Charter Square (Site One)

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

Site 1 should be getting its Grading Permit tomorrow or Thursday.

http://onlinedevcenter.raleighnc.gov/devse...onNumber=188885

You have a good eye for catching these type of things, thank you!

[CHGuy]

Site 1 has been submitted for Site Plan Approval.

http://onlinedevcenter.raleighnc.gov/devse...eNum=SP-63-2007

[orulz]

The map for this site plan is not yet up on the city's website.

When it is, this should probably be the link.

[ChiefJoJo]

Cool, I knew it had to be soon once I saw that grading permit, and the need to use Site 1 for RCC staging should be about over, since it's mostly down to interior work now. Check this out:

Square Feet: 1,121,824

I think it's that high because of the parking deck sf-age. I think the building above grade will be about ~750k sf. A very large structure indeed.

[ChiefJoJo]

In council agenda today:

20.3 501 Fayetteville Street (Parking Deck and Towers)

A request has been received from the City of Raleigh to encroach on City right-of-way for the purpose of installing a shoring wall and excavation. A report is in the agenda packet.

Recommendation:

Approve the encroachment subject to conditions in the administrative report.

Now, if you peer through the construction fencing in the coming months, you should start to see the excavation on the east side of the underground deck, so the part the city is building will tie into the Site 1 portion... things are beginning to move along.

[Cary NC]

The map for this site plan is not yet up on the city's website.

When it is, this should probably be the link.

I think the link is working and gives some basic details. Will there be another update with other renderings?

Edited August 7, 2007 by Cary NC

[ChiefJoJo]

Here's the link to the site plan

FYI:

North Tower:

358ft tall, 824sf retail*, 332k sf office, 35 condos (11 2BR units, 24 3BRs)

South Tower:

182ft tall, 21k sf retail, 0 sf office, 187 condos (159 1BRs, 25 2BRs, 3 3BRs)

* this seems like a very small amount--maybe most of the ground floor is lobby space for the offices. The info on the Craig Davis site 1 page says:

The City Site One proposed plan consists of two towers, constructed of natural stone and glass. Building One will consist of approximately 405,000 square feet of office, retail and residential space on nineteen floors. Building Two will consist of 30,000 square feet of retail space with 120 residential units above the retail.

It looks like they have refined the project a bit... based on data submitted, the north tower looks about the same size, more condos in south tower, and a bit less retail overall. Clearly, from the data, it looks like the north tower will be very high-end as they are larger and have the best view--think Quorum. With 85% of the south tower condos being 1BR units, they are probably banking for the more upper-middle class, young professional buyer, probably in the upper $200s to low 300s (this is a total guess on my part). I wonder if they have space for a movie theater.

[Jones_]

^^ the more I think about it the more important I think a movie theater is to downtown...whether it be in Site one or elsewhere. Seven days a week, day and evening activity. Perfect for local residents and those a short commute away...nice marquee, box office on the street, hungry people leaving after every show, unites all socio-economic classes, hippies, yuppies, college age, retired...we all love movies....

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

^^ the more I think about it the more important I think a movie theater is to downtown...whether it be in Site one or elsewhere. Seven days a week, day and evening activity. Perfect for local residents and those a short commute away...nice marquee, box office on the street, hungry people leaving after every show, unites all socio-economic classes, hippies, yuppies, college age, retired...we all love movies....

If they were to do a movie theater in the south building and have it face Wilmington Street, could they not also have an entrance from Fayettville Street? Not sure how that would work, but I can see people now, leaving because they couldn't find the entrence from F. St. IMHO!!!

[Cary NC]

The TBJ is revealing some more details on Site 1.

TBJ: "Raleigh's 'Site One' towers grow to 15, 21 floors"

[ChiefJoJo]

Although the article is for paid subscribers only, I don't think there's much new info. TBJ says the plans doubled in size, but that was from the original RPF proposal ~2 years ago... though of us here who've been tracking it's development know it has been at 20 & 14 stories (unofficially) for some time now. I guess we now know that based on the site plan data I posted above...

