The Edison

[Gard]

Cary developer Gregg Sandreuter and Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh want to build a 38-story, eco-friendly mix of shops, hotel rooms and residences in Raleigh's reviving downtown. It's part of a two-tower plan called Edison. The second tower would rise 24 stories. If approved by city planners, it would be the latest step in the city's efforts to turn a 9-to-5 government town into a hub of 24-7 activity.

The rest of the article can be found HERE

Dowtown is on fire now! In the coming years the skyline of Raleigh will look drastically different. I was excited to read about a 38 story tower, but man, a 24 story companion with it makes it that much more wonderful!

[ncsugrad204]

You beat me great job This is going be awesome baby that with a capital T

[bsutton1]

Too bad it won't go up to 40 storys

[ncsugrad204]

I am more concern with height and design than the number of floors. Remember that office floors are about 10-12 feet or more plus about 2 feet between floors so the tower will be about 540 feet and add a possible air duct and other thing that are needed at the top and this tower will become Raleigh's tallest around 600'. That sounds good to me

[Creasy336]

So this project is seperate from the 42 story building that has been speculated for the Progress Energy III site?

[ncsugrad204]

I think they are the same

[carynative]

They're the same. I expect chief will combine the two threads today.

[tjoad]

38 and 24 story towers planned for Block B

Cary developer Gregg Sandreuter and Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh want to build a 38-story, eco-friendly mix of shops, hotel rooms and residences in Raleigh's reviving downtown.

It's part of a two-tower plan called Edison. The second tower would rise 24 stories. If approved by city planners, it would be the latest step in the city's efforts to turn a 9-to-5 government town into a hub of 24-7 activity.

---

The developers hope to begin building in 2009 and wrap up in 2012, if they get their corporate tenant. But there are other hurdles, too. They hope to get building approval from the city in October. Then they have to buy the land from Progress. They also need a hotel partner, which may be easier to find as demand for downtown hotel rooms rises.

Edit: Didn't see new topic!

[uptownliving]

Cool deal. So a 38 story condo/hotel tower is going to be somewhere close to 450ft in height. This is something that is missed by many newspaper writers....they just do the floor count and forget that condo and especially hotel floors are shorter than offices. This might be a new tallest if built...but not by much.

In any case I hope this does get built and will fill in an empty space that will be a good connection between Fayetteville St and the City Market area.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

I am more concern with height and design than the number of floors. Remember that office floors are about 10-12 feet or more plus about 2 feet between floors so the tower will be about 540 feet and add a possible air duct and other thing that are needed at the top and this tower will become Raleigh's tallest around 600'. That sounds good to me

Or if they add a hotel to the building it could be shorter?

[uptownliving]

I am more concern with height and design than the number of floors. Remember that office floors are about 10-12 feet or more plus about 2 feet between floors so the tower will be about 540 feet and add a possible air duct and other thing that are needed at the top and this tower will become Raleigh's tallest around 600'. That sounds good to me

I thought the article says that the 38 story tower will be a residential condo/hotel combo. If that is the case then the building will be closer to 450 ft in height.

[Jones_]

Sandreuter is pretty savy but I hope he has better luck landing the corporate tenant than Reynolds did. I wonder if this is purely spec or if they are reacting to inqueries. The CC may be bringing in new eyes to downtown that were not present before....[Potential Conventioner]-"Mr. convention manager sir, we hear you have a nice new space, but we'd like to check out downtown before booking our event" [Raleigh CC employee]-"Yes sir, we'd love to show you around" *Dinner and drinks downtown followed by a show at the PE Center and then late night drinks elsewhere*. [Potential Conventioner]-"Ok lets book it. Too bad you don't have more spec office space planned in the upcoming several years, we will be seeking a new HQ with a milder climate and room to expand soon"........

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

So a 38 story condo/hotel tower is going to be somewhere close to 450ft in height. This is something that is missed by many newspaper writers....they just do the floor count and forget that condo and especially hotel floors are shorter than offices.

Exactly, the reporter who covered the Soleil Center kept saying "Raleigh's Tallest building" and now the N&O is re-enforcing the just because of the # of floors that it must be taller than RBC. Is it a case of just be simple minded? Or just not thinking/probing enough?

[Justin6882]

This space would be perfect for MorganStanley

[plus2]

I hope there is already a corporate tenant on the horizon. 2012 feels like such a long way off. If it gets pushed back anymore, I am going to get very frustrated.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

I hope there is already a corporate tenant on the horizon. 2012 feels like such a long way off. If it gets pushed back anymore, I am going to get very frustrated.

I think that there timeline shows very good fore-thought for how long things take to go through the city approval and building process. I feel good about the possibility of this complex truly coming to fruition.

[thekitch]

I think I'm going to curb my enthusiasm a bit considering all the pieces that need falling into place before it even gets off the ground. I do hope things work out. Would really start to create a nice downtown center around the CC\Fayetteville st area. Seems like it could really help to bring in some new retail to the wilmington st area as well.

[shiftgreen]

i dont know why they cant make it 45 stories, and the other one 17 stories... im sick of all our buildings being under 40 stories...whats the deal with that.

[Rufus]

the article mentioned that it would be LEED certified, so doesn't that mean that the floors would be taller in height? The Wachovia project in Charlotte is LEED certified for the office tower, and it is only 46 stories tall, but it will be 764'. So if that is the case, would the residential floors of an LEED building be about the size of a regular office floor?

