Downtown bustling with development

Whether it's the skyline or on the ground, it seems like there's always something new to see in downtown Raleigh these days.

The most visible recent change happened about noon at the 33-story RBC Plaza office and condominium tower at Martin and Fayetteville streets, where construction crews hoisted two RBC logos and positioned them on the building.

RBC Bank, which will move its headquarters there this fall, lobbied the city to have sign ordinances changed to allow larger signs.

Another change to downtown – crews started installing panels on the $1 million shimmer wall on the side of the new Raleigh Convention Center, which opens in the fall.

It will take about 28 days to install the 9,000 LED panels needed to create the glowing wall, which will consist of more than 79,000 aluminum panels.

Meanwhile, a proposal headed to the Raleigh City Council could put four towers called the Edison project a block off Fayetteville Street at Wilmington and Martin streets.

Two of the four – over the next 10 years – would each be 39 stories, coming in taller than the RBC Plaza. The other two would be smaller. Together, the proposed developments would have office space, 1,600 parking spaces, street-level retail and restaurants, and more than 500 hotel rooms and condominiums.

If approved, construction could start on the four towers by the end of the year.

The other proposal, on the northern fringe of downtown, is two apartment buildings with 112 units behind Seaboard Station.