Rockway (formerly Park City South) - Saunders/Lake Wheeler Apartments and Retail

Is the greenway connection a part of this first phase of construction, do we know?

Do you mean the connection from this development across Rocky Branch? I assume so. It’s in the diagrams for this project.

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Yes, the policy difference in NC is related to net metering and SRECs. These are both ways that electricity consumers in various states pay solar operators to put up solar panels.

Net metering: an apartment building’s solar panels will be tied to the landlord’s power meter, and will generate much more energy than the landlord will use (e.g., hallway lights). It cannot be used to offset tenants’ power usage, since those are separately metered. At the end of the year, the credit balance for that surplus power is just canceled in NC; in MD it’s paid out at the wholesale power rate.

SRECs aka “green tags”: DC/MD have aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standards (goals for how much renewable energy is fed into the grid), and require a certain percent to be locally generated solar. (DC’s says 100% renewable by 2032, with 5% local solar.) These requirements are met through Solar Renewable Energy Certificates issued to local solar panel owners. NC has an RPS, but it isn’t as high, and allows SRECs from anywhere, so there’s no market for NC-based solar.

(The approach preferred outside the US to encouraging solar is a “feed-in tariff,” which sets a fixed price for solar energy fed into the grid. But this is the US, everything’s too complicated.)

Green roofs: DC/MD have not only stricter stormwater rules than NC (both have “rain taxes,” so existing homeowners have to pay for their runoff instead of just new buildings), but also design manuals that allow much more urban approaches to stormwater. In NC, green roofs are only permitted as a secondary design measure by DEQ. Green roofs generally cost more in most of NC, where land is cheap and so digging a basin is cheap, but not so in DTR!

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Yes, Kane has it on plans

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Update showing the two towers together:

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Looks like Curfman St is getting extended out to Hammell Dr, which adds more grid - AWESOME. My rough estimate of how these towers sit (?)

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These are going to be massive in relative scale! Does building A stretch all the way along Lake Wheeler to the house (remaining) on the corner of Fuller? That’s a pretty significant new neighbor at 5 or 6 stories…?

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From April so maybe its changed, but the lot subdivision didn’t appear to line up Curfman St which seemed strange.

… and the latest site plan… :eyes: roundabout at Lake Wheeler

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Stub out for future extension. I wonder if this was a transportation dept requirement - or if the developer is thinking long term and partnered with Raleigh to change their street plan for future extensions.

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I just checked, and the curfman st extension is required by the comprehensive plan, although it shows it further east, I’m not sure if an amendment would be required for this to be approved.

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Looks like the first through fourth properties back from Lake Wheeler on Fuller are single owners, with the fourth (1011 Fuller) most likely to contain the Curfman pass through…
Interestingly, the next four properties back (1013, 1105, 1109, 1117) are all recently purchased by the same Corp in 2020…

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One is boxy, one is a little more curved, I like it. You always run the risk of losing the human scale in a development this massive.

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The building has started!

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Does anyone else find the frontage on lake wheeler super bizarre? The first tower wraps around to face the other one on Curfman instead of wrapping lake wheeler for a view of the park. Seems like a huge missed opportunity, especially with the redevelopment of the park.

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This is the Lake Wheeler elevation (Northwest).

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Looks like they’re mainly focused on maximizing downtown views. The park side does have balconies, which the eastern dogleg doesn’t.

I wonder if that expanse of roof will have an amenity deck, which would have amazing park views.

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But no Downtown views. I guess if you want your amenities to have a consistent protected view, it’s the park from there.

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Yea I would’ve opted for shifting the tower part of ‘A’ building to the south end so the two towers were staggered and had the amenity level having both park AND skyline views. Not much “transition zone” to the neighborhood then, but since when do developers care about that?

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That would have been nice.

Separate point: These towers are going to appear really prominent from DTR looking South!!!
The foundation of the tower will be somewhere around 310’ ASL, and much of the south side of downtown is well below that. South street is around 280’ ASL, so the foundation of the tower will be 25’-30’ above South St. Red Hat Amphitheater is at 290’ ASL,

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Even if views weren’t considered, it would be nice to have the towers staggered for skyline interest. I am not a fan of side by side towers ot the same height. It’s a yawner.

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