You may be right but somehow three towers on this block seems like it might be getting a little crowded.
Call me crazy but I really like the Subway building (234 Fayetteville.) It does a fantastic job of holding the corner at that intersection. I’d rather lose the interior part of those historic buildings than 234. Those buildings may be historic, but they are 200’ long tunnels and natural light doesn’t penetrate to their interior very well, meaning that the interior sections of those buildings are just less valuable - and were always that way from the day they were built.
I think our city has lost enough historic buildings. There are plenty of other opportunities downtown to build upon before we need to tear a good portion of the remainder down.
Greg Hatem owns two of these buildings. I don’t think he would ever actually let his stuff be torn down though he did buy and immediately tear down the building next to Capital City Tavern that had a facade from the 1920’s and interior from the 1880’s.
This rezoning will be discussed at the Central CAC meeting on Monday June 3. I imagine it’ll be a packed house for this one and the CAM Block rezoning.
Greg Hatem just finalized his purchase of the Boylan Pierce building on Fayetteville St.
For $2million. I’m curios what his plans are for the property, the article doesn’t give details on his future with the building. I have a feeling the rezoning and action around this property are all related. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/06/20/empire-properties-hatem-buys-historic-raleigh.html
I know one of the property owners looking to rezone wanted to expand, I wonder if Hatem is on board
Given empire properties history and the fact that this building was just renovated several years ago and sold for a higher value, I can’t imagine it would be prudent to buy it at 2 million for a teardown, if that’s even allowed per historic protection
Buy the Kimbrell’s building and create an urban retail arcade that would allow pedestrians to walk through from Salisbury to Fayetteville lined with small independent shops. Maybe upstairs there could be a couple of restaurants and maybe a rooftop of som sort. Would be a great use of this property, activate the area and provide a mid-block pedestrian path from the planned Nexus project to Fayetteville and through Exchange Plaze on to GoRaleigh Station.
Photos for inspiration: traditional shopping arcade in London and a more modern iterpretation in Portland.
Current zoning: Downtown Mixed Use-5 Stories-Shopfront (DX-5-SH), Downtown Mixed Use-7 Stories-Shopfront (DX-7-SH), and Downtown Mixed Use-12 Stories-Shopfront (DX-12-SH)
Requested zoning: Downtown Mixed Use-40 Stories-Shopfront-Conditional Use (DX-40-SH-CU)
Zoning conditions require facades of most of the historic buildings facing Fayetteville Street to be preserved above the ground floor and require a stepback from the tops of the existing buildings.
The request is consistent with the Future Land Use Map.
The request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
The Central CAC has not voted on the case.
If this is granted with a step back anything less than 50 feet, it will be a horrible crime. Those facades must not look like they are just attached to the front of a tower in a Disneyesque sort of way.
Not only would I demand a significant stepback, I’d also demand that the tower itself be subject to a thorough architectural review so as to not fight for attention with the old facades.
50 feet would be ideal, 40 feet might be sufficient, anything much shorter like 10 or 20 feet would be insufficient. Facadectomies are also not desired IMO
I would like the interiors preserved, too, for the full depth of what is being preserved. (As I drew above.)
Does anyone know of a good example of this type of preservation with such drastic height difference? I’ve seen plenty of historic 3-5 story building alongside or in front of 10-12 but the rezoning is for 40 max over the 20 max. Even assuming 21 stories, what else is out there that’s similar?
Here’s a HORRIBLE example:
The trunk of the tower isn’t too bad, but those stylized columns and pediment thingies at the top are both horrible and disrespectful to the historic building. There’s also not enough step back, which makes the facade of the old building looked tacked-on.
