Downtown Raleigh’s skyline will change dramatically in the next several years with the addition of new towers, particularly in the southern end. Are you excited?
UPDATE 10/08/2008:
First of the Edison updates:
UPDATE 07/20/2007:
He is an updated version of the future Raleigh Skyline rendering. It reflects a more current version of what we might see in 2008 and beyond.
Closer:
The current version of Raleigh (2006):
The future rendering of Raleigh:
A less cartoony look at the rendering:
Discuss!
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Created
on Sunday, October 29th, 2006 in the category Illustrations.
October 30th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Nice rendering man. It is nice to see them all together in the skyline. They should spread out into the space between the Wachovia Building and The Quorum Center. That would fill out the skyline a little.
Where is The Soleil Center at? Oh yeah, it won’t be in the downtown skyline. What a waste of such a tall skyscraper. They don’t build lenses wide enough to get that in the skyline. Well, Crabtree Skyline dot com seems to be still up for grabs.
Looks great, can’t wait till it’s a reality.
October 30th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Matt,
Let me thank you again for the wonderful work you have done. Not only you use your own photos as the basis, but also provide some truly nice picture of what the future holds for DT Raleigh’s skyline.
I think we can all agree that today’s skyline does not reflect the city’s image to the rest of the nation. As Raleigh gets [consistently] good grades on most lists, the skyline leaves much to be desired. We have been blessed with a fine angle – South Saunders Street – from which one can view the skyline and get impressed a little. I love tall buildings, but I also want to be realistic about the expectations from getting all those great towers. Maybe I have grown accustomed to seeing so many other impressive skylines that I still remain unimpressed. Your renderings reveal the harsh reality: we missed a lot of opportunities in the 90′s, when much of our sprawl happened. During that time we were lucky to build the infrastructure that gave birth to DRA, the Warehouse District and Glenwood South, but we had little success in attracting more businesses downtown.
The biggest challenge for DT Raleigh will be to fill the gap between South End and Hillsborough Str. This gap will take a VERY long time to fill, as there are considerable obstacles and several low-rises we’ll never see replaced by taller structures. Putting together sizeable lots is getting harder and harder. My guess is that the City of Raleigh is waiting for the right moment before they sell the entire block to a developer and move their offices elsewhere. This spot could potentially add at least two more high-rises and start making the distance between Wachovia Center and Reynolds Tower 1 appear smaller. If the Dawson was delivered as the original 15-story tower vision, and if the corner of Hargett & Dawson could get something taller than 10 floors (like it should), things could have looked more promising for our skyline. The next big hope comes from the N&O block and the Wake County’s new courthouse building. In other words, I expect to see a lot happening along McDowell Str, with Salisbury Str picking up some momentum.
Sadly, the Wilmington Str section shows very little promise when it comes to the money shot. With the exception of RBC Plaza, every single building will be pretty much obscured, especially as Sites 2 and 3 get developed. There is a dark horse, however, and we should not ignore its potential: the South-East entrance to downtown. Matt, you put together a nice rendering some time ago, with what was the vision for First Citizens Bank’s tower. With RBC Plaza filling that space and being the new tallest, I can see this angle carrying a lot promise. Those of you who do not remember this rendering, check this link:
http://raleighskyline.com/illus/ralr.jpg
Now, if you can modify the above rendering to reflect at least the Marriott Hotel, Lafayette, and RBC Plaza, we may end up discussing things even more. The key is to maintain visibility of our tallest towers within the CBD – Reynolds Tower 1 will sit outside the CDB’s boundaries – and this angle may be what we are looking for. Keep in mind the possibility of getting something above 25 floors next to Sheraton. If Highwoods Properties gets bold enough to fully take advantage of their Progress Plaza North, we may even get something of 25 stories and above to the North of Progress Plaza Two… I know, how dare am I to even suggest something like that :LOL:
Last, but not least, I want to see what will happen around the new convention center, particularly to the North. To me, this area screams for a 50+ story skyscraper, and across from the latter, to the East – remember, Gale Str sits between McDowell and Salisbury streets – possibly something around 20-30 stories.
