With latest sale, this Raleigh block is catching up with rapidly growing downtown
Another property has sold on a block of West Davie Street in downtown Raleigh that developers aim to transform from mostly one-story commercial buildings to bustling high-rises in the coming years.
The 200 block of West Davie Street is situated between Nash Square and Red Hat Amphitheater, bounded by McDowell and Dawson streets. The whole area is zoned for 20-story mixed-use shopfront developments.
Today, the tallest building on the block is a nine-level parking garage owned by Wake County, fronted with retailers and apartments. Benchmark Autoworks service shop remains open, though all the other one-story businesses on the block have closed up shop and sit vacant.
The city has seen deeds, construction permits and rezoning requests begin rolling in over the past year.
“It is one of the few remaining opportunities to develop a new space in downtown Raleigh with plenty of existing parking readily available in the Davie Street Public Parking Deck right across the street,” TradeMark Properties senior vice president Sandra Simpson said in a news release this week announcing the latest sale.
Simpson represented the former owner of 220 W. Davie St., a 0.17-acre lot that was once home to Mort’s Trophies.
Moore Properties bought the parcel for nearly $2.6 million late last month, property records show. The company has commercial investments around North Carolina, including in the Charlotte and Southern Pines areas, though this appears to be their first buy in the Triangle.
Their listed representative did not return phone messages.
“This property is located in an area that is booming with new development activity that includes multifamily, hotel, office, and retail,” Simpson said.
One neighboring property, 333 S. Dawson St., was rezoned in October to allow for a mixed-use development of up to 40 stories.
It’s owned by Winwood Hospitality Group, which did not respond to inquiries about its plans for the site.
Also next door, construction has begun on a 13-story Hilton Garden Inn-Homewood Suites. The dual-branded hotel will have 259 rooms, according to CN Hotels’ website.
CN Hotels, through a subsidiary, also owns the property across the street, 227 W. Davie St., home to Benchmark Autoworks.
They’re attempting to rezone that property to allow a mixed-use development of up to 40 stories.
A neighborhood meeting — the project’s second on the rezoning request — is scheduled for March 23, after which the case will be put on the Planning Commission’s agenda, Raleigh city planner Carmen Kuan told The News & Observer.
