Plans Unveiled for Another Downtown Raleigh Tower

The Hillsborough would become the latest high-rise project slated for a rejuvenated downtown. City planners said Tuesday they would recommend the building for approval by the Planning Commission next week.

Attorney Ted Reynolds is developing the $65 million project, which will include 17,500 square feet of retail space, a 136-room hotel and 26 condos on the top floors. He earlier proposed offices in the building but recast the project in recent months.

"The way we've developed in the last 50 years has been to separate our land uses," said David Diaz, president and chief executive of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. "That's all changing now. Young professionals (and) empty nesters want to be close to where they work, where they eat and where they want to have fun."

The building will go up on the site of a former city inspections office.

Other high-rises planned downtown include The Lafayette at Lenoir and Salisbury streets, the twin-towered Edison at Wilmington and Martin streets and RBC Plaza on Fayetteville Street. All of the towers are mixed-use projects.

"The mixed-use is more of a tempting use for downtown," said Jim Maripoti, of the city Planning Department. "The footprint of land is finite. They're not inventing new land here. Developers want to have a flexibility of uses."

"The cost of land is very high. If you can buy a couple of acres and put a building 20 to 30 stories (on it), it's really sort of an anti-sprawl strategy," Diaz said.

The Hillsborough's hotel isn't linked to the new convention center going up a few blocks away, but city officials said the extra hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center should help the facility succeed.