North Tower:

358ft tall, 824sf retail*, 332k sf office, 35 condos (11 2BR units, 24 3BRs)

South Tower:

182ft tall, 21k sf retail, 0 sf office, 187 condos (159 1BRs, 25 2BRs, 3 3BRs)

... that translates to one more floor in each tower.

[Cary NC]

I was particularly interested in the Rex Healthcare comments which we would be a first for DT Raleigh. Offering a fitness center/ wellness care is a sign that the resident population is increasing.

[Rufus]

The rendering in the TBJ article is a little new, well just the coloring that is. I don't really like the light colors, what happened to the renderings from a few weeks ago that were darker? Hopefully these renderings don't suggest a materials change.

[DanRNC]

The dollar amount has gone up from an $80 million investment to about $150 million.

[ChiefJoJo]

From last week...

On Sept. 18, the Raleigh City Council approved an agreement with Charter Square Developers for the City Site #1 underground parking garage. Site #1 is an approximately 1.8 acre City-owned tract that is located on the east side of the former Raleigh Convention and Conference Center across from the Marriott City Center currently under construction, and adjacent to the site of the City

[ChiefJoJo]

Work has begun on the underground parking deck, that will serve as the base for the two towers, and will blend seamlessly with the city deck under F St, the Marriott hotel and RCC.

[RDUairport]

Great to hear! I can't wait to start seeing progress there. It will really be nice to see this one coming up out of the ground. And of course another crane!

[JeffC]

Hope this doesn't end up turning into a fiasco like construction of the RBC. Remember, they designed and started building the RBC BEFORE they had nailed down the permanent tenant (other than NCSU). Of course, the Hurricanes needed major revisions to the building that had to be expensively retrofitted midconstruction. I can see the same thing happening here, where the vision for the buildings above it change drastically for some reason, and then the newly constructed deck has to be ripped up or significantly retrofitted.

[RDUairport]

So there isn't a major tenant yet? Wow I guess that is a bit risky. I guess I just figured there was one already. Could the design be changed much once construction actually starts?

[ChiefJoJo]

So there isn't a major tenant yet? Wow I guess that is a bit risky. I guess I just figured there was one already. Could the design be changed much once construction actually starts?

First, to be clear, the construction underway now is only on the underground parking deck. The site plan for the towers still is not officially approved yet, and it will take some time to construct the deck and foundations for the towers above... time that will allow the developers to find office tenants and residential buyers. We are also assuming there are no prospective tenants in place now, which may or may not be the case. Also consider that only the north 20-story tower has offices, whereas the upper floors of that tower plus the entire south tower are condos, minimizing the risk.

[Rufus]

New Site-1 renderings are out.

--thanks to Raleigh_NC over at SSC for the original image post on that site.

I like them. I somehow get a modern-deco type feel from tower 1, the first image, and they should match up well with RBC and PE II. Thoughts?

Edited October 19, 2007 by ChiefJoJo
Fixing Links

[urbanvb]

I like very much.

[JeffC]

It indeed is risky to build the deck before you have finalized the towers above....what if, for example, a very large bank or securities firm wanted to locate here and needed a very large open space free of support columns for their trading floor? And they wanted it in the basement to avoid electronic interference. The entire thing would have to be dug up hauled away, and rebuilt.

[orulz]

And for that very reason, I imagine they aren't going to be searching for a very large bank or securities firm who needs an underground trading floor for this building. Are underground trading floors even common at all? If said firm were to relocate to downtown Raleigh, they would simply have to seek another location.

I'm sure that the deck has been designed to give some flexibility as to what gets built above, but you have to draw a line somewhere.

[DPK]

And for that very reason, I imagine they aren't going to be searching for a very large bank or securities firm who needs an underground trading floor for this building.

I agree with orulz in regard to the future of what's going above the deck. Also those renderings released are beautiful and I'm looking forward to this project progressing!