Towers to get tall competition

A 'striking new development' that is the latest piece of Raleigh's revival may get warm reception, mayor says

RALEIGH -- A year ago, developer Gregg Sandreuter envisioned a two-tower plan that would include the region's tallest building and a smaller cousin. After six months spent negotiating key corner-property acquisitions, Sandreuter is seeing double.

Now his Edison is poised to sprout four towers over the next decade. Two would soar 39 stories, above a smaller set of twins in one of the region's most ambitious downtown development plans.

The project would feature half-a-million square feet of offices, 1,600 parking spaces, more than a football field of street-level shops and restaurants and a mix of up to 560 hotel rooms and condominiums.

It could put a 70-year-old landmark, Clyde Cooper's Barbecue, in ritzy new digs.

Sandreuter, who asked for planning approval of the smaller version last summer, plans to submit supersize plans to the city today. "It's a flashy first step, but we have to put some definition to the project and show what it's going to be," he said Wednesday. "We still have a lot of steps in front of us."

Aside from minor tweaks expected in the planning process, Edison likely will be welcomed by the City Council, which approved a parking deck that shares the Edison site, Mayor Charles Meeker said.

"It's a striking new development," he said. "The council is looking forward to [another] very substantial development downtown."

It's the latest evolution on the block -- bounded by Wilmington, Davie, Blount and Martin streets -- which is surrounded by signs of downtown's revival.

The property is on the block north of Progress Energy's corporate headquarters, which opened in 2004. And it is east of where Highwoods Properties is building the 33-story RBC Plaza.

If built as proposed, Edison's tallest towers would dwarf the RBC tower. But the Edison plans come as commercial lenders have become more risk averse in a slowing economy.

Sandreuter gets things moving

Things were much different in February 2007, when Progress Energy -- which owned 3.6 acres on the block -- chose Sandreuter's Cary company Hamilton Merritt to buy and redevelop most of the property. Back then, a stream of companies were announcing moves to and expansions in the Triangle.

Edison initially was to nestle behind low-rise buildings, including Clyde Cooper's Barbecue on Davie Street and Reliable Loan & Jewelry on Wilmington Street, on the block's western corners.

In recent months, Sandreuter persuaded property owners on those corners to sell, expanding his site by 0.39 of an acre and clearing the way for the larger plan.

The properties are under contract; Sandreuter wouldn't disclose prices. The deals are to close by the end of the year. Clyde Cooper's and Reliable Loan would eventually join Edison.

Sandreuter, who built the Dawson on Morgan condominiums and is building the 170-condo West in the Glenwood South district, expects the Edison towers to rise one by one until 2018. He hopes to land a tenant and line up financing for the first tower by 2010 and finish that building two years later.

The taller towers would rise 39 stories and include street-level stores topped by layers of parking, 250,000 square feet of offices and 150 hotel rooms or condos. The smaller towers would stand 29 stories, each including ground-floor shops and parking below 130 condos or hotel rooms.

"It's supposed to be a signature project, not only for Raleigh, but the Southeastern U.S., and maybe even internationally," said Neil Gray, a principal at JDavis Architects of Raleigh, Edison's designer.

Downtown's growing allure

Edison would compete with 700,000 square feet of offices being built in the center city, including 300,000 square feet expected to open in 2011 at Charter Square, on the south end of Fayetteville Street.