Tower Two at Bloc[83].

Project brief

Tower Two at Bloc[83] is a 10-story Class A office building at 621 Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Warehouse District meets Glenwood South. Nine office levels, totaling about 271,500 square feet, sit above roughly 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and a 665-space parking garage serves the $108 million development. Heritage Properties developed the project, Gensler designed it, and Whiting-Turner built it.

The tower is the third phase of Bloc[83], following One Glenwood, which it adjoins, and the 126-key Origin Hotel. It replaced a former auto shop on the site, less than a mile from NC State's main and Centennial campuses. Its features include column-free floorplates, large clear windows, a two-story office lobby, and a tenant lounge and terrace overlooking Hillsborough Street and the block's courtyard. Gensler also designed that courtyard, the largest urban courtyard in Raleigh, with landscaped pockets that organize walkways, seating and outdoor gathering areas. Construction began in September 2019, with completion scheduled for early 2021. The building is now complete and occupied, and Envestnet chose it for its North Carolina headquarters.

BOGZA produced visuals for the project in 2019, led by street-level renderings and extending to exterior and interior views, animation, 360° tours and film. The street views show the building's restaurant corners and its entrance at dusk, presenting the tower in timber and glass.