the underground parking) is much taller than the elevated floors, but I can’t read the dimensions on my screenshot. Maybe 24’ and then 16’ above.
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Even at 8-stories (if the rumor is true), with those floor-to-floor heights, it appears like it might end up being at least as tall as the SECU building 
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