After a decade of delays, downtown Raleigh’s ‘crane lot’ is finally moving ahead
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- CityPlat bought 2510 Hillsborough St. in 2021 and plans a mixed-use commercial building.
- CityPlat signed two tenants, including Rally House and an unnamed national food operator.
- The site's delays included arbitration, bankruptcy and crane removal.
For years, 2510 Hillsborough St. sat frozen in time — a half-built shell with a crane looming over a project that never happened.
Now, the long-stuck site is in new hands and finally showing signs of life. It’s being reborn as a 7,800-square-foot, mixed-use commercial building directly across from N.C. State University.
Instead of the long-promised residential tower, new owner Raleigh-based CityPlat is repositioning the site for flexible, “open-air” retail, restaurant, bar, event and office uses. It’s reusing the existing concrete frame — the same structure that sat unfinished for years — while the sidewalk is being rebuilt as part of a full streetscape upgrade.
“We’re hoping to be finished with construction this winter,” CityPlat principal Patrick C. Moore said in an email.
“Most of it will be interior to the building, so the sidewalk work shouldn’t take very long,” he added.
2510 Hillsborough St.: A long-running saga
The Hillsborough Street property has been one of Raleigh’s longest-running development failures.
The saga began in 2014, when the developer, Hillsborough Lofts, signed a contract with Wright Construction to build a seven-story student-oriented apartment building with 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, The N&O previously reported.
The site sits beside the former Alley bowling alley (now Target), in one of the densest stretches of the N.C. State corridor.
A crane went up in June 2015, but the project stalled almost immediately. By December of that year, Hillsborough Lofts fired its contractor, accusing Wright Construction of delays. In 2017, an arbitration panel ruled the opposite: The developer — not the contractor — was responsible for the repeated setbacks and had wrongfully ended the contract.
Shortly after losing arbitration, Hillsborough Lofts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, freezing the dispute and leaving the site in limbo. Meanwhile, the crane remained — unused, shifting in the wind, and increasingly seen as a safety hazard and symbol of dysfunction on Hillsborough Street.
By early 2019, the city confirmed the crane would finally come down, with removal targeted for N.C. State’s spring break to minimize disruption. But officials warned that dismantling the crane would not resolve the underlying issue: the property remained tied up in litigation, with no clear path forward.
In 2021, CityPlat acquired the property for approximately $1.25 million, according to Wake County deed records. (It has a total assessed value of $1.35 million.)
A year later, the firm secured rezoning for a five-story building after reducing an earlier request for seven stories. It explored a boutique hotel but dropped the idea due to economic conditions. It also evaluated student housing and discussed adding a public art installation, Triangle Business Journal reported.
Because office and retail vacancies along Hillsborough Street are essentially nonexistent — 0.5% for office and 0.9% for retail, according to leasing materials — CityPlat concluded that a retail-focused commercial building was the most reliable, low-risk use of the site.
Already, the firm has signed two tenants. They include Rally House, a national sportswear retailer, and a national food and beverage operation, “whom I can’t quite disclose at this time,” Moore said.
In recent years, CityPlat has become one of Raleigh’s most active infill players. Projects range from the former Western Boulevard Kmart redevelopment to a major Hillsborough Street apartment assemblage, plus adaptive‑reuse concepts like The Yard in Glenwood South and several townhome and mixed‑use holdings across the city.
How we got here (short history)
- 2014–15: Hillsborough Lofts planned a 7-story student apartment building with ground-floor retail.
- 2015: Crane erected; project immediately stalled.
- 2015–17: Developer and contractor entered a prolonged legal dispute.
- 2017: Arbitration ruled the developer — not the contractor — caused the delays.
- 2018–19: Developer filed for bankruptcy; crane remained stuck on site.
- 2019: Crane finally removed, but the underlying development never restarted.
- 2021: CityPlat acquired it.
- 2022: CityPlat secured rezoning for a five-story building.
- 2026: The project broke ground.
