Proposed Lafayette Tower Axed?
UPDATE: City Council Votes Unanimously to Give Greg Hatem Extension on Lafayette
The Lafayette is a proposed 22-story tower with plans for 80 condos, 15,000 sq ft of retail space, a 125 room hotel, and a rooftop pool and bar. Raleigh was set to sell the parcel of land to Empire Properties for the current tax value of $1.44 million, but a tough economy may cause this ambitious project to fold.
City Manager Russell Allen is expected to appear before City Council today, Tuesday, July 1st, to recommend the city void the deal made with Empire Properties in 2007 to construct The Lafayette, a mixed-used tower proposed for the half acre lot on the corner of Lenoir and Salisbury near the new Convention Center. According to news sources, Allen suggests the parcel re-open for bid after Empire Properties missed an April deadline to submit revised building plans, although Empire Properties has requested an extension.
The Lafayette is not the greatest architecture the city has ever seen, but its faults pale in comparison to the haunted mansion, er, The Bloomsbury and the RBC with its ridiculous spire.
Image Credit: Empire Properties, Stephen B. Jacobs Group
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Sam
07/01 07:08 PM
What about a 50 room Boutique Hotel…a trendy “pod-esque” http://www.thepodhotel.com/ hot spot with roof top bar? It seems like the super-size mixed use, block leveling condos/hotel/night spots are a bad idea. Those are everywhere! They are often overly ambitious projects carried out developers with little concern for cities’ urban fabric. Hence the fallout in the condo/housing market. It’s kind of like flipping a house on the cheap to find out no one wants to pay for your crappy workmanship and fru fru taste. If anyone remembers the Depot club a/ club b/ club c disaster… people want to go places that have their own identity! It’s the same idea, perhaps the package is nicer in this project, but the slash seems to devalue rather than strengthen the concept. The hotel will be nice, but the condos will suffer, etc… We are looking for something with the same authenticity Landmark or The Raleigh times possess. The grand scale does nothing. A skyline really only matters on a post card. Let’s fill in the holes first, and continue renovating what we have! The most attractive building on Fayetteville Street is probably one of the smallest.
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Rafe
07/01 08:53 PM
The city council gave Hatem an extension til November 1. Apparently Hatem is going to scale down his plans a bit given that he can’t get financing for the big building he was originally planning.
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