Year / 2010

by Leo Suarez

Downtown Raleigh 2011 Wishlist

Snow Market by dtraleigh, on Flickr

Now that the year is almost over, it is time to look forward. 2010 may have been a year in planning for downtown Raleigh so maybe we will see some of that planning be carried out in 2011. Borrowing a little from last year’s list, here is the 2011 wishlist of things that could actually happen in a year’s time.

Bookstore

For the long time readers, a bookstore has been mentioned quite a few times on this blog. Currently, downtown Raleigh has the express library on Fayetteville Street. But with limited hours and a small selection, it is more of a pickup spot for requested books then an actual library.

A bookstore with a unique offering of new works and perhaps monthly used book sales would be ideal. Maybe it could start off as a small thing inside the next coffee shop that opens up.

More Hours

By wishing for more hours, I mean that I wish for places to stay open later and open earlier. I want downtown to continue to push toward serving all of us for 24 hours of the day. I’d like to see typical lunch-only places to start staying open for dinner and weekday only places start catering to the weekend crowds.

A huge change in hours, I feel, should come from the more corporate businesses. Those limited hours and closings during major events hurt downtown’s image. Places like CVS, Chick Fil A, and Quizno’s being closed on the weekends are not helping to serve those that are in the area on the weekends. When people see that CVS is closed at 2 PM on a Saturday, that brings about a negative viewpoint on downtown Raleigh and less towards the CVS itself. This needs to slowly change.

Counter Service Food

Downtown Raleigh’s variety of restaurants is what makes it a destination. They also make it expensive for nearby residents to eat out many times. For me, it would be nice to head out and have several food options where I could eat for under seven or eight dollars. Some simple counter service food places with decent hours would really get locals walking around the streets more often. I’m not trying to take away from the great restaurants but sometimes, I just want a coke and good sandwich for dinner.

Food Markets

The chicken and egg saga with the downtown grocery store creeps back every now and then. Grocery stores say there needs to be a certain amount of people for them to set up shop. On the other hand, a lot of people claim that one of the reasons for not moving into downtown is because of its lack of a grocery store. So how do you crack this?

I’m adding food markets to the wishlist because I would like to see more stores selling food and drink that people can take with them. Convenience stores like Taz’s is a start but slowly, the options need to expand outside of beer and wine. A deli could sell meats and breads as well as their typical lunch menu. The Downtown Farmer’s Market should expand and try to serve more people at more times of the day.

Little things like this create the culture of buying foods in different places many times during the week, which is much more urban then stocking up on groceries from a big box in a shopping center. Downtown doesn’t need a grocery store at all, it needs lots of little markets.

Mass Transit Plan

November 2011 could be the year that we’ll all see the 1/2 cent sales tax increase on the ballot. This tax would fund transit improvements if voters approve of it. To sell that tax increase, there had better be a well researched, well documented transit plan for the city over the next twenty years. With a weak plan, it’s possible the vote will be turned down and then transit funding will be killed for many more years. I’m hoping transit planners in the area can deliver, next year, a plan that is well thought out to every last detail.

by Leo Suarez

Downtown Raleigh 2010 In Review

The Middle City by dtraleigh, on Flickr

Was 2010 good for you too? This was actually a pretty productive year from a planning point of view. There were a few major projects being planned that we all should follow over the next few years where it will really start to get interesting. From the street though, changes to downtown Raleigh in 2010 were small, but the details count too. First, let’s start off by re-visiting the 2010 wishlist posted a year ago and see how we did. The wishlist is made up of things that could only happen in a year’s time. That list consisted of:

  • A bookstore
  • Raleigh Wide Open 5 on Hillsborough Street
  • Bus shelters
  • More jobs
  • Specialized retail

No bookstores have opened this year which will probably keep this on the wishlist. There were some good comments in this post about your third place where people were in support of a bookstore in the downtown core. No doubt, opening a bookstore in this digital age would be tough but it’s not impossible. The case for one will only get stronger once more residents move here.

