RBC Selects Martin St. Site

by Dana

The News & Observer reported today that RBC has selected the former site intended for First Citizens' headquarters to build a "roughly 28-story" US headquarters. The site bounded by Fayetteville, Martin, and Wilmington Streets has been a parking lot ever since First Citizens demolished their 12-story building on the site. (as seen on the left in this photo). The building is scheduled to open, like most of the other new downtown projects, in 2008.

While we had always hoped a 40-story building be built on the proposed site, a sibling bank tower there will fill-in the Fayetteville St. gap between the Wachovia and Two Hannover (BB&T) towers. As reported in our September 1 article, artist's renderings show what a 20-story, 30-story, and 40-story building would look at from Raleigh's "money shot" of downtown (with the new convention center appearing in the foreground):

20 Stories

30 Stories

40 Stories.

Another 20-story building in the Martin St. location would have none of the impact RBC is desiring, while a 40-story tower would balance the skyline well. What are your thoughts?

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Comments

[David]

It will help the view approaching from Glenwood, Hillsborough, and coming from the east, however, the biggest problem I have with the South Saunders approach is South Saunders itself.

[Patrick]

While I would be sad to see the BB&T building (or as my family calls it, the Gotham City building because of its lighting) lose its spot as the tallest in Raleigh, it is time to upgrade our skyline to reflect how large this city is getting. As for the comment about South Saunders, how could you not love the view? I incorporated it into a movie I made about the local music scene last semester. If you to to this page, you can see the intro:

http://epicfiles.dyndns.org/users/misc/video/raleighintro.html

[Ash]

I'm not sure, but I think he has a problem with South Saunders Street itself. It's not the best gateway into Downtown. The City really should explore some sort of beautification program for that corridor.

[Ernest Pecounis]

While I really wanted to see this tower becoming the new tallest for Raleigh - at least for downtown - I am pleased with a 28-story high-rise. It will certainly be visible and easy to distinguish, although I must remind myself that residential floors are normally shorter than commercial ones, which will definitely push the real height to less than 360ft :( This tower will probably be the equivalent of a 25-story high-rise, but even so it will still make an impact on our skyline. Hopefully, the tower will end up being closer to 400ft and more than 30 stories - maybe some additional condo units ;)

Patrick, that video is AWESOME!!! You did an excellent job. Can I add a link to that clip in my page (I will give you credit, of course)? Do you have more to share with us?

[Justin]

I think we should look for other postcard "money shots." For example, I like the view from the top of the Clarion Hotel (http://www.raleighskyline.com/images/04.19.05/raleigh.skyline.apr.05.44.jpg)
and the view from Peace and St. Mary's once the Quorum is finished (http://raleighskyline.com/illus/quorumf.jpg). Both of these views would show off the new RBC building nicely.

[Colin]

The drive up Wilmington St. will be significantly impacted. With the new Progress Building and this building there will be a nice stretch coming north from Hannover Square.

It would be nice to see a proposed architecture for this. Is there a good lot to infill the skyline gap that would still remain between this and the Wachovia Building?

[Edward Miller]

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