501 Washington Street

This is the site across the street from the old stadium. The Loopnet posting (link below) has said for awhile that a new office building will be developed on the site. It looks like something is actually going to have now as a development request has been submitted with the description “two new mixed-use buildings with a connecting multi-story open air bridge”. Anyone heard anything?

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/501-Washington-St-Durham-NC/14950938/

I see the Development Request Submittal, from the September list. The description has the exact same language as what you have below. The contact's email is Surface 678, which is Landscaping Architecture firm.

Revisiting this, it looks like there are actually two projects planned right next to each other. There was a development case submitted January 7th for a project at 701/703 Washington that’s titled “Washington Street Mixed - Use” with the description “Multi-family apartments with ground floor retail, amenities and parking garage”. It looks like Ram Realty out of Charlotte is the owner.

Edit to add: anyone who’s more familiar with zoning know how high they could go there? The site is only listed at 2.2 acres so the proposed plan calls for quite a bit in comparison. And to throw on my “wild speculation” hat for a second, this firm is well-known for incorporating grocery stores into their projects (quote from their site below). Again, not really sure what’s possible on that lot size but there will be an awful lot of people living and working within a few blocks in the coming years…

“ Our multifamily projects range from suburban infill garden or mid-rise, to urban high-rise. Our retail projects are primarily grocery-anchored shopping centers. Our mixed-use projects typically include both components.”

Looks like this will be a single project after all. Kind of a weird design wrapping around the existing single story building and filling in the empty space next to Blue Note. Plan here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18OWtG2dBhOC6fUvIvpeR24enwine0rhA/view

Pretty impressive use of space given the constraints. I wonder if their reasoning for building there is to be adjacent to the belt line trail or if it's just the last unused plot of land around OND. The foot traffic around that single level retail is essentially non-existent today, this new housing should do wonders for it.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2022/03/01/new-downtown-durham-development-poses-threat.html

Really hope the developer can work with Blue Note and Durham Distillery. They are both Durham icons at this point, and I'd think the developer would see them both as a massive asset to the area that will attract tenants to their units.

Wow, the design is seriously awful. The sheer scale of that facade along the future Beltline in brutal.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/02/02/downtown-durham-ram-realty-durham-distillery.html

Looks like this project is moving forward. I was wondering if it would after The George was postponed.