Aloft Hotel on Hillsborough Street

The Aloft hotel chain have confirmed plans to open an Aloft hotel at the Bell View property across from N.C. State University’s bell tower on Hillsborough Street. The hotel will be a 135-room hotel with two retail storefronts.

The design of the hotel building will pay tribute to N.C. State’s heritage featuring a brick facade on one side, a glass and steel facade on the other side, and a 55-foot sculpture created by well-known Raleigh artist Thomas Sayre connecting the two sides. “The art is a visible representation of how the sound of a bell is created,” stated Sayre in a news release about the deal. There will also be an outdoor space on the second floor. A parking deck is planned at the rear of the building.

A joint venture partnership of the Bernstein Companies of Washington, D.C., and Bell View Partners of Raleigh has been working on plans for the Bell View project since 2011 when N.C. State university officials selected the team – led locally by Raleigh real estate developers Mark Andrews, Michael Sandman and Joe Whitehouse – to develop the site. The University Endowment Fund currently owns the 1.3-acre site where the project is proposed.