Matthew Brown has restored three historic houses in Raleigh, and has assisted with the restoration of many others. He has financed renovation of six houses for affordable housing.
Matthew spoke to City Council on September 16, 2025:
The Planning Department thinks we should build a 30-story building on Peace Street, overshadowing a neighborhood of one-story houses. But the planner’s analysis is all fantasy!
Our Comprehensive Plan says building heights should transition from the Central Business District to residential neighborhoods. The planner says 30 stories is transition. FANTASY!!
There is only one building in all of downtown that exceeds 30 stories. The PNC building has 32 stories, and it is in the very middle of downtown.
The planner says this is appropriate because it is on a bus line. FANTASY!!
Nobody in this building will ride the bus. There are no affordable units in the building. They will just take the elevator to their cars, and clog up Peace Street.
The planner says that 30 stories of apartments won’t add more traffic than 12 stories of offices, which is already legal. More fantasy!
People come and go from their homes just as much as from offices. Besides, nobody is going to build an office building there. The office vacancy rate downtown is 21%!
And the ultimate fantasy is that tall buildings prevent sprawl.
No, they don’t. We have been building more tall buildings than ever, and also building more sprawl than ever. Those are two separate markets.
Nobody has ever said “Well, I can’t find an apartment in a tall building, so I reckon I will buy a suburban house with a big yard.”
And more fantasy:
The planner says that this building will cause “no detriments.”
So having your one-story house overshadowed by a 30-story building is no detriment? If it happened to you, wouldn’t you consider it a detriment?
And adding traffic from 938 apartments to Peace Street, which is already the worst clogged bottleneck in Raleigh, which already has 3 other skyscrapers coming, is no detriment? FANTASY!
The reality is that this is the wrong place to put a 30-story building.
There is a petition to oppose the 30-story West Street Tower. You may sign it here:
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