Raleigh Wide Open 5 did its thing this year but in my opinion, the Hillsborough Street’s renovation was something larger to celebrate during a year where downtown had little major projects finishing up. Either way, Hillsborough Street got its own party so no one was left out.

Bus shelters are sprouting up around the city, some in downtown too. Certain R-Line stops are getting shelters, showing the city’s commitment to this key service. A big THANK YOU goes out for this one!

More jobs? Honestly, to cover this topic, we could commit an entire post to this but I won’t. Office space did not increase in 2010 so I can’t imagine there were any major jumps in the amount of workers. The number of shops and restaurants though may tell the real story, and so can headlines. From the Triangle Business Journal:

The retail scene is still fragile in downtown. In 2010, the staple White Rabbit, closed its doors after 22 years of doing business here. It’s sad to see them go. On an up note, however, Raleigh Denim moved their shop to and created a store on West Martin Street. Raleigh Denim has received some national and local attention and is an immensely unique thing for downtown Raleigh. Glenwood South saw some changes but is still level from where it is was a year ago with places like Runway and Ripple City adding something different to the handful of art galleries on the strip.

2010 Highlights

The most talked about news topic in 2010 around Raleigh has to be the Wake County School board drama. This blog does not cover that so we will NOT get into it. Downtown connoisseurs such as yourselves were all talking about public safety buildings and fast trains.

The Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center was a hot topic in 2010. On the table was a 17-story $210+ million building to house a bunch of public safety departments across the street from Nash Square next to city hall. The decision was right down the middle and construction hasn’t started. Currently, the project seems to be on the shelf and an unstable economy will probably keep it there. Revisit the Public Safety Center articles on RalCon.

The study for the Southeast High Speed Rail project is chugging along and this year, there were lots of talks about how these trains would come through downtown. The tricky part was that in order to accommodate these trains, streets could not cross the tracks; they had to be closed. North Carolina received lots of stimulus money for trains this year but the decision has to be made where to put them, and groups were arguing over the best path for the high speed trains as they come into town from the north. Revisit the high speed train articles on RalCon.

There was a lot going on this year, really there was. There was a lot of planning going on and I’m hoping the next steps are in place to get these great ideas going in order to enhance the city and our way of life. Let’s run through some more events that happened this year:

Crowd @ Hopscotch 2010
Crowd @ Hopscotch 2010 by OldKing, on Flickr

by Leo Suarez

New Eats For You To Try This Winter

I guess there is still some fall season time left before officially declaring it winter, no? Anyway, a cold walk around downtown this weekend led me to visit some new places to add to my long list of eats to try.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has now opened on Davie Street in the Progress Energy building. Immediately, some want to turn this into a rivalry with Cooper’s right down the street but calm down, and at least give them a try.

Dickey’s is open until 9pm each weekday, giving downtown residents a dinner option, and they are open on Sundays. I can definitely support those kind of hours. (before scaling back in the future but hopefully not) I’ll try them once but fully expect Dickey’s to be different then other NC barbecue joints.


ZPizza is now open in the space facing City Plaza in the Bank of America building.

The Depot has two new tenants that kind of came in under the radar. Blue Tuscan Cuisine, an Italian restaurant is now open down from Jibarra and initial internet chatter is positive.

Also, at the end of The Depot near Cabarrus Street is The Union, a beer bar infused with a club. The chalkboard with the beer list was solid but I have heard nothing about them. Has anyone been down to The Union?

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Greenway Access From Downtown, Current and Future


Chavis Way, entrance to the greenway off the 500 block of East Martin Street.

I just did some online searching for information regarding the Raleigh Greenway system. It’s pretty sad that there isn’t an informative, well designed page dedicated to educating people on the expansive network of trails that go all over Raleigh. If you know of one, PLEASE share it.

The city’s website has only a small blurb about it here and you can download pdf maps of the parks and trails too. (links below) The maps are not up to date and the enormous file is cumbersome to navigate without a gigantic, high-resolution monitor.

