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.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Since it seems there is a lot of Mongo bashing when he’s negative, id like to say its nice that his last post was positive.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I’m not from here, so I’ll try not to sound preachy. I’ve lived here for 2 years from Texas and love it. But there are a few things in Raleigh’s quest for ‘urbanity’ that I still don’t quite understand. When I first moved here I met a lot of locals (lovely people really) who at the time didn’t seem to want anything to do with this brave new world that outsiders, in their perception, were trying to push on them. I think we’ve come through that, as many people have seen that this can be done in a sane manner that doesn’t adversely affect the quality of life.
I think the situation with trying to build a downtown that reflects the city’s character and asperations is experiencing similar difficulties. On the one hand, who needs tall buildings? On the other, you only have a few sound-bites as we all know, to ‘sell’ a city to the outside world. Raleigh is a real city now that it is larger than Pittsburgh, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc. whether anyone likes it or not. It’s already not a ‘best kept secret’ as it may have once been, so no use trying to go back there. Only way forward is to become a great place in every sense of the word and welcome this opportunity.
Now locals, please don’t kill me because I really love this place. I don’t think everyone is trying to block progress here but some people seem to revert to that when ‘too bold’ visions get proposed. If anyone can enlight me on this that would be great. If only to tell me I’m wrong, I would love to believe that!
May 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
DougC, your perspective is very valuable and you hit a lot of points. As an outsider – moved from NYC in 1992 – I cannot say anything about the city before I moved here. I like the progress and I think that both locals and non-native Raleighites are responsible for the growth and the good reputation. As for the bold visions, I would say with confidence that native Raleighites are not necessarily the obstacle… There are MANY implants who oppose tall buildings and big visions, and worry about “losing the character” of our downtown.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
thanks, ernest, I agree this is not really about pitting Raleighites (born and bred) against others in terms of who has the best vision. Maybe I’m too impatient having only been here two years and expecting the place to be transformed in such a short period, purely for my own entertainment..LOL Unfortunately, as you said, I don’t really know what this place was like before I got here. People tell me things like, if you think this is bad you should have been here 20 years ago when you couldn’t find X number of things (sushi, gourmet coffee, a restaurant open on a weeknight past 6 PM, etc.) to save your life. I’m sure I’ll get mail over this.;) also, 20 years ago the smaller cities in the US in general didn’t have access to many big city amenities like they all seem to have now. expectations have simply increased.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I agree..I will be 27 this year, currently in the Army away from Raleigh. I Was born and Raised in this beautiful city…I remember when Wachovia and BB & T went up..( I was in the 5th grade!!!) I have ALWAYS had a love for skyscrapers. I can honestly say as a LOCAL, that I am ALL FOR Raleigh building TALL!( P.S. I am still working on that Raleigh icon)
May 29th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Yes, many locals I have spoken to admire our skyline and hope for more. Unfortunately, there are many non-natives who either tried to escape the big cities because they didn’t care about big city life, or happen to be very inpatient – this comment is NOT for DougC – and want Raleigh to be a big city right now. When I moved here in 1992, a major transformation was about to take place. By the mid-90′s DT Raleigh had discovered nightlife, which brought many people to the center. About 10 years later, the skyline started getting some boost, and 10 years from today we may be talking about much larger projects. Who knows, our downtown fabric may look like any big city we admire
Naturally, we are all inpatient and desire to see extraordinary things happening. But why look at downtown, only? Crabtree Valley and North Hills are fine examples of the potential our area has. Regardless of how some of you feel about getting a high-rise in Crabtree Valley – I happen to support the Soleil Center vision – it is great to see developers paying attention to the rest of the city. North Hills, in particular, has proven to be a success story, even though it is not a purely urban transformation. I drive by there almost every day, during the evening rush hour and the later evening hours. Most times I see people even walking around there and can’t help noticing how much better things would have been if North Hills had a more urban form. North Hills East may address some of those issues, being a brand new project. The transformation is taking place everywhere, and even though we can’t fix the errors of the past, we can look at the future of our city with optimism.
Just my 2 cents…
May 29th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Has anyone heard the latest word on Dix Park or Dix Sprawling Office Park? Just wondering.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Hey Raleighites! I love this city. I am from Seattle and I think Raleigh is very similar to Portland…which is a thing to be proud of. Portland is very progessive and environmentally friendly. On a lighter note, to open up Raleigh…other than a signature building (RBC Plaza as of late I presume is the new one) why not petition city council to create a space needle or something of that nature with a unique symbol…e.g. St. Louis–ARCH, Seattle–Space Needle, Raleigh–a giant acorn space needle, NYC–Statue. To be a truly unique city…create a memorable symbol…ACORNS!! They are all over City Market, beautiful place, LA–Hollywood sign, YOU NEED A SYMBOL!!!!!!!!!!!