[orulz]

i dont know why they cant make it 45 stories, and the other one 17 stories... im sick of all our buildings being under 40 stories...whats the deal with that.

I'm not sick of it at all. I don't care. As a matter of fact, why does it make a difference whether we have any towers over 40 stories or not? Perhaps building 1@45 and 1@17 is more expensive than 1@38 and 1@24. Or perhaps that doesn't yield the right combination of office, hotel, residential and retail that they need to make this work. It's not like having a 40+ building will "put us on the map" or give the city "a higher profile" or make it more attractive to prospective corporations, residents, shops, etc. It won't make one iota of difference to anybody but the skyscraper enthusiast.

Nothing personal! I just think that complaining over buildings being "not tall enough" is wasted breath.

[ChiefJoJo]

Terrific!

Cary developer Gregg Sandreuter and Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh want to build a 38-story, eco-friendly mix of shops, hotel rooms and residences in Raleigh's reviving downtown.

It's part of a two-tower plan called Edison. The second tower would rise 24 stories. If approved by city planners, it would be the latest step in the city's efforts to turn a 9-to-5 government town into a hub of 24-7 activity.

Although it's not specified, I interpret that the 38-story tower is condos over hotel over ground floor retail (since high-rise condos will sell very well), and the 24-story building is all office over retail. Depending on floorplates, you could build 500k sf out of 24 floors. Since their was no announcement of a third building, I assume they are not building on top of the parking deck, but that air rights could be utilized at a much later date (I hope). As big as it is, that deck probably takes up an acre or more of land, which leaves "only" about just over two acres for each of the two towers.

Cherokee's involvement is a HUGE plus, as they probably pushed for LEED certification, which is another great thing about this project. I assume that the floors would be larger for LEED as some have said.

I wonder if Morgan Stanley could be thinking about this? I doubt it since they aren't moving a corporate HQ and probably would not want to wait until 2012 to occupy office space.

On a side note, I absolutely can't believe some people are complaining about this already.

[capitalapts]

Terrific!

Cary developer Gregg Sandreuter and Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh want to build a 38-story, eco-friendly mix of shops, hotel rooms and residences in Raleigh's reviving downtown.

It's part of a two-tower plan called Edison. The second tower would rise 24 stories. If approved by city planners, it would be the latest step in the city's efforts to turn a 9-to-5 government town into a hub of 24-7 activity.

Although it's not specified, I interpret that the 38-story tower is condos over hotel over ground floor retail (since high-rise condos will sell very well), and the 24-story building is all office over retail. Depending on floorplates, you could build 500k sf out of 24 floors. Since their was no announcement of a third building, I assume they are not building on top of the parking deck, but that air rights could be utilized at a much later date (I hope). As big as it is, that deck probably takes up an acre or more of land, which leaves "only" about just over two acres for each of the two towers.

Cherokee's involvement is a HUGE plus, as they probably pushed for LEED certification, which is another great thing about this project. I assume that the floors would be larger for LEED as some have said.

I wonder if Morgan Stanley could be thinking about this? I doubt it since they aren't moving a corporate HQ and probably would not want to wait until 2012 to occupy office space.

On a side note, I absolutely can't believe some people are complaining about this already.

A big skyscraper in a downtown setting-what a novel idea!

Good news, but at this point I don't know what to make of the condo market downtown. That place over on St. Mary's decided to go all rental due to a lack of pre-sales (as I understand it) but now this? Also, doesn't a single own about half of the units in the Hudson (a very sweet project IMHO) and just rents them out? To me this suggests a lack of a market (the market being individual owners to buy the condos). I just wonder what metrics are used to forecast the condo market given the above.

I make a pretty darn reasonable salary and I work downtown yet I am woefully unable to afford a condo down here. That's not right, seeing as condos are ideal for younger single guys like myself. There is no way I'm paying $225K+ for a place that's smaller than my apartment now, and the Edison condos figure to be at least that for sure.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

Aren't the developers supposed to be presenting there proposel to the city today for this? The N&O story was just a leak correct?

[raleightransplant]

This is great news! The fact that this is two decent buildings rather than one is exciting for the downtown center...retail in that area would be a home run. As for building height...meh. It's all relative, really. 38 stories is wonderful, and when you're dealing with a second or third tier market (I'm not saying anything about Raleigh---I consider Denver and Tampa to be lower than 1st tier cities)---building height is always relative. I mean, build 60 stories if you want--you'll still be wanting when you compare to truly huge cities. To most people (or non-UP'ers) building height isn't even really considered past pure aesthetics. Is there a new skyline in Raleigh with really great streetlife and beautiful architecture? Does this create a properous and positive image of the city? If the answer to that is "yes"---which as you'll find WILL be the answer, there's no need to lament the fact that it's under 40 stories.

Look where we're headed relative to 5 years ago, when there was NOTHING new going up and sprawl was where all the growth was going in Raleigh. Congrats to Raleigh for wanting to grow in to the city it's destined to become.

[DanRNC]

I'm taking a wait and see approach to this one. If this hinges on a corporate tenant you might as well write it off as the Raleigh Chamber may be one of the more incompetent organizations in business recruiting.