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Glen-Tree Gets Green Light

Raleigh Council sets aside reservations to endorse 480-foot tower

November 2, 2005

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Karen Angelino | 919 719 1020 | karenangelino@soleil-group.com
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RALEIGH— It won't rival Seattle's Space Needle. It won't carry the symbolism of St. Louis' Gateway Arch. But Glen-Tree is coming, a pointy glass monolith that will stand as Raleigh's tallest building.

The City Council gave near-unanimous backing to the 480-foot suburban tower Tuesday, moving past discomfort over its height and suburban plot.

By a 7-1 vote, the council cleared the way for developers Sanjay Mundra and Dicky Walia to demolish an empty 12-story hotel just north of Crabtree Valley Mall -- within 60 days if the permits come through.

In its place, they will start next spring on a 42-story skyscraper that combines a luxury Westin hotel with condominium units large enough to cover an entire floor.

"This is definitely going to take Raleigh to the next generation," Walia said after the council's vote, when about 100 supporters applauded. "Raleigh is the capital, home to major universities and RTP, and we don't have a four-star hotel."

In all, developers pledge to spend about $100 million on their tower -- all of it private -- and create 150 jobs.

Glen-Tree sailed through despite nervousness about its height and hesitancy to build a skyscraper alongside a shopping mall rather than downtown.

Mayor Charles Meeker overcame his reservations by getting a guarantee that the same high-quality tower shown in pictures would actually turn up on Glenwood Avenue.

Should Mundra and Walia want to change the height, the location or the design, the city must sign off first.

It was not enough for council member Thomas Crowder, who cast the no vote. Crowder said Glen-Tree flies in the face of the city's comprehensive plan, which calls for the most intense development in three regional centers: downtown, Triangle Town Center and Brier Creek.

Alone at the mall, he said, Glen-Tree will look out of place to the point of being comical.

"This will even dwarf what is affectionately known as 'The Green Pickle' in Durham," Crowder said, comparing Glen-Tree to the Bull City's much-maligned University Tower.

Meeker said Glen-Tree's height made him uncomfortable, but there is no height limit in the zone where it will be built.

That district was created to give the council some flexibility, so it was able to approve Glen-Tree with fewer parking spaces than would be normally required. For council member James West, Glen-Tree was hard to resist after so many endorsements.

Marvin Malecha, head of N.C. State University's College of Design, wrote in a letter to the council: "We have become accustomed to such expression only in communities such as Chicago, San Francisco and New York."

Mitesh Shah, whose Atlanta group is developing a Marriott hotel downtown, wrote that Glen-Tree would make a strong complement to his downtown project, helping to serve crowds at the new $192 million convention center.

"We had a groundswell of support," West said. "I don't see this being in competition with downtown. You just don't wait for downtown to get exactly where it's going to be before you do anything else."

Council member Philip Isley said he has received about 30 e-mail messages in the past week, about three-quarters of them opposed to Glen-Tree. But many more have written with support since the summer, when news of the project first arose.

Isley said he was swayed because the city's plans call for distinctive architecture, such as a tower, in the Crabtree Valley area.

"I don't think this is precedent-setting," Isley said. "There's very few places in the city where you could do this."

Walia said financing for the $100 million project is already in place. It was easy to round up, he said, and nothing about the design will change. No Space Needle -- but maybe a postcard someday.

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