The Raleigh City Council voted 6-1 today (Mayor Meeker abstaining, Councilor Isley dissenting) to grant City Manager Russell Allen condemnation rights for the remaining piece of private land needed to proceed with the public City Plaza. The $24M project, which includes improvements for the extension of Fayetteville Street to Lenoir St., has been on hold due to easement negotiations with The Simpson Company, owners of the Bank of America building. The City Manager will continue negotiations with Simpson in the coming weeks, but can now push forward to sue for condemnation proceedings.

The project’s preliminary schedule calls for completion on September 2, 2009. More specifically:

• 8/1/08: Complete permitting
• 9/9/08: Begin Construction
• 8/7/09: Open Street to Traffic
• 9/2/09: Project Complete

The plan for the project has been scaled down in the last year to manage costs. Originally there were to be 4 water features, however the current plan calls for only one. It will be an active, interactive water fountain in front of the Bank of America Building that will supposedly sense pedestrians’ movements and react in certain ways. There will also be four separate pavilions in the plaza which will handle small retail outlets, art displays, etc.

Fayetteville Street will run straight through the project with no elevated curb. Instead, bollards will demarcate pedestrian and vehicular zones during normal programming. However when the street is closed for special events the plaza will appear as one big space. Paver patterns for the plaza have been changed to reduce costs as well.

The plaza’s marquis feature is the set of four City of Oaks Light Towers. Designed by local artist Jim Gallucci, the towers appear to be planned for 40-50 feet in height. The actual details of the designs were not presented, though it was mentioned that their fabrication will take 9 months.

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