even that terrible marriott looks good in your pics matt. keep up the excellent work. bring back a couple of skyscrapers from pittsburgh, they wont miss them……

5 acorns!

I agree with laryea… If you can make that Marriott Hotel eyesore look acceptable, you got the talent :LOL: Seriously, this is yet-another outstanding collection of images. Loved the new angles, particularly the one from the Seaboard Station. Not that I had not seen that before, just never a photo from there. With the two upcoming apartment buildings – site plan for two 5-story lowrises has been filed – the Seaboard Warehouses area will flourish with activity and provide a somewhat urban environment, from which the skyline will be visible.

The Raleigh River shot and the sunset on Lake Wheeler are super nice. Excellent work with the perspectives from Seaboard Station and NCSU Centennial Campus. I have never seen that Wake County Office Building shot from that angle either… looks interesting. Kind of like there’s a school on the top floors.

Just another badass set of pictures courtesy of the city of oaks.. and a smart guy with a quality camera.. keep em comin!

I’m curious about the penthouse on top of the old CP&L building now used by Wake County. It almost looks like some sort of clubhouse. But, then again, I’m also thinking about the dimensional gateway in ‘Ghostbusters.’ Who knows??

Peace

I stand corrected. The building I’m referring to was originally the home of Durham Life Insurance Company. Since they owned WPTF radio (We Protect The Family), I’m wondering if that penthouse was a studio. Anybody??

Peace

Great pics! So happy to see that our skyline is improving! Any idea on when they will start on “The Hillsborough” project? How tall is that building set to be?

Patience anonymous… patience… The Hillsborough hasn’t been stalled for more than 20 years, yet… It is like a good wine, it needs time to mature :LOL:

Seriously, not even the developers know, I am sure about it. The financing terms are simply brutal, and as much as I love the developers – nice people in real life – I blame THEM for the latest delays. When they had secured some good financing terms, they took their sweet time, scaling down the project to its current 23-24 floor incarnation. The city should have told them to move on with the 32-story version and include the offices, like they planned in the beginning, or the deal was off. I know I cheered for them, as I was aware of their good intentions, but since then they proved unable to deliver, so I have to consider what is best for the city, ONLY. Let a capable developer move in and build something tall and elegant. Enough with that fear of heights our city has.

BTW, the delay should be about 6 months, or so the developers claim in their request for extension. Am I confident? Your guess is as good as mine. I can see the need to alter the design in order to include more hotel space, but this is not what the developers are asking for. Hopefully, someone with deep pockets and vision will finance this project, so we can move on…

Great photos! Any idea if there are conversations to clean up our streets of the ugly utility poles in downtown? All utilities should be buried (just like they were on Glenwood South and “F” Street). Any idea if there are plans to remove all utilities in downtown (or at least start the next phase of cleanup)? We have Progress Energy in the heart of downtown, this should be priority (photos are great, but utility lines ruin the views).

Note: I agree, I like the Reynold’s group, but “The Hillsborough” should have broken ground YEARS ago (that property should have been sold to another developer with a vision for a tall (minimum o 40 stories) building at that location – these delays are what slow progress in downtown (Example: The Lafayette, another piece of property that should be sold to another developer – the city should have told this developer that they want this building to open in conjunction with the convention center) – no reason for these delays – again, city council being reactive instead of proactive.

is that the curch on lead mine???

45 is too fast for a city right????

Are you talking about speed limits, or number of floors? In both cases my answer is “no”, but it depends on the location

Great collection of pics – I’ve loved downtown since I was a kid, its got some of the best bones of any central city in the country. I sure love to stop by and see what new you’ve posted.
Two questions – what’s wrong with the Marriot? its no award-winner, but its all about the rooms and putting people in the.
Second – what is the iron frame work to the left of the RBC building in the RBC Plaza pic?
Third (I know, I said two) what is the tower in from of Quorum? Is that condos? Can someone give me the location?
Again, Matt does kick ass work, and I greatly appreciate it.

