I don’t think they need to condemn a huge chunk of land, but yeah I think that’s the assumption.
The annoying thing is that, even if they wanted to, public agencies (by way of federal grant contracts or state appropriations) cannot pre-emptively buy right-of-way for future projects when they don’t know for sure that it’s happening. We often say that a project like SEHSR or BRT “will” happen in the future, but that’s officially not true until the feasibility studies and design/engineering are complete and construction costs are budgeted.
For SEHSR specifically, the first step is done since NCDOT completed its Final Environmental Impact Statement back in 2016. However, the state still needs to do engineering designs (read: prove that they can physically build what they need) and save up money for construction before they’re even allowed to buy up land for future train tracks (per state policy I think?). This means, if a private landowner/investor moves faster and takes up land that could be useful for rail for other uses, they end up jeopardizing the entire rail project because they just obliterated some of the key assumptions that the FEIS made in a way that’s difficult (if not impossible) to correct for.
I think the Moxy Hotel site is getting a lot of flak simply because it’s the only project that’s far-enough along the development process to pose an actual threat. If another vulnerable plot also gets subject to a rezoning or ASR case (for example, the southwest corner of West and Peace streets), they, too, would have to be scrutinized VERY carefully.
Wall braces are going up today. Was able to see in a couple of open doors and it looks like a lot of the inside has been gutted. Bunch of workers on site.
I stayed at the Moxy in Midtown Manhattan, and while there was definitely a party going on the entire time that I was there, I never heard it in my room. Not sure what sort of magic they were practicing but I got a good night’s sleep.
Moxy definitely seems like a nice hotel, and I’m sure we’d greatly benefit from having them around -and maybe other boutique hotels like citizenM, too. I’m just scared that one nice hotel will jeopardize a massive opportunity for the entire region (and arguably the whole country).
Yeah I love CitizenM, that’s a really good hotel brand too. And I hope the Moxy developers consider a better location in Glenwood South, possibly beside the Five Star restaurant
The rub is really whether or not the HSR will actually ever come, and you can’t blame people for being skeptical since many of us have been waiting for such things longer than others is this community have been alive.
If this is going to take 2 more decades to happen, I’d rather that land contribute to the community than to just sit there and sit there and sit there. The hotel could always be torn down in the future.
There’s quantitatively a big difference between the renovations of low slung historic industrial buildings along West Street that have happened so far, all of which likely max out in the (very) low single-digit $million range, and a $50+ million brand new hotel, standing in the way of a rail line.
The cost of property acquisiton won’t be cheap to begin with, but a new hotel on that spot could double it.
Thinking about where else a hotel could go near Glenwood South. We are all familiar with GoTriangle and their RUSBUS development. What you may not know is that GoTriangle owns another large swath of land in DTR that nobody talks about. Like the RUSBUS property, it’s a holdover from the cancelled ~2005 era rail project, but this one is closer to Glenwood South.
for that matter, there are all sorts of places in glenwood south that could host a new Moxy Hotel. It could go on top of the land that currently houses Armadillo Grill. It could go where Duncan Parnell is. It could replace any number of 1 story buildings that dot the stretch.
I noticed this last night. No one was parked in the street parking so i didnt either. Bike lane is in opposite direction as one way street. Do they usually change the bike lane direction as well?
I thought that was odd as well. My guess is since that bike lane is supposed to work as a twin to the southbound one on Harrington, they want to keep this one northbound.
“It is recommended that the existing parking along the west side of the 200 block of South West Street be shifted to the east side adjacent to the existing bike lane for the duration of construction at the Raleigh Union Station (RUS) Bus project. The demolition and subsequent construction activity at the future RUS Bus site has removed all on-street parking along the 200 block of South West Street. This closure is expected to continue until the completion of the project to ensure the safety of the public as well as provide bracing for the portions of the existing structure that will remain as part of the project.”
