More energy is coming to Hillsborough Street with rezoning requests for taller buildings being approved, one for 20 stories and another for 40 stories as the main artery into downtown Raleigh continues to be transformed.
Hillsborough Street was already booming with redevelopment and rezoning requests. Raleigh Crossing is nearby with the recently opened 301 Hillsborough tower and across from Raleigh Crossing, the Holiday Inn Downtown Raleigh is set to be turned into a 20-story mixed-use tower featuring a Kimpton Hotel. North on Hillsborough, the 400H project is under construction — a 20-story mixed-use building with retail and office space and residential units.
Getting the nod for up to 20 stories was a site at 706 Hillsborough St. and 105 N. Boylan Ave with a vote of 6-1, with council member David Cox opposed. Previous zoning for the 0.89-acre site was for three and seven stories. The owners, the Williams-Cross Investment Co. connected to Williams Realty and Building, filed the rezoning request in February 2022 with plans to add more residences, retail and office space downtown and close to Raleigh Union Station.
The property currently holds a 2-story office building. The owners want to modernize the site with the updated building and a parking deck. Williams-Cross Investment Co. has owned the properties since the 1960s.
The total assessed value for the site is currently $4.85 million.The 20-story building would have 419 residential units, 237,000 square feet of office space and 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Proposed conditions include a parking deck screening on the western property boundary and one public art installation which will either be a mural or 3-D piece.
Worth Mills from Longleaf Law Partners said the area is already well-prepped for higher development as several properties surrounding it are zoned for 12 stories. A handful of buildings south of Hillsborough Street, a building to the northwest and one to the north are all zoned for 12 stories.
Nearby, the original Char-Grill location is requested to be zoned up to 20 stories.
Further down Hillsborough Street, closer to the Capitol, the City Council unanimously approved, with one recusal from Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Stewart, a rezoning request for up to 40 stories. The 0.99 acres at 401, 409, 411 and 415 Hillsborough Street and 7, 17 S. West Street previously had a 20-story limit.
Right across Hillsborough Street, the new 400H project is on the rise.
The site is across from Morgan Street Food Hall and two blocks from the recently up-for-sale Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina office building.
