Raleigh staff recommends continuing hotel negotiations, affirms 160-unit affordable project at Moore Square

Ken Bowers of the Planning and Development Department summarized options for roughly 4 acres of city-owned land east and south of Moore Square and recommended continuing negotiations on the proposed hotel site while preserving an affordable-housing project already under way. The council voted to approve staff recommendations by voice vote.

Bowers told the council the parcels originally offered through an RFP issued in March 2022 total just under 4 acres — about 2.6 acres east of Moore Square and about 1.2 acres south — and include land around City Market, a parking lot, the old Esso station, the Norwood House and two Blake Street parcels. “The stuff in green on this map is land that the city made available for disposition,” he said.

The most advanced piece is a 160-unit affordable housing development led by Harmony Housing, which Bowers said “is in an advanced state of the process” and holds an option on the land. The project is a seven-story podium building on roughly 1.2 acres (about 140 units per acre) and is in development review; Bowers said all-in development cost is about $385,000 per unit and the city’s share of subsidy runs roughly $95,000–$100,000 per unit.

To help close a financing gap for the affordable project, staff…