DOWNTOWN PLAN
GATEWAY CENTER The Gateway Center envisions a significant new precinct at the southern end of downtown Raleigh. Sites 2 and 3—the existing surface parking lots for the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts at the terminus of Fayetteville Street—are planned to be major commercial or, potentially, hotel uses. Land south of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts would potentially be developed to accommodate additional Shaw
University expansion or additional office, governmental, cultural, or hospitality-related uses, accompanied by large mixed-use development pads created to the west. The district has the potential to accommodate a stadium, arena, or other transformational and civically important use. The plan identifies the potential for 3.9 million square feet of development in the district.
Action 1: Cooperate on Future Vision
or other catalytic use. Corporate relocation incentives like Business Investment Grants and Job Development Investment Grants should be considered for deployment. These sites can be redeveloped independent of the disposition of the remainder of the district.
A joint vision for the district should be produced that involves the landowners in the district, including Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, the North Carolina Association of Educators, Wake County, Shaw University, and the City of Raleigh. While proactive site assembly is not a prerequisite to redevelopment, a project of this magnitude will require buy-in from other stakeholders that builds momentum for an eventual joint development agreement. The city should begin discussions with other landowners to gauge their interest in participating.
Action 2: Determine Development Phasing
Action 3: Identify Infrastructure Financing Mechanism
The Gateway Center includes two discrete opportunities, which are sites 2 and 3. The quantity of development planned in the larger area calls for a timeline likely to extend over multiple phases and even decades.
A significant level of infrastructure and site work, including grading, extension of the street grid comprising the final block of Fayetteville Street, and utilities, will be necessary. The creation of a new Development Financing District is advisable on the southern parcel. Also known as tax increment financing, a Development Financing District enables future tax increment to fund public improvements. Under a standard Development
Sites 2 and 3 represent the final major development opportunities on Fayetteville Street and should be retained for a significant corporate relocation
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Disposition of the larger parcels that comprise the Gateway Center would be timed around the emergence of a catalytic use on the western portion of the site, such as a sports stadium, arena, or convention expansion. Mixed-use buildings on the eastern portion of the site should complement the catalytic use and potentially provide crosssubsidizing revenue.
