Category / New Construction

by Leo Suarez

Convention Center Opening Date?


This may or may not be news to you but it is to me. I was not aware of an official opening date for the new convention center but it is posted on the Raleigh Convention website, shown in the pic above. Here are some details from the webpage.

Come September, be the center of attention at the new Raleigh Convention Center. Join tens of thousands of your friends and neighbors at the Raleigh Convention Center Grand Opening.

Just what are we celebrating? First, the new 500,000-square-foot convention center will be a state-of-the-art stunner. It will bring people from near and far to Raleigh where they’ll discover a dynamic downtown surrounding a rare array of convention attractions – the new center, the new Marriott City Center, the Sheraton Raleigh and the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

It looks like we have about 8 months to go. Click here for the rest.

Click here for old news on convention center bookings.

by Leo Suarez

Bloomsbury Throws Up A Brick

Here is a quick construction update on the first of two buildings at Bloomsbury Estates. The brick looks very nice and I think this condo building will stand apart from the rest of the ones going up downtown.



Sidetrack Brewpub is also coming along but at a snail’s pace. The bar is just now taking shape. Perhaps they are planning to open when the first of the BE residents move in. Who knows.

by Leo Suarez

CON-struction and D-struction

The early winter sunsets are really cutting into my weekday opportunities to go out and take pictures of things downtown. I really think pictures help to add more to the story but we’ve all got a life and a job to do. Anyway, today I have more quick news regarding construction downtown that may be worthy of a short golf clap.

  • Ann-Cabell Baum Anderson sends out a status e-mail about the West @ North tower in Glenwood South every now and then. I’m still waiting for some news on the retail going in on the bottom floor. Her recent update:

Exciting news… We are approaching topping-out!
The roof-level is being poured this week!
Also, large windows are being installed on the 5th through 7th floors and the exterior sheathing is now up to the 10th floor! Interior framing is up to the 8th floor and exterior framing is up to the 12th floor! West is well underway!

  • I jumped the gun too early this week and talked about 301 Hillsborough coming down. I thought it would be a slow process and parts of it would still stand for a month, maybe two but I was wrong. Half the building is gone and if this rate stays steady, the building will be leveled probably by the end of the day. Might be safe to assume all the debris will be hauled out before the end of the year. Enjoy your temporary new view, Dawson residents!
  • Big slabs of concrete are being brought to the site of the future “The Edison” project. Right now the parking deck for the block and RBC Plaza is being put together. Reminds me of how they put the 222 Glenwood deck together, like a Lego set, and if similar this thing will sneak up on you. Check the webcam for updates on that and RBC Plaza, which is now building the condo floors.

by Leo Suarez

David Allen Building In Glenwood South

I was doing some Downtown Raleigh internet digging and stumbled upon this little gem on the Glenwood Agency’s website. The so called ‘David Allen Building’ is described as:

The site currently has three buildings on it. One building will be renovated for offices, the adjacent warehouse will be replaced with a 4-story structure with retail on the lower floors and 3 condos on the top, and the third building is a 1930s warehouse that will be renovated into a restaurant with roof-top dining. Residents will have the luxury of walking to nightlife, dining, and shopping on Glenwood South. The redevelopment project is expected to take a year to complete.

It is great that some of the buildings there will be renovated as opposed to being demolished. The description however does not quite match up to the rendering of the new “4-story structure”. Unless I am looking at the picture wrong, I see a couple more then 4 floors.

Below is the map for the area and the three buildings the description refers to. Anyway, this is just another development to tack on to the long list of projects going on downtown and RalCon will post any updates that may come up in the future.

View Larger Map

by Leo Suarez

BSC Rollin’ Along

Blount Street Commons is moving forward and WRAL has some of it covered.

The Blount Street Commons project is designed to revitalize the neighborhood bounded by Peace Street on the north, Lane Street on the south, Wilmington Street on the west and Person Street on the east.

The 21-acre project, being conducted in four phases over the next three years, involves moving eight Victorian houses to make room for 495 condominiums, townhouses, row houses and carriage houses. The existing houses will be shifted to lots in the neighborhood now occupied by parking.

21 acres is very significant. I think this area will be a sleeper ‘hot spot’ for downtown. It may not have flashy skyscrapers but will have a good community type feel. Somehow, I hope it adds some life to the dead government district directly west of it. Click here for previous posts about the project.

(still trying to get WRAL video embed to work here)

by Leo Suarez

The Lofts NOT at Glenwood South

712 Tucker, discussed here, has now become ‘The Lofts at Glenwood South’. I had forgotten about this project so I went out last night to see the situation for myself. There is a reason this project has been quiet; nothing has been built. The old warehouse that stood in this spot, unused, has been demolished and cleared out, shown in the pic posted. My realtor mentioned that the developer here had some money problems and it has stalled The Lofts’ construction. Will it ever be built? Who knows. I thought it was a great idea to bring rental units to downtown, especially two blocks away from Glenwood South.

With the Peace Street Streetscape Project being done just down the street, this empty lot will slowly become more valuable. Perhaps someone will step in and build taller.

by Leo Suarez

Blount Street Commons

For some background information on this project, this post is required reading. Some of the information is slightly old but the end result is the same nonetheless.

The picture below shows the area I’m referring to. Construction fencing surrounds almost the entire block, the parking lots have been cleared, and some have even been scrapped away. This picture I copy and pasted together, (yeah I’ve got skill) shows the google view of the block next to the planned view from the livable streets website.

I like what I see, less pavement and more green, plus more dense residential development. This may not be high-rise condo living but it is still urban living, being so close to downtown. The Blount Street Commons area should really turn into its own community as it gets closer to completion.