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NC State Govt Complex: what are the plans?


citiboi27610

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I like the way the Governor is thinking.

 

That stocky, white honeycomb-looking building is awful. It needs to go! I liked the two high-rises in the video.

Albemarle is easily deskinned and glassed up. Perhaps pull the lobby out to the sidewalk too and get customer/public serving offices in there. I don't think money spent on complete tear downs where the steel frame is fine and reusable will be part of the plan. Archdale though, takes up so much other usable land with its odd placement on the block, that it may need torn down for that reason, though I've posted about possible ways to incorporate it into new adjacent buildings. Full disclosure, I work in the Archdale Building. 

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I'm thinking of the building on Wilmington and Lane. Does it have any windows?

The Archdale and Albemarle, I'm sure they could use some work, but hate to see them torn down.

Oh gotcha...thats the "old Lab" according to my older coworkers. I'm not sure if they mean crime lab, water quality lab or what but anyway...thats what I'm told. And yeah, its the among the worst buildings in the country. 

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  • 1 month later...

Word in the halls is that folks in the Albemarle building are being shuffled around and out so the building can be gutted. I believe there is a focus on jamming many more people in buildings….most have individual offices for all employees….new layouts seem to be pushing for cubicles for rank and file and offices only for supervisors and meeting rooms (like Education and Green Square). Anyway, this will likely be the start of many more State employees being located downtown and appears to be a "see it'll work!" beginning piece of Project Phoenix by the Governor. Not likely to see exterior changes to the government complex anytime soon but the plan could come to something is this start gets some well received momentum going. My floor in the Archdale also had a group come through "evaluating space requirements" and they sure weren't asking if we needed any more space….

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I wonder if you will actually see the state employees returned to downtown once they have left and are in temporary offices elsewhere? I think that some members of the General Assembly would prefer to have not only as few state employees as they could get as well as even fewer in downtown Raleigh specifically...IMHO

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't believe people still complain about parking. Do they really expect it to be like Wal-Mart where they circle the 15 acre surface lot until a space near the front door opens? The types that complain about parking in urban areas are really more suited to attractions like Top Golf and Frankie's Fun Park. 

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Better hope this stays downtown…my idea was to move the Seaboard building over to named parking lot and let this be an annex. Perhaps add a new building mid block with the discussed skybridge too as well?

 

This is a perfect opportunity to put that parking lot to use. I agree it would be absurd to move this. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Better hope this stays downtown…my idea was to move the Seaboard building over to named parking lot and let this be an annex. Perhaps add a new building mid block with the discussed skybridge too as well?

Good grief.  Why would they even consider anything other than putting a new building on that hideous parking lot covering the block across Wilmington? Jones, how many historic houses did the State tear down on the block bounded by Wilmington, Blount, Edenton, and Lane to carry out their aborted vision for a "Heritage Square"?  (see the link to downtown StateGov. plan document on the History thread) and then left that block sitting as an expanse of asphalt for the last 50 years?

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Good grief.  Why would they even consider anything other than putting a new building on that hideous parking lot covering the block across Wilmington? Jones, how many historic houses did the State tear down on the block bounded by Wilmington, Blount, Edenton, and Lane to carry out their aborted vision for a "Heritage Square"?  (see the link to downtown StateGov. plan document on the History thread) and then left that block sitting as an expanse of asphalt for the last 50 years?

I assume you mean Jones and not Lane, but this particular Sanborn conveniently has both blocks shown. 14 of 15 were lost on the parking lot, with only the 1854 Richard Haywood house left on the SE corner. The block north of this (currently or rather ironically it is now Archives) had the Thomas Hogg house taking up most of it, but there is this post card of Blount Street homes which is the eastern edge of the Hogg block...those being all from the teens and twenties but the Hogg house being antebellum. 

I use the 1914 Sanborn maps a lot (as opposed to other years) because they represent the last great extension of historic structures before automobiles started to influence downtown. Anyway, they are all here in color if you are interested. 

Edit: the sanborn won't uplaod for some reason, but the sanborn link should work....it is map 5 in the 1914 set. 

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If building ugly buildings was a capital offense, someone would surely be before the firing squad for replacing the houses in that postcard with the Bath Building (the aforementioned windowless lab building and the State Records Center (another ugly windowless building across Blount from the Gov.'s Mansion.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Two gov't sites land leased to private developers...  1.7 acre site on Peace St and .36 acre site at Dawson & Lane.  http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2016/11/18/state-negotiating-12-6m-in-deals-for-3-lucrative.html

Article mentions the Dawson property as 3 buildings.  Not exactly sure which 3.  Hopefully those are renovations of the historic buildings and not tear downs!

 

nc-govt-sites.JPG

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210 N Dawson is the 1898 Broom and Mattress Factory from the original site of the NC School for Deaf and Blind. http://goodnightraleigh.com/2007/09/old-building-by-days-inn/

I found the door swinging open recently and snapped some pictures (will try to post if I am sure I won't get busted). Quite an interesting time capsule. It would make a fantastic space for an IT firm or anyone looking for the old brick warehouse look for their company. 

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So after comparing names of developers, it looks like the guy working on the Caswell Square properties, also is behind the old Winn Dixie warehouse at Whitaker and Atlantic with Lynwood Brewing et.al in it now. This gives me hope that at least the coolest (perhaps all) of these three buildings might be preserve, since he's demonstrated a desire to go that route. 

The guy proposing to buy the State Training Center site (this is better in my opinion, than the previously marketed ground lease by the State) is behind the N&O site purchase and plans, so that suggests that site will be all new, and perhaps very aggressive, which is what Peace Street needs. 

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The building along Lane Street is also pretty old, and is labeled on some maps as the "old textbook warehouse".  The small one on the corner is labeled on the same map as the "old film library", whatever that means...Here: https://www.ncspo.com/sale/Dawson.pdf  is the offering document for the three buildings along Dawson.  THe Old Textbook Warehouse must be offered separately.

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  • 2 months later...

In talking with a acquaintance who works adjacent to the Albemarle building, he said he has heard a Dunkin Donuts will possibly be coming into a ground floor retail space once renovations are complete later this year. I haven't heard much about retail space in the building, has anybody else heard anything on it?

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I too work near the Albemarle and while I've not heard anything about a DD, I have have my sources (aka the people who never leave the State complex and eat in one of the cafeterias every. single. day...) and will get back to you...

FWIW here is the DOA info sheet on the project Obviously they won't make the Feb 2017 occupancy but the agency layout stacking plan is interesting to us State Employees. 

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