June 6th, 2008 at 7:17 am
The ONLY way we will EVER have an iconic/symbol type structure in downtown Raleigh is for a developer to use an architect that is not located in this state (ie the gentleman who designed the Soleil building is a good example – SOMEONE WITH VISION – no local/state architects will do justice to a Raleigh symbol).
June 6th, 2008 at 8:08 am
A giant acorn space needle would be cool!!
June 6th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Seattle Guy, your input is very valuable. While I would not dare compare Raleigh’s fabric with Portland’s, I surely hope that some day we will see initiatives that resemble the strong points of Portland – and Seattle. You are right on the money about creating a symbol for our city… besides the acorn at Moore Square. We need a signature building/structure, similar to Seattle’s Space Needle. Something that visitors can identify with Raleigh and visit while in our city.
This is not related to a symbol, but in a way it provides something unique. In other urban forums I have proposed that Sites 2 and 3 are sold to private developers who can deliver a twin-tower project similar to Torres KIO (Puerta de Europa) in Madrid (Spain). We need something unique (i.e. Puerta de Raleigh) that could serve as one of the identifying symbols, besides monuments.
As for the city council members, they definitely need to hear from us often. They need to know what our vision is, otherwise they will have to rely on NIMBYs and other “negative” groups. Sure, we want to maintain the character, or whatever is left, but if we look at many bigger cities in this country we will discover that it is possible to combine skyscrapers and older buildings, while strengthening the street level experience.
What would you say are the things that you miss the most from Seattle’s urban experience? Never lived there, and always wanted to visit, so it will be nice to here from someone who actually did. I assume you live in Raleigh now, am I right?
June 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I won’t profess to know as much about Seattle as this other guy who is apparently from there, but there is a sharp cotrast between these type of progressive cities and what I’ve seen here in Raleigh in 2.5 years. First of all, as the visitor to Seattle, Portland, Pacific NW these cities are simply awash in their own mix of historic, yet urban, character. These cities are younger than Raleigh, but it seems to me that they are not “stuck in the past.” They are not huge cities yet they have obviously had visionary entrepreneurs willing to put their money where their mouth is in terms of expressing their civic pride. I’m still having trouble finding this spirit in Raleigh. I’ve heard a lot about “preserving the character of DT.” I’ve come to interpret this statement as a code for let’s keep it “stuck in the past.” Yes, I can understand some things have to stay there that are of a historic nature, but when I hear people seemingly fighting to protect every wienie stand that somebody opened in 1932, even if it looks like sh*t, it makes me wonder what is up. Is there something I don’t understand about Raleigh after only 2.5 years. I’m from Ft. Worth, TX, a city which had basically revolutionized itself in the last 25 years while keeping Cowtown and other historical features intact. While all the trepidation in Raleigh?
June 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
i agree with doug c, there are way too many folk around here who dont have any vision at all. it seems like it only happens around downtown. if you go anywhere else in raleigh they will tear something down and build something new or renovate it as soon as it starts to look a little dingy ( especially north raleigh). do you guys remember that huge project off of oberlin road near cameron village? it was suppose to be like 10 stories of residential and a huge shopping center with a movie theater and hotel. it would have been perfect but all the residents around there were whining that its too large or too much dense. this is the same kind of thinking that keeps raleigh sometimes behind time for urban development. even look at the battle that cooper barbeque had with progress energy. that building is a pos right in the middle of downtown and it took too long for them to reach an agreement. i think there was suppose to be like a 25 story building where it is now but since they took so long the developers scrapped that plan which sucks sh@t! that would have really made raleigh’s skyline look a bit more dense with the rbc tower. we still have a long way to go with having vision around here!
June 6th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Seattle is a BEAUTIFUL city. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything as breathtaking as driving down into Seattle from the north and seeing the downtown skyline with Mt. Rainier in the background – simply breathtaking! Yes, I think Seattle IS all THAT and a bag of chips. LOL
I have never been to Portland, but I have relatives there that have told me all too much about it and I’ve read several articles on how it exists as an example of a large city with very limited sprawl. Of course, Portland (and Seattle) are surrounded by mountains and water of some sort, whereas Raleigh is not, so it’s an apples to oranges comparison. But I think some good examples and lessons can be taken from the development of both cities (Portland moreso, perhaps) and used to help guide Raleigh’s future. I know some will wince at this, but I tell my out of town friends that Raleigh and NC are experiencing a “Californication” of sorts, due to the rampant sprawl, increasing traffic headaches, influx of relocatees and of course the historic drought over the last year. In the big scope of things, most of these problems are actually still in their infancy and are correctable. We need to keep a long term vision in focus and not get too obsessed with “quick-fix” solutions that will end up costing us more time and money in the long run.
