Downtown Raleigh is really a set of districts arranged around the Fayetteville Street spine and the State Capitol. Glenwood South is the nightlife and condo corridor on the west side; the Warehouse District holds Union Station, Raleigh Founded and converted brick lofts; Moore Square and the Fayetteville Street core hold the office towers, the Convention Center and the newest high-rise condos; and Seaboard Station and Person Street anchor the north edge. Ringing those districts are the historic neighborhoods that make downtown living feel residential: Oakwood’s Victorians, Boylan Heights’ 1910s bungalows, Mordecai, Glenwood-Brooklyn and the fast-changing streets of East Raleigh.

The housing mix is wider than anywhere else in the Triangle. A buyer can choose a one-bedroom condo in a 2000s mid-rise, a new three-story townhome on a former industrial lot, a converted loft, or a restored 1890s house with a front porch. Downtown’s 20-year rebuild, from the reopening of Fayetteville Street to Union Station and the Dix Park plan, has made it the one place in Raleigh where a car is optional. What we tell buyers is to decide first between tower living and the historic districts; the two markets behave differently, and the right building or block matters more here than anywhere else in the city.

Condos start around $300K for one-bedrooms in older buildings such as the Dawson, the Hudson and Palladium Plaza, run $450K to $800K for two-bedrooms in the Glenwood South and Fayetteville Street towers, and reach $1M to $1.5M and above for penthouses and the larger units at PNC Plaza, West at North and the newest buildings. New townhomes in Glenwood-Brooklyn, East Raleigh and around Seaboard Station trade from $550K to $900K. Historic houses in Oakwood, Boylan Heights and Mordecai run from the $600Ks for smaller cottages to $1.2M to $1.8M for fully restored Victorians. Published medians for the downtown core sit in the $450K to $500K range because condos make up most of the sales. Median price and days on market above reflect the trailing 12 months of Triangle MLS closed sales.

Downtown is the Triangle’s cultural center: the Performing Arts Center, Red Hat Amphitheater, the state museums, the Contemporary Art Museum and the Saturday State Farmers Market a few minutes south. The restaurant scene is the deepest in the region and still growing, and the calendar runs from First Friday gallery walks to the Christmas parade.

• Dorothea Dix Park — the 308-acre former hospital campus on the south edge, now a city park with the Gipson Play Plaza, sunflower fields and the long-term master plan
• Moore Square & the Transfer Co. Food Hall — the renovated 1792 square and the food hall on East Davie Street
• Glenwood South & the Warehouse District — the bar and restaurant corridors, Union Station and the Morgan Street Food Hall
• Historic Oakwood & Oakwood Cemetery — the Victorian district and its December Candlelight Tour, plus the Person Street shops and Yellow Dog Bread

Downtown is served by the Wake County Public School System. Base assignments vary by district: addresses west of the Capitol generally assign to Wiley Elementary (an international-studies magnet) and Broughton High, while Oakwood, Mordecai and East Raleigh generally assign to Hunter or Conn Elementary, Ligon or Moore Square Middle, and Enloe High. Wake’s magnet program is the real story downtown: Ligon GT magnet, Moore Square magnet middle, Washington GT magnet elementary and Enloe, one of the most competitive magnet high schools in the state, all sit within a few miles. Exploris (a K-8 charter downtown) and St. Mary’s School on Hillsborough Street are nearby alternatives. We confirm the current assignment for any specific address before you write an offer.

Downtown is the hub of the region’s road and transit network. RDU airport is 20 minutes on I-40 or Wade Avenue, Research Triangle Park 25, downtown Durham 30 to 35 and Chapel Hill 35 to 40. North Hills is 10 minutes and Cary 20. GoRaleigh’s bus system radiates from GoRaleigh Station on Moore Square, Union Station carries Amtrak service to Charlotte, Washington and New York, and the Capital Area Greenway connects to Dix Park and the Walnut Creek trail. Most residents of the core walk to work, dinner and the farmers market; parking, not driving, is the daily question.

Downtown has more new construction than any other part of the Triangle, nearly all of it vertical or infill. The Smoky Hollow district on Peace Street, the Seaboard Station redevelopment and Raleigh Iron Works on the north edge have added apartments, retail and condos; new condo towers and conversions continue to be announced along Fayetteville Street and in Glenwood South. Townhome builders are active in Glenwood-Brooklyn, East Raleigh and the streets south of Oakwood. Buyers who want a new single-family home in a community setting cross-shop 5401 North and Wake Forest to the north or Knightdale to the east, each 20 to 30 minutes away. See our Triangle new-construction builder pages.