If you haven’t been by recently, the North Carolina Education campus is rocking two cranes at the moment. It’s possible, as spotted by the Community, that a third is on the way. This block-sized project has had all its work take place below street-level, most likely building underground parking, but it looks like some of that has reached sidewalk heights and here in the Fall, the project may begin to rise.
Continue reading →During the July 1, 2025 city council meeting, there was an update on a collection of projects, most taking place in the downtown area and I thought briefly touching on these projects here would be a nice way to summarize what’s going on and coming up. If you want to dive in to the presentation itself, the video is above or can be seen here.
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Have you seen the new lights on Fayetteville Street? All the trees, 88 of them, have been wrapped with white lights and they are lit each night, from Lenoir to Morgan Street. It’s a nice touch, adding some vibrancy to a kind of dull and gray streetscape. There’s more improvements on the way for the street which should elevate the area in order to really cement it as a key place to be when in downtown.
I’m pleased to join some fine folks next week as we’ll be talking about our city’s flag; past, present, and future. I hope to see some readers out there at the City of Raleigh Museum.
You can find more info here at Friends of the City of Raleigh Museum website.
The next apartment building to open up in downtown Raleigh looks to be the Alexan Moto, located along both Harrington and West Streets. That’ll up the number of homes in Glenwood South, which is already the most dense area in the city, and perhaps one day start to transition the area as a highly residential-focused area rather than just “the nightlife spot.”
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Well there goes the Bath Building. After a few months of work, the demolition of the State Government’s old space on Wilmington Street has been reduced to rubble. Now we’ll just watch it get picked up and scooped away. From what I’ve heard, the land will sit empty and hopefully just be a well-manicured lawn rather than surface parking.
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I pass by this project so often and it’s followed so closely on the Community that I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted a photo of the progress here on the blog. The city’s new civic tower, at the corner of McDowell and Hargett, has a few floors assembled as we head into the summer building season. Be sure to check out some interior photos posted here on the Community, including a look at the future council chambers.
With the base of the tower mostly complete, I imagine the rest of the floors will be a “pour, rinse, and repeat” process all the way to the top. That’s likely what we’ll be watching throughout the year, as the construction timeline currently runs into 2026.
If you’re new to this project, it’s called the East Civic Tower or simply the future City Hall. It’s set to replace all operations currently housed in the Raleigh Municipal Building next door. Several existing downtown office leases will not be renewed, and city departments will consolidate into this one central location. I’m not aware of plans for the rest of the city-owned block but I’m sure one new office tower will be enough for now.
It’s still just a parking lot over at 320 West Cabarrus Street these days. If you didn’t know, this was the former location of our Amtrak Station before Raleigh Union Station opened up. The former train station here was demolished in 2018. Now, plans are moving forward for a small office building on the site which is still owned by the North Carolina Railroad.
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