A recent report by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance suggests the city is "ready and pointed to rebound" from economic impacts created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, a pipeline of projects, suggests the building of more apartments and investments, including the purchase of Dix Park, will lead to economic growth for the city, WRAL Tech Wire reports.
“While 2020 has tested the resolve of not only our nation but the entire world, Downtown Raleigh is ready and poised to rebound,” wrote Downtown Alliance CEO Bill King. “While that can be hard to see during the ongoing crisis, as the data and analysis in this report shows, Downtown Raleigh was one of the strongest submarkets in the entire region prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis and those fundamentals remain in place.”
The report is still calling for changes to be made beyond COVID-19, specifically crediting the city's response to social issues, such as systemic racism, over the past summer.
“In addition to COVID-19, 2020 brought with it a summer charged with political activism,” it declares. “The systemic mistreatment of Black Americans, long simmering, boiled into a national wave in late spring following a series of wrongful deaths across the United States.
“Despite the majority of demonstrations being peaceful, protests following the death of George Floyd in late May led to property damage in cities across the nation, including Raleigh. Businesses, residents, activists, and artists came together to turn an emotional low point into a canvas for unity, hope, resilience and growth for our community.”
The report notes how investment has been spread across the city, which shows Glenwood South topping all districts with completed, under construction and planned investment by district since 2015 with a total of $888,304,972. Seaboard/Person Street also had a total of $845,570,000 reported.
Raleigh has also seen a growth in the number of employees at firms with downtown operations, including many with a tech-sector focus. The reports states more than 48,000 employees across all sectors work downtown and the city expects to add 14,169 new employees if the "existing downtown development pipeline is fully built out."
A full report can be found here.