Anyway, great work. Just keep the visions/renderings coming. Maybe someone in the city government will actually take a look at these images and manage to figure out what this city really needs in order to look great. At least from the distance
November 1st, 2006 at 12:45 pm
what about greensboro? why can’t greensboro build tall buildings? seemingly everything goes to charlotte.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:15 pm
I love this rendering, it is amazing. You truly have a talent. Anyone else think that Raleigh might look kinda like Austin, TX when the gap between reynolds is somewhat filled?
November 1st, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Raleigh is going to look more city like in the future I somewhat miss living there, but I love living in Pittsburgh better.
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:05 am
The picture is well – picture perfert! Now if the bean counters had put the RBC Center downtown where it belongs instead of a cow pasture. This WOULD look like a real city!
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Alan, Greensboro has a lot of competition from Winston-Salem. Raleigh and Durham do not really compete against each other when it comes to skylines. Durham seems to aim more at renovations – the right thing to do at this point in time – while Raleigh wants to create a better image after reopening Fayetteville Str. Greensboro is a very silent up and coming city, which means it will [silently] get taller towers, when we least expect it
If it makes you feel any better, RBC Plaza’s status as the new tallest for our city is the result of “cheating”, not that the tower will be a 40+ story skyscraper. Charlotte is blessed with having banks/financial institutions that put a lot of emphasis on image and the building of a community (Uptown). I am sure that when Greensboro reaches the population numbers of Raleigh and Charlotte, its skyline will look much better than the aformentioned cities.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
why has it taken raleigh so long to get interested in building tall buildings? it is long over due but hey i guess better now than never! i don’t know why everyone thinks charlotte is so much better! it took them a longer time really to get their downtown underway also. 15 years ago charlotte’s downtown wasn’t good at all but it was bigger than raleigh is now so i think raleigh is making sufficient progress. does anyone know when they are suppose to break ground on site one and four? is there a site two and three? let me know anybody!
November 8th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
The key to building taller buildings in any city is having a market interest in filling them. With that said, I think that if and when the Reynolds group pulls off the coup and lands that mysterious Fortune 500 company as the main tenant of their proposed tower on Hillsborough St., we will see a flurry of other companies following suit to try an occupy downtown space. We’ve already had a number of small and medium sized copanies move or announce plans to move their headquaters downtown. I think that it is only a matter of time before we see “real” development that will put Raleigh on the map as it deserves.
Having said all of that, I would caution anyone from comparing Charlotte to Raleigh to Greensboro. Each of these towns have different business climates, cultures, and populations, and the downtown developments are a reflection of that.
November 8th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
I believe Raleigh deserves a decent skyline which it does not have currently. These future renderings look sharp, especially that Atlantaesque one in the back. I’m impressed by Charlotte’s skyline, as it does reflect it’s population and economy. But it is true that Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro are very different cities. I think it will be interesting in the future to see Raleigh step up.
November 8th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
This website has some great photos and updates on the city. I’m so excited to see Raleigh on it’s way to becoming a big city. Beleive me when i say everyone wants this city to grow! Someone tell someone to put the Soleil Center downtown or else they aren’t going to get any sales. The future renderings of the city look great we need more people downtown so it will continue to grow.
November 9th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Supposedly site 1 and the marriot are being delayed by the adjacent building owners worrying that their buildings are going to “sink” into the future site. Expenses have skyrocketed for extra shoring and groundbreaking has been rumored not until october 2007 (according to my sources in the construction biz). Realistically the project will prob start next summer. Site 1 is going to be massive with a over a million sq. feet of space.
November 9th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Great picture, but a third of it is Crepe Myrtle trees, and you could take out the visual distraction of the speed limit sign.
