Great news here are a few highlights from the article.
"The group plans to begin demolition and vertical construction in 2022 but is currently engaged in enough construction activities to secure the $20 million federal BUILD grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. "
" “FTA needed us to have begun construction activities by this past summer in order to be eligible for the BUILD grant,” said [Shelley Read Curran](https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/search/results?q=Shelley Read Curran), GoTriangle general counsel and VP of strategic partnerships. “In order to choose a preferred developer we had to move very quickly to finalize several aspects of the project. For FTA purposes, we are far enough along in the current activities to qualify for ‘construction activities’ and be eligible for the grant.”
Also the developer Hoffman and Associates has an impressive portfolio.
“2022”? And people wonder why people get annoyed with government inefficiency & waste. So they went in a push over a wall and that qualified for $20MM?
Yea, I’m not disagreeing with the inefficiency and waste part. I’m just honestly shocked we still qualified for the grant and the project is still going to happen.
Maybe kicking 5 Star out was also part of their pre-construction activities.
That’s an oversimplified version. Also, 121 Fayetteville just got delayed, are they being inefficient or wasteful? Or is it that these projects are more complex than we make them out to be here on our threads. Colby and others above have highlighted above the steps already going on.
Yes, public projects do take more time because they are Public, and some of the same people that say that takes too long are the same people that want to see reports on how every dime and staff hour is spent, or that there wasn’t enough input. Also, keep in mind this is a transit-related project and public transportation is one of the worst hit sectors, as well as the office component of this project. I’ve worked in the public and private sectors, and I’ve seen plenty of bureaucracy in both (some of it (annoyingly) necessary, some definitely not).
Yeah, I think that in the medium term (but probably more than five years, though, if only because of inertia), the effect of COVID-19 on office design is going to be limited. After a while, things are going to start getting back to normal, at least in areas like Raleigh where there’s steady economic growth.
That said, if you make the building tall enough, then you don’t have to choose between office and residential, and you can just have plenty of both.
Snapped a couple of photos of the new art installation at the plaza and some new neon on the side of Father and Son. I really love both of these pieces.
Anyone see the balloon tower going up over the site today? Can’t tell if it’s the RUSBus site, CAM site, or another. The height is looking good! I’d provide a pic but I’m too far away for camera to pick it up.
Whatever this is! I’m still not sure, but got close enough for a better pic. My first guess was they are trying to show what height on the RUSbus site will look like. There was DRA’s Outdoor Office going on in front of Union Station so it may have just been a cool advert for that, or maybe my first guess.
If someone was in the warehouse district and actively sought the source of the balloons, they would’ve found a large chalk art mural and info tables set up at RUS plaza. I diverted my walk that way yesterday morning and saw them setting up again. There were also a lot of people downtown yesterday.
Kyla and I have been wondering about that too – been seeing this area closed for weeks (months?) every time we go to Weaver Street. Anyone know whats going on here? If they’re anticipating higher density in the area, maybe they’re getting the necessary utility upgrades out of the way?
I’m not sure but it has been months, and I noticed some really old terra cotta pipes that they dug up a few weeks ago. Maybe just repairs and updates while they’re in there.
GoTriangle’s board is meeting next Wednesday (agenda here), and they finally have some sweet, sweet updates about RUSbus (among other transit projects)!!!
Click here for the big, dirty details...
Translation: contracts between GoTriangle and developers to build the bus station are being finished up, and architects are finishing up broad visions for what the transit facility will look like. Those designs are only 30% ready, though, whereas 100% would mean you’re ready to just hand off what you have to construction companies.
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act talks about what steps federal agencies (like the DoT, which is partly paying for this project) are legally required to take to protect historic properties. Sounds like they’re almost done with this, though, without much of a fuss.
GoTriangle staff who are a part of this project also gave an update with a more comprehensive list of recent accomplishments:
So we’re approaching 30% completion in this project -which means we finally get to have some specific drawings for what this project looks like! These images I screenshotted appear to be screenshots, themselves, so it was already grainy in the original PDF.
This first picture, above, seems to show a view facing north from Martin St with a good look of the “feature entrance canopy and marquee at civic plaza”. You’d be standing next to the rail bridge, and you can see a glimpse of the Dillon building to the right. The staircase in the background seems to lead to additional stores, as well as a parking deck. It looks like it’s also connected to canopy on the top left of the image, which I assume is the bridge between RUS Bus and RUS proper.
Captioned “decorative screening panels over the passenger zones”, the picture above is apparently the inside of the 8-bus off-street bus terminal, connected to Hargett St. in a U-shape path. The blue barrier you see in the middle of this picture is either a translucent art piece or an actual waterfall (it’s not very clear here), and could be a nice curtain and sound barrier.
This view, above, shows a “ceiling cloud and waterfall with landscape seating”. The waterfall I mentioned in the previous image is on the right; the staircase in the background is what you saw in the first two illustrations.
Here’s a schematic of the features of RUSBus. The idea seems to be that RUS is connected to the bus terminal by a two-story area of shops called “The Passage”. You can also get to West St. and the Dillon building through another courtyard, nicknamed here “The Court”.
GoTriangle staff also revealed planned timelines to completion, too:
