Anyone else see this hit the wire? All of the 9 owners of these properties are going for DX-40-SH-CU.
Interesting rezoning request for 40 stories on Fayetteville St popped up just now.
https://community.dtraleigh.com/t/the-raleigh-wire-service/748/243
6 Likes
Could this possibly be for Pendo?
2 Likes
For a second I thought the same thing. Weird we haven’t heard anything…
1 Like
Not so sure now after reading the rezoning request in full.
“Existing building facades will be preserved and maintained”.
I really like the aesthetics of that area on fayetteville.
2 Likes
Just saw this too. That is very interesting indeed. Like Durham’s City Center building?
1 Like
There’s a hundred other empty lots downtown to build on. Why is this necessary?
5 Likes
Well it is the main street downtown…
4 Likes
Wondering what makes you say this? Sorry if confusing…
I think he is referring to the fact that One City Center preserved historic facades as part of the design
5 Likes
I read through the pdf while eating my lunch just now. Generally, I support the idea having a tower rise behind a collection of historical storefronts, but I have some concerns about this specific variance request.
- The request specifically says that storefronts would be maintained above the first floor. Well, what about the first floors themselves? There’s zero chance that I’d be on board with retaining the facades if they are only retained starting with the second floor. What they hell would that look like anyway? In my opinion, it would look ridiculous and it would DESTROY the historic nature of the buildings and the sidewalk experience that makes that stretch of Fayetteville so nice.
Actual language per the variance submittal:
“Building facade is defined as the face of a building above the first floor that delineates the edge of conditioned floor space or that wall viewed by persons not within the building, including window openings, cornice work, parapets, and wingwalls.”
I want some clarification on this to be sure. Does above the first floor mean the second floor, or does it mean above the actual floor of the ground floor? If it’s the later, why didn’t they just simply say that it’s the entire existing facade that’s to be preserved?
Also, I am not certain what they mean by window openings vs the actual windows. I am not okay with the building facades retaining just the openings and not the actual windows themselves. I don’t want to see some uniform glazing slapped into the historic openings. - I don’t think 10 feet is enough step back from the facade of these buildings. I’d love to see some interactive 3D modeling of this implemented as proposed. My gut tells me that only a 10 feet stepback will make these facades feel slapped onto the new building. I’d like to see what this looks like with 20, 30, 40 feet stepbacks to find the right aesthetic balance and retain the historical presence of these buildings. I’d also think that any tower that was constructed behind it would need to be simple and elegant and not fight the architecture of the existing buildings. It’s a fine needle to thread, and if not done right cold result in looking like some of the monstrosities in this article: Some front: the bad developments making a joke of historic buildings | Architecture | The Guardian
3 Likes
So this (up to 40) story building rezone request is different from the 40 story request from Kane for Peace street project? And then isn’t there also a similar request for the opposite side of Capital Blvd from the Kane project?
2 Likes
Yep. This is the 3rd request in the hopper.
5 Likes
IT is only a matter of time, as long as the economy holds. Commercial Rental Space is pretty low in the area, and companies need the floor space.
Do I think a unicorn will come? No, it is a unicorn, they are non-existent. Do I think companies will quickly fill in spec space if they build it? yes! but it is risky for the builder if we have a economic downturn.
My mistake, I read the map incorrectly.
So I went back and looked again - and Holy Smokes - there is a lot on this block that they are proposing taking out! They would leave the old Capitol City Club Blg & the one CVS is currently in, but the finer building at Salisbury and Hargett would go? (Commerce Bldg) Briggs Hardware and Boylan-Pierce too? I agree that this is one of the finer stretches of old(e) DT left. The Commerce Bldg is such a fine example of early sky scrapers! Wow. It would take a real special building for me to believe this was a positive.
2 Likes
I would be shocked if all this current development is taken out. Talk about a politically risky rezoning request. Plus, I believe this is a historic district, this block of Fayetteville.
My guess would be that something is planned either on the interior of the block or for the side facing Salisbury Street. I can’t believe something huge here when there is so much available land.
Let’s wait it out. Perfect opportunity to get organized and go to Central CAC meeting when it hits the agenda.
10 Likes
The one city block we should be very careful about developing.
5 Likes
Maybe we’re all overreacting and they just want to build a 30 story parking deck over top of all of these buildings.
18 Likes