In what many Durham residents called an outright heist, SunTrust Bank relocated it’s downtown Durham office tower to the city of Raleigh in one of the largest building moves in history. Citing the need to alleviate rush hour traffic on both Interstate 40 and the Durham Freeway, Raleigh mayor Nancy McFarlane welcomed the classic 17 story Art Deco high rise to the city center.
A large parking lot adjacent to Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Raleigh Convention Center will serve as the new location for the building.
The 17 story SunTrust Tower was hoisted on a massive platform for the day long move
Link to this photograph.
Weekend move of the SunTrust Tower to downtown Raleigh seen from incoming airplane over Interstate 40
Link to this photograph.
The building didn’t feel like sitting in some eventual traffic on I-40, so it took Highway 70 into downtown Raleigh.
Raleigh’s Oakwood residents welcome the SunTrust Tower from Durham during the slow move
Link to this photograph.
April 1st, 2012 at 8:44 am (#)
April Fool
April 1st, 2012 at 12:10 pm (#)
nice april fool’s joke.not a bad addition to the skyline.
April 1st, 2012 at 1:23 pm (#)
i agree – it fits in the Raleigh skyline quite well…
April 1st, 2012 at 6:42 pm (#)
Looks like someone has a little too much time on his hands. Â 🙂
April 1st, 2012 at 8:52 pm (#)
Ha. Â Nice. Â I do like that this picture puts that building into perspective because I know people who think Durham has a bigger dt than Raleigh and has bigger buildings.
April 2nd, 2012 at 8:29 am (#)
LMAO! nice!
April 2nd, 2012 at 11:20 am (#)
April Fool’s Day could not have gotten better than this :LOL: Amazing work, Matt!!! This is truly cool work on your part and it must have taken a long time to prepare this collection. Which makes me appreciate your April Fool’s Day gift even more. This “move” is more believable these days than adding a 40-story tower in the skyline, so you made a good choice 🙂
April 3rd, 2012 at 3:36 pm (#)
lol..man that was a good one…I was just downtown yesterday and you still almost had me…lol
April 5th, 2012 at 9:34 pm (#)
you clould tell it was a joke becouse you see the building on I40 saying how did the building get up under the bridge
February 5th, 2013 at 8:57 pm (#)
Ha, nice. XD I wish there was a Suntrust tower DT, modern though.
January 24th, 2022 at 4:21 pm (#)
I was baffled as I was reading this and seeing the photos. And I thought the same thing as another person did. How in the world would it travel I-40 with overpasses. If there was no bridges and just bridges at the exits. They probably could go up the ramp and down the other side. But in addition to this dilemma. They would have to take down power lines for the entire route. It’s just too enormous. But it’s a great April Fool’s joke.