Developer plans transformation of Raleigh's historic Depot property
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A rendering of a redevelopment planned for The Depot in Raleigh's Warehouse District. Photo: Courtesy of Loden Properties
Raleigh's historic Depot property, currently home to Videri Chocolate Factory, would add a boutique hotel, office space and more retailers under plans unveiled by one of the city's most prolific development firms.
Why it matters: The Warehouse District is becoming one of the city's most densely built neighborhoods. An overhaul of the Depot property would bring new life to a site that currently includes a large surface parking lot.
Driving the news: Loden Properties, behind such projects as the renovation of Gateway Plaza and the planned South Hills mall redevelopment, recently signed a ground lease with the N.C. Railroad Co. to take over the property, Loden partner Henry Ward tells Axios.
- N.C. Railroad — a state-owned corporation that manages the rail corridor from Morehead City to Charlotte — got a rezoning approved for the site in 2022, allowing for up to 20 stories to be built there as long as some of the historic Depot building was preserved.
Zoom in: Loden, however, says it plans to preserve the entire 1910s-era building.
- "We think that building has such great bones," Ward said. "We don't need to tear everything down in downtown Raleigh, and there's a lot of room for a blending of old and new."
Details: The plans for the property include adding a 170-room hotel with a rooftop bar and 20,000 square feet of office space on what is currently the surface lot.
- Additionally, the entire property would have 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail under the plans.
- The goal, Ward said, is to build the whole project at once, though the office segment could be built in a later phase depending on market conditions. The hope is to deliver the project in 2028.
The big picture: Outside of adding new buildings, an overarching goal is to make the property easier for pedestrians to flow through.
- That would include extending the recently renovated Commerce Place through the east side of the Depot building to Cabarrus Street.
- Ward said he envisions the Depot acting as a node that would connect the burgeoning West End district to the Warehouse District and to the rest of downtown.
