Has there been a more exciting project, from a size and design standpoint, in downtown raleigh?
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Honestly the more I think about it, NO. PNC is taller but did it have the street impact this will? no way. There are 3 buildings, hotel, office, residential, retail and bus station!
This is going to be awesome to watch.
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Super exciting project. Definitely going to be a big contributor reshaping our skyline.
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If you, like me, thought this looks amazing but wondered about how this will get built: GoTriangle is almost done putting together development agreements with Hoffman & Assoc. to decide how to build and run this building. A summary of the agreements showed up in this document revealed last week and noted that, among other things:
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Hoffman & Assoc. is designing this project and will build it too, but GoTriangle still owns the land and what gets built. How “sub-components” like retail, hotel, and residential units will be built will be codified in the ground lease agreement.
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GoTriangle will lease the property and ground/air rights to Hoffman for 99 years for a rent of $375k/year starting the fourth year. That rent will be 25%, 50%, and 75% of that for the first three years of rent commencement; rent will escalate 2% annually from year 5 onwards.
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Legally, RUS Bus will be built by “RB Vertical LLC”, a special-purpose company that Hoffman created for this project. If you’re digging through public records to learn more about this project, keep this name in mind.
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10% or 20 housing units will be made “affordable” (how much is unclear) for 15yrs after the certification of occupancy is issued.
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The project updates list “Phase 1” of this project’s construction to begin this April. I’m not sure what is Phase 1 and what’s Phase 2, though, since the transit amenities and private overbuilds both appear in the latest sketches and plans.
GoTriangle is also preparing a white paper that summarizes some recent changes to what this project will entail, how long it’ll take, and what it will cost. It doesn’t sound like this involves sexy or scandalous changes, though, since mentioned updates include GoTriangle’s negotiations with the state’s Dept. of Environmental Quality to figure out how to clean up soil contamination and manage erosion.
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I missed the part they are starting in roughly 2 months! I guess we can include this project for another crane addition.
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I listed it in my few starting this year. 
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This + Bloc 83 Phase 3 (as much as I hate what they’re doing) + Creamery is going to DRAMATICALLY extend the skyline to the West! Then the South St 20story apartment building + 20 story Clearscapes project on Martin St will continue it!
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You can throw the CAM museum in there too whenever that is gonna happen.
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Speaking of which, 5 parcels on the CAM block are on the market. I will post more info on that later today.
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I love the tower design!! Personally I like the seeming randomness of our current big 3, and I like that this design doesn’t compete with those quirky styles. It feels very “Raleigh” for lack of better description.
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I really hope they manage to get the right vendors in here. I went to Denver for the first time this past summer and was enamored with Union Station. It was an active transit hub, of course, especially with the success of their commuter rail, but it was also a fantastic place to drink, dine, or even shop at nearly any part of the day. Two solid bars, a coffee shop and bakery, an ice cream shop, a book store, a home goods store, several restaurants ranging from a deli to fine dining, and a four-star hotel. That’s not even counting the stuff in neighboring buildings. And there were so many people there. It really felt like a cultural hub for Denver, not just a train station.
I’d love to see the same sort of thing here in Raleigh.
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Can you imagine it? No more “Big 3” soon - BIG 4 BABY!
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Perhaps RUSBUS and the connector (Passage) brings enough life to activate Union Station. I’d love to see people walking back and forth on that walkway between dining, drinking, etc.
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That’s my hope. The design is right. Just needs the right businesses in there.
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Sorry guys, something about that walkway doesn’t feel right to me. Does it actually provide a shorter path for people to transfer between trains and buses? I’m not seeing it. You either go down, and then back up (using the existing underpass), or else go up and then back down (with the new bridge.) And the path is barely different at all.
If there’s no difference, then, what’s it actually doing there, other than “looking neat”? If they’re going to spend the money to build a bridge at Union Station, they should build it somewhere, in some direction, where it does more to help circulation. Like from the “lookout” on the roof of Union Station, over the tracks, ending just south of Wye Hill, or something. Or if it’s got to come from RUSBUS, then build it over the tracks next to Hargett, in preparation for when they (eventually, inevitably) close the Hargett Street grade crossing.
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Probably faster access for hotel guests.
Better for in-climate weather.
But point taken. Without this there is an elevator or you can walk down the stairs.
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Sometimes we just need something that looks cool, ok!?! 
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I am all for a cool looking bridge, just make it connect to Wye Hill!
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