Winston Salem Blog

Durham developer Niemann Capital has released details of its planned Civic Plaza project in downtown Winston-Salem. They include a 15-story building with 120 apartments, 20,000 square feet of retail space and 50,000 square feet of office space, all built at a cost of about $49 million.
A 1-acre park would also be part of the project. The Civic Plaza development, previously also called the “Superblock,” would be on the south side of Fourth Street and stretch for about a block and a half.
Niemann Capital’s plans come after about a year of studying the site and judging market demand and potential costs, and would also include a 280-space underground parking garage. It would involve the razing of several downtown buildings, including the Pepper building.
Civic Plaza would also be adjacent to the One Park Vista luxury condominium project currently under construction on Fourth Street.
Niemann Capital is asking the city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County to chip in on the project.
Derwick Paige, assistant city manager in Winston-Salem, said the scope of the public contribution was still being negotiated, but he expected it to be “less than 15 percent” of the total project cost.
Paige said the city has been working with Niemann over the past year as the development firm worked through potential plans for Civic Plaza. At one point, he said, the development firm wanted the city to chip in 30 percent of a $70 million total cost, Paige said.
“At that point, we told them we didn’t think we’d be able to participate at that level,” Paige said. “We pointed them in a direction we felt we could participate at, and they listened.”
Paige said a financing proposal could go before elected officials in January or February.
The public money likely would not take the form of tax-increment financing as approved by Amendment One a few years ago, Paige said, although increased tax revenue to the city and county would help offset the public contribution to the project. The parking component will be privately owned, he said, so revenue from that would not go to the city.
Jason Thiel, president of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, said Niemann Capital would like to get the project started by next spring, and that the next step was for the development firm to negotiate for the property with its current owners, which include the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership Foundation, Piedmont Federal and Forsyth County.
He said the choice of apartments rather than for-sale condos as the residential component should work well for downtown Winston-Salem. The Nissen building makes up the bulk of rental units in downtown, and those units are nearly fully occupied, Thiel said.
“That will help us have a more well-rounded offering of downtown residential units,” he said.
Granite Development of Mount Airy will lead the design and construction of Civic Plaza, while Atlantic Coast Commercial, which is based in Winston-Salem, will handle leasing and management services.