Raleigh approves 30-story tower by downtown Marbles Kids Museum. And new housing too.
Raleigh leaders heard more than a dozen rezoning cases during a five-hour-long meeting Tuesday night.
Some rezonings, including proposed town homes on Pleasant Grove Church Road and Trailwood Drive, were held for two weeks.
Here are some of the biggest developments approved:
DOWNTOWN
▪ The parking lot behind Marbles Kids Museum was rezoned to allow an up-to 30 story building. The Morgan Street development could hold 530 apartments or condos, 150,000 square feet of office space and 16,000 square feet of retail. The owner of the property originally considered putting a hotel on the site but is waiting to see what travel looks like post-COVID-19. A hotel would still be allowed on the property under the rezoning.
▪ A rezoning to replace single-family homes on South Bloodworth Street with 10 to 12 townhomes was held for two weeks.
RESIDENTIAL
Two residential projects on the edges of city limits were rezoned Tuesday.
▪ More than 32 acres at Holden Road, near Forestville Road, were rezoned for 106 single-family homes. Apartments and townhomes were specifically banned as part of the rezoning request.
Council member David Knight said he would vote to approve the rezoning, but the project gives him “discomfort” because there is no mixed-use as part of the development.
“I am not going to oppose this but we have all got to thinking more creatively about density and housing because this is the epitome of sprawl,” Knight said.
The greatest demand for housing in Raleigh is single-family homes, said Council member David Cox. This development would help that, he said.
“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to have high density at the very outskirts of the city where there is no transit, so I personally have no problem with this,” Cox said.
The rezoning was approved by unanimously.
▪ More than 83 acres of mostly forested land at the intersection of Louisburg and Forestville roads was rezoned for single-family homes, townhomes, four-story apartments and some commercial real estate.
▪ About five acres on Oberlin Road near Fairview Road was rezoned to allow a maximum of 190 residential units.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 1:55 PM.
