Should Raleigh get high?

• Position: TRIANGLE REGION - Greg Hatem of Empire Properties - Brief article

To house the thousands of people clamoring to live in central Raleigh, developers are going to have to build skyward. That's the message from Greg Hatem of Empire Properties, owner of about 40 downtown properties that include offices, retail shops, restaurants, hotels and condos. As Raleigh overhauls its zoning districts in a third of the city, Hatem is pushing for the ability to develop taller buildings.

In the blocks around the main streets, developers would be limited to four or five stories under the city's proposal. Hatem wants approval to build 12-story buildings. Where the city is proposing 12-story buildings, Hatem wants to go bigger. "That doesn't necessarily mean that we need tall everywhere," he says. "It means we need a thoughtful canopy of buildings in our downtown."

Today's zoning system, Hatem says, is a legacy of the era of suburban flight. City planners didn't believe there would be a demand for 20-story buildings five blocks from Fayetteville Street. "Now everybody's coming back with a vengeance into downtown," he says. "What seemed to be a tall building at that time...