I always forget about RTN.
You can check out the recording of the Planning Commission meeting here.
Relevant portion starts at 52:00.
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All I want to happen is for us to have an honest discussion and narrative about what this really is. “Selling” it as the tallest building in the city is dangerous because it triggers people, while disappointing others. Even at 350-450 feet, its position in a valley might even make it somewhat irrelevant to the money shot approach to DT Raleigh. However, it will be very impactful to the city’s northern gateway.
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I know that I have touched on this issue before, but I thought that I’d talk about these parking podiums again.
In many, many cities across America, these podiums are becoming pretty common place for rapidly growing urban cores in post-ww2 boom cities without robust transit options. The reality is that we want to grow our cores without waiting for adequate transit that would ideally precede it. This means that we have to find a place for cars. What does that mean for us? Well, it means parking podiums and lower levels of towers dedicated to parking. Of course, the parking can go underground, but that’s almost always more expensive of a venture than a developer typically wishes to fund. While it would be much, much better for the urban nature of of our cities to push parking below ground, many cities are put in a bind to prevent podiums for fear to limiting development. Now that that genie is out of the bottle across the country, it’s going to be almost impossible to put it back in.
So, what can be done to make these podiums more palatable. Well…
- Wrap the parking with mixed uses. Apparently, Kane is prepared to wrap the 3 most key sides of the podium with housing in phase 3. This is a very good thing. Many, many podiums only have screening on them to “decorate” the facade, while keeping them completely deactivated from a people perspective. Ground floor retail topped visually by a few floors of residences is a very good thing.
- Podiums can be built for use conversion. With a flat deck model (not a continuous slopping parking ramp), and with the slab to slab distances appropriately designed, podium parking can be repurposed in the future when the demand for cars decreases. I am not sure if Kane is even thinking in this way or not, but others are.
- The top deck of these podiums provide lots of options for building or community amenities. The tops of these decks could be for recreation like pools and tennis courts. They could be public plazas for large scale events. They could be the foundation for an outdoor festival marketplace with kiosk business. If done right, that podium “roof” could really be something special.
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Maybe these wrapped, integrated parking decks could be built so that some of the spaces, maybe the top level or two, can be converted to self storage units? Low ceiling heights wouldn’t even be a problem, but they would probably have to build stronger floors.
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The gentleman from the City of Raleigh Parking Department that spoke Wednesday night said that constructing a parking spot in an above ground deck costs about $35k where one below ground costs about $60K. If those numbers aren’t exactly what he said, they are close.
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Yeah, those numbers make sense to me. If you have 2 parking spaces in a downtown condo, keep that in mind.
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The Dillon deck is built with flat slabs and high ceilings to be potentially converted to office space in future I think
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These help you appreciate the size of Phase II currently in pre-construction lot prep. Very excited for this to be completed! Phase III also looks larger from up here, no?
I see you @R-Dub!!
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Simply beautiful shots! 
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These are awesome. Did I have binoculars in my hand?
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Has anyone heard if they are going to do any work to the gateways on tucker and johnson? I think doing something to the train trustle would be nice. If we could do something creative with LED lights or something. I think even simply putting uplighting on them would create an inviting path from west to glenwood and highlight the urban look of the area.
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Yes. At the Kane presentation a few months ago the Glenwood South Neighborhood Cooperatives (I think) was trying to get permission from the railway owner to dress up the trusses. I can’t remember details for sure. @jasdelaney may know?
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Yeah, I remember those connections and that trustle being on their radar, especially at Tucker.
Would love to see the railroad bridge over Peace near Seaboard get some dressing up as well.
Right now it’s a dark, damp trip thru pigeon poop.
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Yes. The GSNC wants to place an artistic design on the trestles over W Johnson and possibly Tucker Street. Approval has been secured, now looking to find artists and the necessary funding.
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Love seeing this perspective. Thanks for sharing.
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In case anyone wants to use the shots I took yesterday elsewhere, I’ve added watermarks and resized the shots down so they aren’t so large. Feel free to use what you want from the following Google Photo album.
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I wonder if Kane \ Williams would consider a donation?
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The rezoning request for Smokey Hollow Phase III seems to describe wrapping the new 40story tower in parking garage around 3 sides of the building. Did I miss anything? Having an entire city block at street level devoid of anything of interest at a pedestrian scale does not seem optimal to me.
Looking at some of Kane’s recent work at North Hills makes me worried.
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Dwight, 3 sides of the parking garage would be wrapped in apartments with the 4 side (east/capital blvd side) being open to the road with a “facade” blocking the deck.
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