Capital Area Greenway System Map (via raleighnc.gov)

Park And Greenway System Map (via raleighnc.gov)

The best resource out there is a real map of the network which you should be able to pick up at any bike shop around town. The adventurous will learn by just jumping onto the greenways themselves and picking them up as you go.

How does Downtown Raleigh fit into this network of trails? Looking at a portion of the map below, we get…. (click for a larger view)

Great Connections

The southern portion of downtown, highlighted in purple in the center, has pretty good access to the greenway trails running along southern Raleigh. If you work your way into Boylan Heights, West of downtown, you can get to the trails that run along Western Blvd very easily, marked by #34 on the map. This is a perfect way to get to Centennial Campus and the rest of NC State University without battling car traffic.

Trail #7 begins on Martin Street to the east of downtown. This trail will easily get you to many different parts of southeast Raleigh. It is possible to use this trail to get to the NC State Farmer’s Market while heading east weaves through secluded woods and wetlands.

But what about going north?

The long trail that runs along the northern arc just inside I-440 is a beautiful path to ride or walk on. I’ve ridden on it many times from one end all the way to Shelley Lake and back. I highly recommend getting out there and seeing it. Here’s the trail: (click for larger)

This is the trail to get to if you want to ride out to North Raleigh. I went shopping once at Crabtree Mall, getting there by bike on the greenways. Also, North Hills is a quick detour on Lassiter Mills Road but I’ve never tried it.

Conversely to the southern trails of Raleigh, the northern trails are harder to get to and is a little intimidating to the average rider. That may change in the future as a few ideas are being thrown around to run a greenway right through the middle of downtown.

Downtown trails for more connectivity

Right now, there are two developments that Raleigh Connoisseurs like yourselves should be aware of; the South West Street extension study and the Capital Blvd corridor study. We will get into the specifics of those topics, especially the West Street extension because I haven’t mentioned it here on RalCon as of today, at a later date but for right now let’s look at where the word ‘Greenway’ comes into play here.

Prerequisite Reading: Union Station – West Street Extension Alternatives.pdf (via raleighnc.gov)

In short, this document has some great details on how planners are thinking about having West Street, which currently dead ends at the railroad tracks after crossing Martin Street, connect to W. Cabarrus Street to support the future Union Station. A planned greenway is drawn up, running along West Street and ending at the current trail near Lake Wheeler and South Saunders Street. Picture below.

This portion will most likely be much more urban then the other trails around the city and the documents suggests that the greenway will be implemented with wider, multi-use sidewalks.

The Capital Blvd corridor study has talks of a possible greenway as part of the new additions to that area. Jim Belt of the Raleigh DLA wrote up a great review of the recent workshop and mentions that a greenway route is on the table. This map shows what a connection from the existing trail on Raleigh Blvd to downtown Raleigh could look like. The trail ends near the intersection of West and Peace Street but hopefully can be shot straight down West Street and into Union Station.

Putting the pieces together

If you add a greenway trail along the Capital Blvd corridor and another along the West Street extension, we now have penetrated downtown Raleigh with a trail and the rest of the network is easily accessible in all directions. Running it right by Union Station is a huge plus for the future of alternative transit around Raleigh as well.

Related Links:

Capital Blvd Corridor Study: RaleighNC.gov

by Leo Suarez

Frozen Yogurt and Mediterranean Coming Soon To Glenwood South

I spotted these two signs in the 222 Glenwood building on Glenwood Avenue. The large retail space in this condo building has always been empty but hopefully that will change. Zaky and Tutti Frutti will take up some space here but still leaving some room available for one more at the end of the building facing the intersection of Lane Street and Glenwood Avenue.

Very little work has taken place inside so we’ll keep an eye on this new addition for now.

by Leo Suarez

Salisbury Street Bicycle Lane

I stumbled upon this new bicycle lane on Salisbury Street yesterday. The lane goes from Peace to Lane Street which, right now, is not much but the Green Square construction kind of gets in the way. In the end, the bicycle lane should continue south down Salisbury and end at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

This is the beginning of some of the priority bicycle lanes that will be installed around Raleigh and you can see the plans at RaleighPedBikeMap.com.