November 13th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
I agree with Matt’s post above (and not just because we’re namesakes) that I would have liked to have seen Soleil Center much closer to downtown. I believe the RBC Plaza condos are mostly sold out – that should send a message to the Soleil Group about where people are most interested in buying condos. It’s a shame, the renderings for that building are beautiful and would have looked great downtown. You also can’t help but wonder if the people at First Citizens are looking back on their decision to scrap their downtown tower plan. I think Ernest makes a lot of great, well-thought out points as well. I think it’s a matter of time before southeast Raleigh finally starts getting the attention of some developers (new Super Walmart planned for Walnut Creek area comes to mind).
It’s not likely, but seeing that RBC revised their plans to extend the height of RBC Plaza at the last minute (yes, the spire is “cheating”, but still reaches taller nonetheless) I’d hope that maybe when Reynolds 1 begins to move forward some thought might be given to adding a few more floors to that project. Of course, that is driven largely by market demand, but purely from a visual standpoint of the overall skyline, what it would do for Raleigh!
November 17th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Wow. Very nice. Very impressive…I would really like to feature some of your stuff on my blog…
November 20th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Matt K,
Let me share with you something concerning the Soleil Center 1 tower. It is Westin Hotels that would not have “allowed” the branding of the hotel if it was going Downtown. Without Westin, there would have been no Soleil Center 1. As for the developers (Soleil Group), they are very much interested in Downtown Raleigh, but first, they have to finish Soleil Center 1. The delays on the groundbreaking are due to some internal redesigns, as the number of condos have been increased from 41 to 49 – splitting of some units into smaller condos. The sooner we get Soleil Center 1 and 2, the sooner Soleil Group will come to Downtown Raleigh
Ernest
November 25th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Raleigh has had size issues sinse NC built that dowdy building they call their Staatehouse. I have seen MCMansions larger than that in Raleigh.
But seriously, Raleigh needs to trim it’s bush around the beltway, or at least put on some peep shows, then everyone will be able to see it’s true size and beauty. People won’t be inspired by it or ever want to go down on it unless they can see it in the normal course of their days.
You shouldn’t have to make a special trip in order to see your city.
I get to enjoy my wonderfull city everyday while I am walking around the lake, driving to the grocery or looking out my apartment window. Take a lesson from MPLS or even DES MOINES, IOWA.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
The rendering of the future skyline looks pretty cool. But I still cant believe we settled for that design for the new Marriot. It almost makes me sick. Oh, well. All we need now is something huge to fill in that gap, like around Nash square. That area needs something big to bring life to it and more high rises so that raleigh can become a little more 3d. Raleigh has an advantage over some cities like Charlotte and Greensboro who seem to have one main “strip” of action. We have many unique districts and other factors that make us special, like our eye for historic preservation, Charlotte. People just fail to realize this. There are too many who want to stand in the way of progress for downtown. Who ever said that everything good has to be built on Fayetteville street.
I think the “center of town” should be dragged over a little bit to the Nash Square area, not to take away from the Fayetteville street progress, but in addition to it. Then we can see taller/better buildings around it like on Hillsborough street toward the capital, and in the “warehouse district.” (which by the way sucks, the buildings have no real historical significance and I think everyone would rather see real buildings built there)
This would make the city walkable from Glenwood South to all other parts of downtown. Plus, a mass transit rail system to downtown would make a lot more sense if this were done. Raleigh has to “spread it’s wings” in order to fly and ist important that we not settle for littl mid-rises, it has been proven that downtown can do better.
P.S. Why does everybody hat the round Clarion Hotel? Dont you think it probably looked pretty freakin cool to the people of Raleigh when it was built?
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:49 am
I love the Clarion. It’s not exactly an original design, though. There’s a Holiday Inn (which it originally was) that is from exactly the same design plan in L.A.
December 3rd, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Do people hate the Clarion Hotel? I remember seeing it when I was a kid, when it was the Holiday Inn and I thought it was cool. I always thought that the restaurant on the top rotated. I always thought that would be a good idea. I think the design is a bit old for this day and age, but I still like it.
I would like to see pictures of the Holiday Inn at L.A. Ours is probably better.