RALEIGH -- The City Plaza planned for the south end of Fayetteville Street won’t open until at least 2009, several months after the new convention center opens.

City Manager Russell Allen said Raleigh still does not have the required easements to begin constructing the plaza, which has been touted as a high-tech gathering place that can be can be closed to cars and reconfigured to host parades, markets or concerts.

Allen said the city continues to negotiate with The Simpson Organization, which owns the Bank of America building and the underground parking garage located directly under Fayetteville Street. Raleigh has an existing agreement with Simpson, but it needs to be modified to allow for the creation of the plaza.

The cost of building the plaza is estimated at $21 million. Raleigh plans to run power lines, phone lines and water pipes under the plaza floor so merchants can set up shop temporarily.

“It’s a complicated engineering and technical project,” said Allen, who estimated it will take 6 to 9 months to build the plaza.

Gil Hearn, an asset manager with Simpson, said his company hopes an agreement can be presented to the City Council for approval next month. Hearn said Simpson is just as eager as the city to have the agreement in place. The Atlanta-based company has agreed to build, own and lease four 1,000-square-foot glass retail pavilions on the plaza.

“It’s a positive benefit for us,” Hearn said.

City officials had hoped to complete the plaza by September, when the new convention center is scheduled to open. Allen said that while the plaza area will be blocked off, people will be able to walk from the convention center north along Lenoir Street to the front of the new Marriott Hotel.