by Leo Suarez

Heritage Park: Raleigh Is Rebuilding Public Housing the Right Way

Photo of Heritage Park, April 2026

If you’ve walked or biked along the western side of South Street recently, you’ve probably noticed the activity around Heritage Park. The 11-acre affordable housing community is being demolished and rebuilt from the ground up. The story of how the Raleigh Housing Authority (RHA) is handling it is worth paying attention to. This isn’t just a construction project. It’s a test of whether Raleigh can do urban redevelopment without repeating the mistakes that destroyed communities in this exact part of the city decades ago.

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by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Photo of the construction of the NC Education Campus, March 2026

The North Carolina Education Campus continues to click in place. The metal skeleton looks mostly finished and materials are being craned up inside as workers continue constructing the floors and infrastructure. The main building, the tall one, has a commanding presence on Lane Street. I’m curious to see how it will interface with the sidewalk and how many of those open bays are people space versus exits and entrances to the underground parking garage.

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by Leo Suarez

Nash Square Reimagined. See How You Can Participate

Nash Square, Raleigh, NC. March 2026.

I’m a fan of Nash Square. It’s probably one of the few places in downtown where I can sit and people-watch while being in this kind of hybrid comfort where the busier city streets meet the slowness of the trees and greenery. I’d change a few things for sure but mostly, it works for me, and I have no complaints. When the city recently released plans to start a process to reimagine the square, I was intrigued. What could they be up to?

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by Leo Suarez

Demolition Taking Place at 501 Hillsborough For New Apartments Named 501 Hillsborough

Photo of the southwest corner of Hillsborough and West Streets, March 2026

Most likely by the time you read this, the buildings in this stretch of Hillsborough Street will be demolished. The Community is watching this take place and reporting in that the demolition work needed for downtown’s next residential project, named 501 Hillsborough at this time, is underway. These very nice, but almost always empty, storefronts should make way for new retail spaces plus hundreds of new residents above them. Let’s review.

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