Raleigh on the Rise

City Preparing for Growth With Infrastructure and Facility Updates

By Bea Quirk and Scott Judy

No one is ready to call it a boom just yet, but the construction industry is on the rebound in Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina.

"If you drive around the Triangle (the area encompassing Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill), it's absolutely amazing how much construction is going on," said Dave Simpson, North Carolina building director for Carolinas Associated General Contractors. "There are buildings going up all over the place. There are few contractors who don't have enough work to keep them busy, but many of them also tell me, 'I could still use more business.'"

Raleigh is vibrant and diversified, added Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte who produces the quarterly Construction Barometer report for the Carolinas AGC. He is predicting 6 to 7 percent growth in construction in the Raleigh area this year, compared to 5 percent for the state as a whole.

The value of construction permits tell the tale. In the peak boom year of 2000, commercial construction permits totaled $1.24 billion in Wake and Durham counties. By 2002, the total had fallen to $667.7 million, but it bounced back to $987 million last year.

With its adjacent location to Research Triangle Park, Raleigh suffered when the tech bubble burst. But technology - especially in the form of biotechnology - is re-emerging, and that's fueling the surge in economic activity.

For example, in August, GlaxoSmithKline announced the expansion of its Zebulon facility, creating 200 new jobs over the next four years, with a total investment of approximately $92 million. In July, Arysta Life Science said it would move its North American headquarters from San Francisco to the Triangle.

North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus is another hub for technology. The 1,334-acre complex is considered NCSU's campus of the future, where university, corporate and government partners collaborate to produce innovative science and technology. It is already home to more than 100 large and small companies, government agencies and college departments, as well as a middle school and housing. Currently under construction there is the 91,000-sq.-ft., $33.5 million Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, which broke ground in June and will be completed in 2007.

The Raleigh area is also experiencing an ongoing surge in population, and the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce predicts that by 2020, the region is expected to be home to almost 2 million people. Each month, another 1,650 people move to the Triangle area, and residential construction has remained steady.

In response to - and anticipation of - that population growth, Wake County will put a bond referendum before voters in November for school construction that could reach $1 billion.

That population growth also creates the need for road construction and improvements. The six-lane, 65-mi. Raleigh Outer Loop - officially Interstate 540 - has been under construction for several years and will be completed in about another 20. Its cost is well over $1 billion.

Ongoing improvements are also being made to U.S. highways 70 and 64.

In another mode of transportation, Terminal C at Raleigh-Durham Airport is currently undergoing a $555 million expansion. The new terminal will include a three-level basement processor building and an attached two-level concourse.

Some of those deplaning will be attending events at the new 500,000-sq.-ft. Raleigh Convention Center now under construction, with a joint venture of Skanska USA Building and locally headquartered Barnhill Contracting Co. serving as construction manager.

The $212 million center and an accompanying 400-room Marriott Hotel are scheduled to open in spring 2008. The center's underground parking garage, which could have up to 1,500 spaces, is scheduled for completion next year. The existing convention center was imploded in February.

Other hotels now under construction include the 150-room Umstead Hotel and Spa and the 229-room Renaissance Raleigh North Hills, both set to open next year.

The Soleil Center, located near the Crabtree Valley Mall, will be 46 stories and become the tallest building in Raleigh when it opens in 2008. It will feature a 260-room Westin Hotel, 40 residential condos priced between $800,000 and $3 million and a six-story parking deck. The contractor for the $100 million project is Bovis Lend Lease.

Nearby, Highwoods Properties plans to add two buildings with 283,000 sq. ft. to its Glenlake office park. And in downtown Raleigh, RBC Ventura is building its $100 million headquarters.

All of the construction comes at a time when NPRC Press, a division of the National Policy Research Council, in October ranked Raleigh-Durham third on its list of the best large metro areas for new businesses and entrepreneurs.

"The last few years have been challenging, so contractors are cautiously optimistic that it's going to be a pretty solid year," the Carolinas AGC's Simpson said. "But I am excited about the growth. I believe that in the next few years, Raleigh will be transformed and become known internationally as a good place to live and do business."

Following is a closer look at three major projects - the $218 million Raleigh Convention Center, the $123 million Clayton Bypass and the $90 million Umstead Hotel.

advertisement

Raleigh Convention Center

There's no higher-profile project in Raleigh than the $218 million convention center that the joint venture of Skanska USA Building and Barnhill Contracting Co. is building for the city. The old convention center came down in a spectacular implosion in February, and work at the downtown site of the future 507,000 sq.-ft. facility is ramping up.

It's down below, though, where much of the initial hurdles will fall. To ensure that the project met Raleigh's "Livable Streets" program - which requires that buildings be "pedestrian-friendly" and not overwhelm the downtown skyline - city planners pushed the new center's 150,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space down underground, said A.J. Deal, project manager for the city of Raleigh.

"We're trying to weave this into the fabric of downtown Raleigh," he said. To achieve the buildout of this space, the exhibit hall sections will span two streets that bound the convention center.

"Those exhibit halls will actually be underneath streets and we'll bridge back those streets on top of the convention center as we build out," Deal said. The exhibit hall floor is about 20 ft. below groundwater, so the facility will feature a permanent dewatering system that will keep the center's bottom floor dry.

The facility will feature a mostly concrete substructure and steel superstructure.

"Two of the streets will become bridge-type structures," Deal explained. "The challenge there is to create water-tight bridge space over occupied exhibit hall space. So the details for waterproofing and tying those structures correctly with all of the appropriate waterproofing has been a significant challenge."

When completed, the new convention center's exhibit hall space will measure about 50 percent more than the city's previous facility. It will also feature a 30,000 sq.-ft. showcase ballroom as well as additional meeting space.

An underground parking deck will tie into the new convention center, with a new Marriott hotel sitting atop that. Construction of the parking deck and hotel will progress concurrently with the convention center project.

"We're very proud of what we've been able to accomplish in terms of revitalizing sites that have seen better days and putting them into more productive use for the city," Deal said. The convention center is slated to open in spring 2008.

Clayton Bypass

Environmental issues are a major focus on the $123 million Clayton Bypass that S.T. Wooten Corp. is constructing along U.S. 70 near Clayton. It's a major, nearly four-year effort to relieve congestion along U.S. 70 in Clayton, which has become a "pinch point" in recent years, said Jonathan Bivens, vice president of S.T. Wooten's engineering and design-build group.

The bypass, which will run entirely along new alignment - and not existing routes - will measure about 10.7 mi. in length and feature 22 bridge structures by the time it's complete in 2009. It's the largest contract ever handled by Wilson, N.C.-based S.T. Wooten, which got started on the job last August.

The new highway will stretch from Interstate 40 in Wake County to the U.S. 70/U.S. 70 Business split in Johnston Co. S.T. Wooten will build a new interchange at Interstate 40. The future I-540 will eventually tie in here, too, Bivens said, so the design of the new interchange structure will accommodate that future work.

While S.T. Wooten often self-performs much of its work, for this job it's subbed out significant portions of the grading and structures work to other local contractors.

A significant point of focus will be the road's winding through sensitive environmental areas. Bivens described the North Carolina DOT as priding themselves on being on the forefront of accommodating environmental issues in their designs. He said the project entails strict erosion-control sequencing.