Highwoods Properties files plans for new office building in downtown Raleigh

Zachery Eanes

South elevation architectural drawing of a tall, glass-fronted building with regular vertical window bays and a lower podium, with grid lines and measurements. — A screenshot from Highwoods' plans submitted to the Raleigh Planning Department. Photo: City of Raleigh

Highwoods Properties, Raleigh's largest office landlord, has filed plans with the city for a 13-story office building in downtown.

Why it matters: The Raleigh office market has been in flux for years coming out of the pandemic, as remote work led to many prominent firms decreasing the amount of space they used.

Not counting new government buildings from the city of Raleigh and the state government, this could be the first new office building built in downtown since 400H in 2021.

Driving the news: Highwoods filed the plans for 333 W. Hargett St. on Monday with the city. The Triangle Business Journal was the first to report the filing.

Highwoods has not yet responded to a request for comment, but the firm has been investing heavily into its office buildings on Fayetteville Street, especially the former Wells Fargo building.

Zoom in: The new office plans call for more than 390,000 square feet of building space. Nearly 170,000 square feet of the building will be office space and around 5,000 would be for retail.

Six of the 13 floors of the building would be set aside for parking, while the rest would be for offices.
The 1-acre property is currently a surface parking lot and a building that was a former Goodwill donation center. Highwoods bought the property back in 2019 for more than $6 million.
The property had been zoned for up to 40 stories of construction.

Between the lines: Real estate experts have been watching for when the next office building would begin construction, given how slow demand has been for years.

But with existing buildings filling up, it was beginning to make the idea of a new office building more feasible, they said.

The intrigue: The Triangle Business Journal has reported that the Raleigh-based clothing company Peter Millar could be one company that is currently seeking a large amount of office space.

The company has not yet commented on its plans and has not returned requests for comment from Axios.

Add Axios on Google

Highwoods Properties files plans for new office building in downtown Raleigh

More Raleigh stories