Ugh once upon a time this was slated for redevelopment….
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Some day perhaps we will be rid of this stale birthday cake of a building, but it’s the parking lot I hate much more.
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I thought Hatem/Empire Properties bought/owns it and already plans to build the 6-story apartment building, no???
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Their FB post from Jan 20th said so at least:
We’re working on a development plan that will include a 6-story, mixed-use building on the non-historic Wilmington Street sites
Either they always intended to sell the site with an approved plan as “shovel-ready”, which they never indicated… or they changed their minds. I wonder if they found something during teardown that made them reconsider.
Both could be true. They may be working on the zoning entitlement process but also seeking an owner/developer that could then utilize those rights.
Building is a pretty major investment that would tie up development capital that might best be utilized elsewhere.
Also the new owner would not have to take any risks or wait for that entitlement process to run its course. Could go straight to bank money instead of what is usually off-the-hip front end expenses.
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What I’m gathering from this discussion: “Enjoy the empty, rundown storefront and empty, useless building next door for the next 10 years! At minimum!” 
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Who owns this lot currently?
Just did some digging, this is where a Marriott was proposed back in 2017. Maybe the convention center momentum will get this moving? Who knows
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That ugly-ass, short, boxy prison looking Marriott proposal was one of the most abysmal proposals for such a prime lot I’ve ever seen in Raleigh. So glad it never happened.
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This lot is zoned for 40 stories right?
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Well I would assume that proposal is dead either way but I’ll take anything over a shit parking at a certain point.
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iMaps says DX-20-SH
The property to the north is 40
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A shit parking lot can (and will) be developed with taller, mixed-use development in the future when less of these prime lots are available.
An abysmally ugly, prison-like cheapo hotel will be there for 40-50 years, minimum. Let’s be real.
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That’s really the conundrum, isn’t it? We want the city to grow, but we also don’t want to see it grow with crap development. Somewhere in my mind there’s a graph that shows how long I’m willing to wait to get a good project vs getting a terrible one sooner that will sit there for the rest of my life.
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I’d like if the hotel project still happened here. Bring on anything other than more surface parking lots.
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You have to build something on many of these prime lots first…before less of them are available
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owned by a LLC. RALDT with Raleigh address
I always wondered why the anti-closing-south-street folks never suggested the city do a land swap for the vacant lots and enterprise lot on this block. The rest of the block is parking decks that could come down. Prime adjacent block for RCC expansion that wouldn’t have required any re-working of RHA. They could have rebuilt it in place.
I’m fine with how it all worked out. I was just surprised to never hear discussion of the northern block for RCC expansion since it’s essentially vacant too, even if the city didn’t own all parcels outright.