RALEIGH – The building boom in Downtown continues, but this time the driver is the City.
Raleigh’s City Council disclosed Monday is looking for developers to build a new hotel and an office tower in Downtown on city-owned land.
The two sites, each of which is just over 1 acre in size, on either side of Fayetteville Street between the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and the Raleigh Convention Center. Preliminary plans envision a 500-room hotel. The towers could reach 40 stories.
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin has described the two properties as the city’s “waterfront.”
It’s the latest development news for the City which recently struck a deal with two architectural design firms that could lead to the building of two office towers as part of a Civic Campus Project near Moore Square.
“The City of Raleigh continues to invest in the downtown experience with the adoption of a 10-year plan to add green space and retail while allowing for increased density and connectivity,” the City said in the announcement.
The announcement notes that over the past 15 years “downtown has seen over $3 billion in development.”
“This opportunity to build a convention center hotel and separate office/mixed-use tower will be a big component of progressing the City’s plan,” the City added.
Working with Jones Lang LaSalle IP, a commercial real estate firm, the City formally announced a request for information, or RFI, from interested developers.
Raleigh initially aims “to seek a partner to develop the Fayetteville Street sites.”
“Innovation, quality design and construction, and sustainability are an important value to the City for this transformational project,” the City said.
A pre-proposal meeting is set for Feb. 21.
Written questions are due by Feb. 28.
Answers to questions will be released on March 6.
RFIs are then due by March 27.
However, it will be some time before any decisions about development will be made.
“Following submission of proposals from development teams, JLL and staff will review the proposals and recommend to Council the next steps which are expected to include a more specific Request for Proposals (RFP) process from the selected developer finalist,” the City said.
