Developer plans 10-story office building in downtown Raleigh

A Maryland-based developer plans to build a 10-story office building at the corner of Hillsborough Street and Glenwood Avenue near downtown Raleigh.

The Heritage Properties project, to be called One Glenwood, is the latest example of the expansion of downtown redevelopment activity beyond the Fayetteville Street corridor.

Heritage’s 219,500-square-foot building would include 14,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The more than $100 million project also includes a 650-space parking deck on a separate site across W. Morgan Street.

Ryan Blair, an associate with Heritage, said One Glenwood is to be built on one of the highest elevation points in the downtown area.

“The zoning around the building is minimized so the views will be protected,” he said. “This will offer some of the best views in the city for any building.”

The current zoning for Heritage’s site already allows for a 12-story building.

Heritage paid just over $4 million last month for the .8-acre site across Hillsborough Street from the Snoopy’s restaurant. The land is now home to a surface parking lot and several one-story office buildings.

Heritage has another 1.5 acres under contract at 607 W. Morgan St., where Shelton’s Furniture now sits and where the developer plans to build the parking deck. The parking deck would occupy about half the 607 W. Morgan site.

Blair said Heritage hasn’t finalized what it plans to do with the remaining land.

Central location

The One Glenwood project has the potential to link two downtown areas now experiencing a wave of redevelopment activity: The warehouse district and Glenwood South.

“The location is just a phenomenal location with the proximity to North Carolina State, the proximity to all the restaurants and amenities and retail on Glenwood South and the connection to the warehouse district with the new Union Station,” Blair said.

Heritage’s site is at the southern edge of Glenwood South, where several new apartment communities have opened or are in various stages of development. It’s also just a few blocks northwest of business software company Citrix’s headquarters, the planned Union Station transit hub and the warehouse district site where Kane Realty plans to build The Dillon.

Kane Realty recently began demolition work on its $150 million project, which will include a 17-story office tower directly across W. Martin Street from CAM Raleigh; a 1,000-space parking deck and two six-story apartment buildings on the north and south sides of W. Hargett Street.

2018 opening

The entire 2.5-acre Dillon project will have 225,000 square feet of office space, 300 apartments and 35,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Heritage said One Glenwood would incorporate similar design elements as Towson Square, an $85 million retail development that the company recently completed in Towson, Md. The building will feature a tenant lounge on the top floor, a fitness center and a high-tech conference space.

Blair said Heritage is already in talks with prospective tenants about the project.

“We see this as a great building for a tech tenant as well as a financial firm,” he said.

Heritage expects One Glenwood to be completed by the second quarter of 2018.

Kane Realty hopes to finish The Dillon by the end of 2017 – the same year local authorities hope to open the Union Station transit hub.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Developer plans 10-story office building in downtown Raleigh."