Mad as I still am about losing the 100 year old Berkeley building, it’s exciting we’ll no longer just have the “Big 3” defining the skyline
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Agreed. This building needs to blow my socks off so I’m not AS pissed about that building torn down.
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I’m anticipating my socks remaining securely on my feet, but hey at least it’ll be tall 
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Hopefully the “Legends” apartment tower will start to move forward as well, the skyline will shift to the west quite a bit if the “new big 3” all go up.
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It’s already shifting west with Union West and east civic tower under construction. This adds to what is very much already happening, not something we have to hope for.
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FYI, SPR is infrastructure plans not building permits. storm/sewer/road improvements etc. Building permits are BLDNR. They can submit for building permits and get comments but won’t be approved/issued until SPR approved. IMHO, rate cut will jump start some projects.
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Former News & Observer Site - Nexus Office Tower
Thanks. I think that’s bad for the short term but maybe a positive long-term. I always felt those plans were a little underwhelming giving the location and potential. Maybe something even bigger and better will come of it.
Not meaning to derail the Nash convo. Carry on…
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Driving by recently and noticed paint going up on the old Berkeley building…Couldn’t grab a pic.
Anybody got any news ? Short term (sunflower next to a gravel lot) mural, perhaps…?
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It’s not seafoam! (Extra characters)
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this is … somewhat encouraging!!
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I assume you mean encouraging for a change in plans? The previous plans had this building demo’d so fixing it up would seem like the tower project is more significantly delayed?
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I would be fine with this project getting significantly delayed if it meant they adjust the plans to now not demolish a perfectly fine 100 year old building. We can wait a few more years if it means not knocking out 100 years of history IMO
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I also don’t want another repeat of the PERFECTLY FINE 100 year old Goodnight’s building fiasco. I will never not be angry about that shit.
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While I think this is a charming old building, it is sitting in the middle of DTR beside a lot of (recently) vacant lots. I know the economy isn’t the best at the moment, but I’d really prefer to see movement and vertical construction than more vacant land and an empty building sitting in the middle of town. 
If there were an economical way and available parcel to move the old building to, that would be awesome, but more underutilized land in middle of a rapidly growing city isn’t the image we should be projecting. And having 20 to 30 stories of residential (34 would be great, but let’s be real, this is Raleigh after all, it WILL be downsized) injected into downtown would add to the the critical mass needed for more businesses and potential amenities (@John 's movie theater perhaps??).
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I think the sweet spot would be for the design team and developer to reconfigure the parking deck layout so they don’t need this 25-ft width. That’s really the only reason it would be torn down. There’s got to be a way to build a tower without this extra little sliver. Tower + old building saved. Win win.
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My real problem with these teardowns is that we seem to no longer be willing (or able?) to build in a way that results in a granular urban fabric. If we were building two buildings like the Berkley (small, human-scale, pedestrian-focused build) for every one that was knocked down, I think people wouldn’t stress so much about it being torn down. As it stands, every time we lose one of these it’s gone forever, and we often replace that with this
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“Modern” Design and Safety requirements coupled with car-dependency have led us to this point of having big block-sized buildings.
It’s a shame and that’s why we need single stair developments to be legal to build. Many people would love to live in tall brownstone developments, but they’re nearly impossible/expensive for developers to build. So we get boxy and cheap looking buildings instead, with grey colored siding that fades after +/- 5 years.
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…and THIS^ is exactly what would become of the current Berkley building - literally a giant parking garage entrance. NO THANKS. Put that BS on Dawson, keep the Berkely building, and add even more ground floor retail along Martin St facing the park. DUH.
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