Durham City Center Tower

[BullDurhamer]

couldn't believe my eyes when i saw this, but it looks like foundation work has begun today on this the tower site. 

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Wow! Beautiful building at street level! Any ideas what this will look like from the ballpark? !!!

[InitialD]

Wow! Beautiful building at street level! Any ideas what this will look like from the ballpark? !!!

Something similar to this:

[BullDurhamer]

according to this: http://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2014/04/22/durham-city-council-approves-incentives-for-new-skyscraper-renovation-of-jack-tar-motel-buildings-downtown

there is supposed to be underground parking. 

 

So what I saw was a crew and what looked like some kind of foundation drill.  One would assume they aren't drilling a foundation if they have to dig out a hole for a garage, so my initial report may not have been entirely correct.  What is indeed certain, however, is that a crew was on site with a big machine doing something.  It seems pretty clear that this is happening.

 

This will be virtually itentical to the Durham Centre building's height in feet, but it's up the hill from the Durham Centre so it will certainly stand out a dominating feature on the skyline.

 

[BullDurhamer]

[DanRNC]

And the Jack Tar gets a renovation instead of a tear down which is cool. 

[Jones_]

Probably doing test bores so they know whether they'll be digging out rock and if so how much. 

[BullDurhamer]

http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x1736885590/Tower-developer-gets-OK-to-disassemble-building-walls

 

uh oh.  the walls they wanted to preserve are useless.  still moving forward though, it appears. 

[Jones_]

Good luck Durham. Lose your charm and you're not Durham anymore. I need Durham to retain its charm as Raleigh is rapidly losing what little it had. 

[BullDurhamer]

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/real-estate/2015/01/new-buildings-durham-raleigh-nc-2015.html?page=all

 

demolition of the site starting within a couple of weeks. 

[BullDurhamer]

fence is up and trees are coming down.

[DPK]

The big green wall is on its way down as well.  Going to miss that wall.

[BullDurhamer]

[bj-26]

Wll be nice to watch this tower climb. Great for Durham. Hopefully a few others will come soon.

[Jones_]

Thanks for all the Durham updates BullDurhamer. Much appreciated!. 

[15895]

Wll be nice to watch this tower climb. Great for Durham. Hopefully a few others will come soon.

I'm a Charlottean and I am super excited to see this grow! For me, this has got to be the most interesting NC development (outside of CLT) for me because I guess it (appears to me as an outsider) so game changing and really changes my perspective of Durham. This will make Durham iconic along with Charlotte, Winston, Raleigh & Greensboro.

Any other projects or rumors for Highrises in Durham? Skyhouse Durham (not that Durham would necessarily want a cookie cutter?)

[BullDurhamer]

http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2015/02/09/4537035/real-deals-slew-of-projects-promise.html

 

Jack Tar motel Renovation to begin in April.

Tower groundbreaking in April.

 

"Austin Lawrence also owns a third property downtown, a nearly 2-acre site that is adjacent to where Longfellow Real Estate Partners is planning to build its 15-acre Innovation District. That district calls for a 1 million square feet of lab and office space for life sciences and technology companies as well as 300,000 square feet of residential.

The 2-acre site on Main Street is now home to the seven-story SouthBank building. Hills said Austin Lawrence has a initial concept for what it wants to do with the property but hasn’t yet begun working with the city on the project.

The concept would involve demolishing the SouthBank building and replacing it with a high-density development that could include retail shops, an urban grocery, a drug store and an entertainment complex."

Edited February 9, 2015 by BullDurhamer

[Jones_]

Here is a nice history of that block. By all means, destroy that terrible building. 

[Spatula]

That is basically exactly what I wanted to see happen to that block. I look forward to seeing their plans fully fleshed out.

[BullDurhamer]

 

http://www.opendurham.org/sites/default/files/images/2013_5/southbank_2010.jpg

 

the potential for this space is incredible.  nothing less than great should be accepted for any project on what is probably the most important spot in all of downtown to be rebuilt. 

Edited February 10, 2015 by BullDurhamer

[BullDurhamer]

[bj-26]

BullDurhamer, thanks for the pictures. This is going to be to be an impressive building.

[BullDurhamer]

the site has sat untouched for several months now.  with that said, there appears to be a different set of renderings on the developer's website now.

http://www.austinlawrencepartners.com/portfolio-item/one-city-center/

 

here's the old one at street level for comparison

Edited July 18, 2015 by BullDurhamer

[BullDurhamer]

so the developer has a project in idaho that they claimed was to start construction a year ago and yet there's still no construction.  something about financing issues http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_61eb4f2a-de1f-5682-863d-8247d7e4e0d0.html and now they're supposedly going to break ground next month after claiming this past spring was their next deadline.   i have zero inside information, but until i see equipment and men working on the site for this tower in durham and in the jack tar motel, i can't help to be skeptical that anything will actually happen.   

[orulz]

Building permits can take a long time. They have been actively submitting plans for review, getting comments, and revising for several months. In fact it seems they just submitted an application of some sort yesterday, application number PW1501174. I am not as familiar with Durham's online development review system as I am with Raleigh's so I don't know how to figure out what is still outstanding.

Nevertheless I must say, I've had an underlying skepticism about this project from the get go. I want them to succeed so badly because everything they have planned in Durham would be transformational. Yet, they don't seem to be incredibly experienced - not much track record. Most successful developments around here are done by local firms or regional firms with significant local experience. These guys are from out of town (Colorado if I recall correctly) which doesn't quite fit the mold. Not a showstopper, necessarily, but it makes them less of a known quantity to lenders, which makes financing harder to obtain.

I am almost superstitiously hesitant to say anything like this lest it bring bad luck to the project, but I just have to say. I am looking forward to the day that construction is underway and all these suspicions are laid to rest.

Edited August 7, 2015 by orulz