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Published: The News & Observer, January 27, 2005
Author: Dudley Price
Staff Writer
Edition: Final
Section: Business
Page: Page: D1
Rail site may bring a bit of everything
RALEIGH -- A trio of redevelopers who have built hundreds of urban
condominiums and turned acres of vacant warehouses into offices
and shops have turned their sights to a 6-acre tract on the edge
of downtown.
Greg Hatem, Roland Gammon and Gregg Sandreuter envision a multistory
mixed-use development where the Triangle Transit Authority plans
its downtown station on West Hargett Street.
Gammon said development surrounding the station could be five stories
high and include 300 to 400 condominiums and apartments, about 40,000
square feet of retail space and another 40,000 to 50,000 square
feet of offices.
Hatem said buildings as high as 10 stories were mentioned in some
talks with the transit agency.
The agency closed on the property, formerly owned by Dillon Supply,
on Wednesday.
"We've had interest at every [station] site, but the most
interest is at this one," said Paul Vespermann, TTA's director
of transit corridor planning and development.
Hatem, Gammon and Sandreuter are among downtown's most prolific
redevelopers.
Hatem is a principal at Empire Properties, which is one of downtown's
largest private landlords and owns historic sites including the
Alexander Building on Fayetteville Street Mall and the Raleigh Times
building on Hargett Street. Gammon, of White Oak Properties, pioneered
the downtown housing movement with the Cotton Mill and Park Devereux
condominium projects; and Gregg Sandreuter, president of Cary's
Hamilton Merritt, developed Powerhouse Square off Glenwood Avenue
and The Dawson condominium project under construction at Dawson
and Morgan streets.
The transit agency hopes for substantial private development around
stations, Gammon said.
By midyear, the agency says it will ask developers for proposals,
and a redevelopment company may be selected by late summer, Vespermann
said.
The agency hopes private development can take place simultaneously
with construction of the station, one of 12 stops on the 28-mile
rail line scheduled to connect Durham, Research Triangle Park, Cary
and Raleigh by late 2008.
Vespermann predicted that the station -- one of only two planned
in downtown Raleigh -- will make a popular area even more attractive,
referring to an entertainment area developing in the surrounding
Warehouse District and nearby Glenwood South. "I'm trying to
turn each station into an origination and destination site."
"If I had my druthers, there would be some nice offices on
top of the station and maybe some residences on top of that,"
Vespermann said.
Caption: Land formerly owned by Dillon Supply in downtown Raleigh
has piqued developers' interest in condos, retail and offices. Staff
File Photo
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