Downtown Raleigh Alliance hosted their annual ‘State of Downtown,’ Tuesday morning, April 26 to take an in-depth look at all that happened in 2016. Raleigh is one of the fastest growing downtown’s in America which is in the midst of a $1.1 billion construction boom and anticipates adding over 4,500 residents in the upcoming years. The full report on which the State of Downtown overviewed can be viewed here.

A few takeaways from the event and the report:

Development

• There has been $2.75 billion in development over the past decade
• $1.1 Billion in the Investment Pipeline, each of downtown Raleigh’s five districts will see significant private and public investment, all mutually benefiting.
  • $321 million recently delivered
  • $570+ million planned
  • $350 million in current construction
  • $182 million in public investment
  • 4,000,000+ square feet being added to the downtown
  • Recently announced projects include: The Dillon, One Glenwood, Charter Square II, The Edison, 301 Hillsborough St., HQ Raleigh expansion
  • A major competitive advantage of downtown Raleigh is our thriving startup ecosystem. In the last five years, start-ups in Raleigh raised over $310 million in Venture Capital and Angel Investments and generated economic activity of over $1.1 billion from IPOs and $9.2 billion in acquisitions.

Quality of Life

• Over one million people visit and attend downtown Raleigh festivals each year
• Last year was the best year yet for tourism in downtown Raleigh
• 320 acres of parks are being added, plus another 34 acres are being renovated in the downtown area, this includes Dix Park, the park with plans to become the central destination park for residents and visitors.
• Raleigh’s Bike Share program was recently approved and will bring 30 stations and 300 bikes to the downtown area.
• Downtown has 2,850+ residential units recently delivered, under construction or planned.
• Downtown Raleigh’s restaurants scene has four James Beard Award nominations since 2014.

The event also showcased this year’s Imprint Award Winner’s in a video overview, the award winners were:

107 Fayetteville St.
Developer:  Michael D. Olander Jr. 

421 Fayetteville Street Building Redevelopment/Bank of America
Developer:  Highwoods Properties, Inc.
Charter Square
Developer:  Dominion Realty Partners, LLC
Death & Taxes
Developer:  James A. Goodnight
Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Developer:  The Building Committee of Holy Trinity Anglican Church with Dr. John W Yates III Rector
The L
Developer:  Empire Properties and Concord Eastridge  
The Lincoln
Developer:  Banner Developments
Peace Street Townes
Developer:  White Oak Properties, Inc. & Glenwood Agency Real Estate
The Raleigh Beer Garden
Developer:  Hibernian Company, Inc.      
SkyHouse
Developer:  Edison Land LLC and Novare Group
Taverna Agora Greek Kitchen & Bar
Developer:  LM Restaurants, Inc. and Affiliates       
The Ten at South Person
Developer:  DHIC, Inc.

These awards are presented to projects that make significant contributions to the momentum in downtown Raleigh. The cumulative total value of the 12 winning projects was around $213 million.