Apr
16

City Council to Pick Site 4 Developer

20050827-876In February, the Raleigh City Council released a Request for Proposals for development of the storied Site 4 location in downtown. In Tuesday’s 1pm meeting (video stream), the Council will select a developer to build a new hotel on the site.

A boutique hotel was once planned for the site, however funding was unobtainable by the developer within a reasonable period, and the city retracted their selection and waited for the economy to recover. Now there are three developers proposing projects for the site:

  • Summit Hospitality Group, Ltd.
  • Raleigh Prime Investors, LLC
  • Noble DLR Group

A selection committee of city staff and others reviewed the proposals and recommends the Summit Hospitality Group plan to build an Overcash Demmitt-designed Residence Inn of about 9 stories.

It’s been a long, long while since there has been this much (any) activity in the private sector, so we should probably just be happy that something is being built. However this building will be around a long time, and will contribute to the downtown Raleigh “Money shot”, so while the hotel doesn’t have to be a lavish design, it should stand for quality instead of just meeting a budget.

Overcash Demmitt has some interesting projects and some monotonous cookie cutter garbage. Hopefully we’ll see a project that more closely resembles the Charleston Hotel than the Hilton Garden (College Park, GA). Given the standard that has been set by hotel design in those blocks, well…we’ll see.

map it

  • Lee

    Well, given every single other hotel Summit has done, expecting much will probably just leave us disappointed.

  • ATC

    Agee, Summit and Overcash are two awful companies from Charlotte, is our city council kidding selecting these two little league developers and designers?
    This design should not be approved without Raleigh citizens final approve on design

  • Carnell Brame

    Why can’t we have brick? The Country Inn Suites in Savannah kind of jumps out at me.

    http://www.odarch.com/images/hospitality/CountryInnSuitesSavannah.pdf

  • http://www.danamccall.com Dana

    Carnell, it’s funny that my initial reaction to that Savannah building is positive, then I see that Country Inn Suites sign and it all fades. If it had an “Aloft” logo it probably wouldn’t fade. That’s so shallow, right? :)

    Generally I agree, though. Brick can be done really well. I especially like the Aloft on 54 going in to Chapel Hill. If this proposed hotel were to look something like the Aloft, it would really add to the area. Given the rendering that TBJ posted….UGH! I hope the real design phase goes better than what they have already. If Summit’s proposal was the best, imagine how bad some of the others must have been!

  • http://www.raleighmsa.com/ Ernest

    The words I use these days for our city leaders – and not only the city council members – are “spineless” and “gutless”. On one hand we say that we need at least 500-700 hotel rooms – that is, in the short run – and on the other hand we sell a prime location to a developer who simply doesn’t get it. This project should have never been considered even as a candidate. Not only it is too small in size, but it is butt-ugly. Yes, nice to see Site 4 being developed, but for crying out loud!!! Going from a nice proposal (Lafayette) to an ugly piece of crap shows how much our leaders lack vision. We can’t be so desperate… A city that receives recognitions left and right should be a desirable place for every serious developer.

Posted by Dana on April 16, 2012 | Tags: Development, Downtown. | ( 5 ) Comments
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