That’s not what the Raleigh Wire says, so somebody should get that updated.
https://community.dtraleigh.com/t/the-raleigh-wire-service/748/1959?u=oakcitydylan
Says CC on 8/16
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yeah I saw that too but it doesn’t allow for comments so I wasn’t sure how to let them know
The commission plans to make a final decision on either the 23rd or the 30th I can’t remember what they said in their meeting yesterday. either way I plan on attending the meeting in person to voice my support for the rezoning application during the public comments section
basically there was a disagreement over the historical value of the property, how much of it needs to be saved, and the potential parking garage that could go there… the meeting was a little bit of a mess due to a miss communication regarding the new parking garage requirments which kinda f-ed up several of the rezoning applications
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I’m good with this not being rezoned at all, if it means keeping the Depot Building(s) intact and the cobblestone parking area/pedestrian cuthrough. Plenty of lots that can go to 40 around Raleigh, and this is one of the cooler, historic (and UNIQUE) little areas of the city.
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To help clear up the confusion, the planning commission voted to approve and send to council (5-1 vote). The historic commission earlier (may?) voted to deny it (9-0). The applicant continued to go to the historic commission to present their revised conditions, but for two months (June & July), the historic commission didn’t have a quorum so they couldn’t revise their vote. The applicant states that the non-quorum participants at the historic commission voiced support for the revised conditions, and would likely vote to approve if it were not for the lack of quorum.
Regardless, it heads to city council now due to the planning commission voting to approve. The applicant will go to the august historic commission hoping for a quorum and a revised vote, although this isn’t technically still needed for the process. They just hope that the historic commission will be able to show their support for the revised conditions via a vote before it gets to city council.
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What group is leading this? “NC Railroad Inc.”?
The rezoning will create value for North Carolina Railroad and support compatible development
along its corridor, which is vital for moving passengers and freight in North Carolina.
Have they said anything more about the plans other than it keeps the headhouse and there will be a parking garage?
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The NC RR Company owns the lot and is rezoning it with the help of consultants.
They showed during their presentation the following slides which show a hypothetical site plan and ideas for what the buildings might look like. As part of the conditions, they will have a pedestrian corridor as shown in the site plan image.
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I’m not a big fan of the surface parking at The Depot (waste of real estate) and wouldn’t mind if just the south west portion of this rezoning was approved. I think it’s somewhat odd they did both in the same rezoning but what do I know?
That said, I did join one of the neighborhood meetings and voiced support for this as long as there was support for ped access through the development from Davie to Cabarrus. My support remains and I believe I also said it would be great if they could incorporate the existing Depot facade at the least given it’s character contribution to DTR.
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See, I wouldn’t mind any of this… so long as they could just keep at LEAST the facade of the back part of the building intact
Exactly- would be a fine compromise. The examples provided in the images @haus_of_chad shared look great! But I notice they all seem to be built upon older brick buildings. I do appreciate that they plan to have a pedestrian corridor (hopefully keeping some of the old cobblestone??) with tons of retail lining it on both sides. That’s cool. And definitely need to keep the Videri Chocolate Factory intact, including the open area where visitors can watch the chocolate being made - that is a SUPER unique feature in downtown Raleigh.
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Yeah. I think we all would love that they redevelop the parking lot (did you know the cobblestone there isn’t even from the original depot?) and leave the depot mostly/fully intact. But here’s what the applicant had to say (1:13:20 - 1:15:00):
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Still like it though, and would love for them to incorporate cobblestone into whatever pedestrian plaza they include
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yea. I’d put all the parking in the office building, leave the full depot building as is and build residential above it.
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You read my mind
Characterssssss
The renderings offer a very nice pedestrian pass through ‘amenity’ while adding density on a parking lot (albeit a nicer parking lot that I’ve used many many times over the years…)
Keeping the depot facade adjacent to the pedestrian area would be very nice - especially if those future retail spots would could spill out onto a breezeway overlooking that area.
Devil, and cost of course, is in the details but they are at least attempting to reference some nice materiality in their documentation. This will be a very interesting construx scenario to follow as it is a quirky lot orientation.
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Only thing about cobblestone is it does not make for an enjoyable bike ride. Also shakes up your Weaver Street eggs! I do like the aesthetic however. Usually take the sidewalks that no one ever uses on the railroad side of this lot.
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There might even be more efficient ways to lay it out, but 89 parking spots x 6 floors = 534. Seems like that would be plenty.
~80’ width residential building would be similar to 330 W Hergett (Legends) tower. Also seems doable.
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It also doesn’t make for a very fun car ride/cut-through 
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You could easily do a mix of concrete/smooth surface with an ode to the original cobble stone I think.
Or maybe a northeast type vibe with slate mix. (is that slate?)
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Fun timing, Google’s just finishing up a really good warehouse facadectomy in NYC: Exterior Work Wraps Up on Google Headquarters at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square, Manhattan - New York YIMBY
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Top left is exactly what they should do here. Preserve the depot, not just the head house. The depot is an important part of the head house’s context.
I don’t see any reason they can’t incorporate the historic elements and still add a ton of density here. My uninformed outsider’s gut reaction though is that this is about pure greed/profit, and the developer simply doesn’t want to make the effort to preserve what’s there. They won’t do it unless they’re made to, and I think the recent precedent around Raleigh of being able to tear down historic buildings dear to locals without much pushback makes it pretty clear that they don’t really need to be bothered with it. They can just explain it away in a vague 20 second response like the video shows.
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BINGO BINGO BINGO. Exactly why the other day I was lamenting the loss of 100 year old buildings, ugly/plain-Jane or not, as they have absolutely set a precedent that Raleigh as a city doesn’t appreciate its own history and therefor developers can run wild with little to no pushback.
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