Oh, the lawn in front of Broughton has a great view of downtown.

awww, pittsburgh. GO PENS!

i am a fellow photographer from pittsburgh and will soon be moving to raleigh. i was down there for a while recently to do job interviews and the such… i love it! i’ll miss pittsburgh, but not the potholes nor the weather. how was the adjustment to raleigh?

pbeez,

There is more than one way to view Marriott Hotel. I will try to offer the best explanation I can as to why I do not like it:

1) The architecture leaves much to be desired. It is not the ugliest thing I’ve seen – several other buildings can take the cake – but it is not the most appropriate, considering the money shot is what most people see in the publications.

2) The use of land is very poor, if you look at the site plan; too much unused space. This site was a great candidate for something MUCH bigger and more inspiring. If anything, the city should have divided this parcel into two. If this hotel was proposed for another, less important location, I would not complain as much, if at all.

3) Regardless our local government’s (city and county) absorbing a third of the costs (over $20 million, just for the hotel), the developer brought forth a smaller version of what the city wanted to see, which was a 23-story/450-room hotel. This may not sound like a lot, but it was the minimum. Unfortunately, instead of looking for a developer who could offer something more, we accepted less than the minimum. Now, we are facing a huge problem with the available number of hotel rooms. Without a sufficient amount of hotel space, we take a great risk with the new convention center.

I can go on and on, but I will stop here. To me the Marriott Hotel was one of the worst moves our city has made. We showed no guts.

The iron frame you see in the photo is the 7-story Hue, situated at the NW corner of Hargett and Dawson streets. If you haven’t heard of it, go to “hueraleigh dot com” and read more about it. Another classic example of how to waste a valuable property. On a more positive note, it is an urban project, with over 200 residential units on the fairly affordable side, from what I hear.

As for the third question, I believe you refer to the West At North. It is a 15-story residential building (16 floors if you count the recreation room on the top, or 17 if you skip the 13th floor), just NW of Quorum Center. It includes a little less than 180 units, with retail on the ground floor. It will be one of those catalyst projects for the Glenwood South area, much like Quorum Center when it was built. The same developer will build the two Edison towers, but that is another project that remains a mystery, since we have only seen the site plan and no renderings

Best of luck in your new home cjscott You will definitely miss Pittsburgh’s urbanity and skyline, but on the other hand you will witness the making of a city… Raleigh will be a very different place before you know it. I am looking forward to seeing your photos of Raleigh after you explore this area a little more. I am sure you will discover things we have not seen

thanks ernest! i’m looking forward to the move… as well as taking pictures! although i can’t compete with matt… he’s got amazing ones! but everyone there seems really nice and the area is clean and lovely. it’s great having all that nature nearby (which is something we really don’t have in the ‘burgh). i’m sure i’ll find some steelers bars to make my move more like home, haha.

In regards to the mystery penthouse, I got email back from Mike Raley at WQDR. He’s been with Curtis Media and before that with the Durham Life Broadcast stations for some time. His recall was the WPTF broadcast from a studio that was on a mezzanine in the Durham Life/Wake County building facing Salisbury Street. WPTF then moved out to West Raleigh. His thought about the penthouse was that it served kind of executive function for the Durham Life hierarchy, but it was an educated guess on his part. I do love the look of that lobby from the street level. Very cool.

Peace

10 ACORNS!! I love the stepping west, the money shot, Raleigh River, and the Quorum, 222, Clarion, and even the Marriott shots and of course, all the night shots. The RBC building really adds something extra to the money shot, GO RALEIGH

Thanks Matt!

These were amazing, it’s funny because Matt goes to Pittsburgh and we are here in a heat wave…it’s probably hot in Pitt too though. Well anyway, AMAZING shots Matt! My favorite is the first photo.

I’m late to this thread (too busy during the work week lol), so a few things…

Agreed with the majority opinion on the Marriott. Even for a mid-rise structure, it’s bland and disappointing and the closer it gets to completion, the more I can see why it has drawn such criticism. Being that it’s right on downtown’s “front doorstep” so to speak, it’s too bad something more eye popping couldn’t have been done.

pbeez mentions the spot in front of Broughton as a great view of downtown – I couldn’t agree more. The angle from there gives downtown a nice appearance of density, plus it’s elevated just enough. I’ve snapped a few shots from that corner and while the angle is great, the view is obscured by utility lights and traffic lights (Matt’s so creative, he could do something with that, though…) Were it possible to elevate above that mess at the corner of Peace and St. Mary’s, you could capture some fantastic shots. A big part of me likes the madness that all of Peace Street currently is (it has personality!!), but that great view is being obscured by those utility lines. I’d just ask for that one intersection to get cleaned up.