DougC makes some good points about future vs. preservation regarding downtown Raleigh. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time to be in a city with such historical character. I think the best approach is to use some real perspective. When I think “historic”, I tend to think about the government complex, Mordecai, Oakwood, City Market… maybe Boylan Heights to a lesser extent. 150-200 years old is historic to me in those terms. So using the 1932 hot dog stand as an example (or a 1932 anything for that matter) – that is NOT historic to me. Tear the darn thing down. Something like that shouldn’t be a barrier to forward progress in an growing, bustling downtown.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
This page needs an update! With all the new stuff going on, that “current” picture is DATED!
June 6th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I hear y’all!!! The over-preservation is one of our worst enemy, as well as land owners without vision. They are happy with little things and they ask for an arm and a leg when a developer shows interest. To me, we need someone with Trump’s guts to come here, buy land, and if some greedy developer who owns a little sh*thole wants big bucks, build something that blocks his property in all directions and let him try to sell his property in the future… I do not advocate for corporate terrorism, but in our case it may do a lot of good. When I hear people treating buildings from the 1930′s as if they are ancient monuments, I want to scream loud in the ears: WAKE UP!!!
So, yes to some good preservation, but also yes to some new visions. We can have it all and be happy in the future.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Ernest, I agree (I am also tired of the lack of vision/size of structure). Developers, city council and wake county commissioners think that we have many historic sties in downtown. Fact is, there are very few worth saving (most need to be removed). I would even go so far to say, our capital building is a joke/embarrassing. Build a new one, make the existing capital a downtown library or remove it and extend “F Street” another 3 -4 blocks.
Note: Anyone asssociated with the downtown Marriott should have their name engraved at the entrance of the building (thus, we can associate names with this mistake, especially one of our ex city council members who represented the developer, he pushed this design and project to collect his fee – he has always been a problem to this city and downtown development – his name just came to me “Shanahan” this guy – has not added any value to this city)
June 8th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Seatle guy,
you are saying what Ive been trying to say for so long. What I think we should do, is, since this city is trying to associate itself with LED lights and what not, I think we should build a massive obelisk or something less phallic but just as iconic. This large obelisk or other structure could be covered with LED light panels and display stunning visual displays of light and images that would have some sort of meaning. I can see this structure placed in the little triangular patch of nothing on Hillsborough St. after the bridge heading toward the Capitol. I also like to imagine the 3 corners of this spot having large gargoyle statue/fountains with heads of a ram, a wolf, and a devil for obvious reasons.
This would not only be a tourist attraction that people would come to see but also a staple that would connect two parts of town, around which we can build Raleigh’s most iconic towers of the future(because of all the available land on the street)
Forgive my imagination, I just think about such things a lot
June 8th, 2008 at 5:02 am
I like jrd’s idea of an obelisk.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:18 am
I agree, it would be nice to have a signature structure of some kind for Raleigh. It’s hard to say how receptive people would be to such a thing (as unique as the Clarion structure is, look at how criticized it’s been over the years) but I personally like the idea. After all, Raleigh is the state capitol and whether you wanted to make it a momument or memorial of some kind, there would be a place for it to fit in I would think. Such an idea is a long shot though. The Jamie Plenza (sp?) art structure that was proposed for Fayetteville street probably could have evolved into something really nice for DT had all parties involved been willing to work with it some, but it seemed rather hastily pushed aside to me. The city killed the idea with very little effort. Not saying this idea is an impossible task, but it would face an uphill battle at the least.
Speaking of which, for being the state capitol (and one of the oldest ones in the country, at that), we really don’t have squat for monuments of memorials compared to some other cities. Ever been to downtown Indianapolis? They have some impressive monuments that rival even DC’s. Seems like the most recognizable ones we have are the giant acorn in Moore Square and Sir Walter (who had been missing for several years anyway). There’s no reason we couldn’t have what amounts to some sort of military memorial that’s impressive on a national scale, especially honoring the sheer number of troops serving from Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg, Pope, Seymour-Johnson, etc.