I was admiring the view coming down 264 from Knightdale this afternoon. For some reason, you do see an appreciable difference in the height of RBC Plaza relative to the other two “big” buildings, compared to the other angles. I’m not sure why that is. I know RBC sits one block further east, but surely THAT can’t be the reason why, not from that far away from downtown.

I’m as frustrated as anyone with what has happened with the evolution of the Hillsborough site. I frequent the Flying Saucer on a regular basis, so I’m all too familiar with what’s been happening (or NOT happening, rather) on that block. Part of me almost hopes the project will be stalled long enough that maybe something better (and bigger) might happen on that site, but at the same time, I don’t wish any bad karma on the project. We all know that regardless of how tall it is (or isn’t), bringing that hotel space downtown is vital for overall success.

Lastly – how long till the tower crane come down from RBC Plaza? Since the spire is up now, I guess that’s the next major visual thing I’m waiting to see happen there. I know there’s signage and other detail things waiting to be completed up top. It’ll also be nice when the building is finally functional and we’ll start seeing lighting at night.

The Broughton HS angle is good, but not as great as one might think. I went to the top floor and the image was a bit disappointing. Check out one of the photos I took and draw your own conclusions:

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/56429861

It was taken during the Winter of 2006, so the foliage wasn’t blocking the view entirely. Still, not much was visible. I tried different angles from the same building and the results were not good. Maybe there is a perfect location, but it left me with much to be desired. If the trees were not on the way, the picture would have probably been better.

On The Hillsborough I have to say this: The great thing about that vision is the momentum it built for that area. Whether it gets build soon, or not, the very proposal brought forth additional projects. Sure, the Winston Tower is officially stalled until the market conditions – actually the financing terms – improve. I do not know about the One Glenwood project because it remains a secret, but I have a feeling that financing will not be the issue, due to the developer’s reputation. once The Hillsborough, or anything else in its place, break ground officially, I anticipate other developers to rush and propose more projects. The state of condo sales in DT Raleigh is very good, no matter how bad the picture is painted by the media – they love to create doom and gloom. What we need is some decent projects to actually demonstrate how desirable and under-served high-rise living is.

Matt-

I have not been up there to the Greek Orthodox since RBC Plaza has existed. Your talent shines in every picture you take. Thanks again buddy! I always look forward to the weeks to come.

AWESOME PHOTOS, Matt! I saw this a few days ago and forgot to comment (sorry). Also, just as a note to everyone, today the US 70 Clayton Bypass opened!

Go to Google and type in “Edison Raleigh Rendering” and click on the very first result to see a rendering of the Edison, as well as an article. I must say, it looks quite neat!

I counted about 48 floors a piece in height for the Edison Towers in that rendering. Albeit, the rendering is far from the ultimate result, but promising none-the-less!

Even though it may not look like the final result, I like the feeling that something of that magnitude will get built in our city! The skyline is gonna look amazing, about fifty years from now, I bet.

I hope it happens. That looks pretty cool!

Don’t be fooled by the top of the building… The two tallest towers will be 38 floors, based on the rendering. However, the crown does look like it adds another 8 floors, or so Just be patient and this project may even get taller, but hopefully not shorter.

i want more pics now!!!!!!!!!!

Hey there,

I’m a Raleigh girl currently living in London. Was feeling a bit homesick so I did a google search for Raleigh blogs and your site came up first. Just wanted to say that I love your photos and I’ll be coming back for more! I still don’t know if this helps the homesickness or makes it worse but either way it’s nice to see such beautiful photos of my hometown so thank you…

They need to open up the dam and run a river through downtown. Maybe some sort of canal system like providence or San antonio.

The “River Fantasy” page in the archive on here seems not to be working. Was this a rendering of such a proposal?