Upcoming: Smokey Hollow, Peace Street, and Seaboard Station

This is what it is like to take a walk downtown with @dtraleigh

A photo posted by Jennifer Suarez (@jenniferraleigh) on

Readers of the blog should not be surprised that there is a lot of momentum coming soon to Peace Street. The Smoky Hollow project near Peace and West, Devereux Meadow park, the new Capital Boulevard bridge, and new developments in Seaboard Station, including a Harris Teeter, are all going to dramatically change the look of Peace Street.

I went out there to take photos and I’m putting some lengthier stuff together, which I hope to finish soon.

Speaking of the bridge over Peace, put August 18 on your calendar as a public meeting about the Capital Boulevard bridge replacement project is planned.

Stay tuned.

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30 Comments

  1. Looks like Glenwood Place has started as well. Looks like it is going to be a great development to enter into Raleigh!

  2. Great news!: 4 story self storage coming to downtown Raleigh (with retail). Look at their website (nitneil partners). The one in Raleigh needs to look like the one in Downtown Louisville, KY (not like any of the others, the others look suburban – we do not want any white, tan or beige colors) or look similar to KY facility with more urban feel (all stone, glass, steel or brick finish should apply). Good timing for downtown Raleigh (should be taller for future downtown growth, which is exploding)

  3. Thank you Leo,
    Thank you for the updates!
    Since the city says that there won’t be a formal presentation, I wonder if NCDOT will instead have those big blow up cardboard pictures of the bridges? Just wondering out loud…

  4. Having gone to a lot of public meetings, I appreciate it when they state if there will be a formal presentation that I need to be on time for, or not. The latter usually means it’s a “pop in anytime” which is nice for those that need to be flexible. I’m betting you are right, Robert.

  5. All,

    Is there still a possibility that there will be no bridge over Peace Street and make this a ground level intersection?

    I assume to late in process, but cannot believe NCDOT and city of Raleigh are not eliminating this bridge, city council should have rejected this bridge proposal?

  6. Eric,

    Great find. That makes sense. But with that said, use KY facility as the model for the downtown Raleigh facility. NO SUBURBAN colors or styles. City Council, appearance committee or other approving group(s) must make sure this does not have a suburban feel like the other facilities on the companies web site

  7. @Mark, yes. I think 414 W South St. It’ll have 3,000 sqft of retail as well.

    That Miami one would look stupid here. The ones on their site labeled “Downtown” look fine so I’m sure it will fit it better than what’s currently there

  8. Not my comment about Miami, John sir :)
    I am pretty relieved that some bit of urban design will be incorporated in this. I realize the apartment and condo folks might be tight on storage space, and have come to accept this project as a necessary part of downtown.

  9. @Mark….my apologies.
    Yeah, storage is an issue anywhere that has a high degree of condo and apartment dwellers, hence the project in South Beach as well. No matter how high the land cost is, a project like this does need to find a home. There’s a self storage place on Capital between Peace and Wade and it’s pretty darn ugly. That Uhaul Storage emphasizes that it’s a storage place by being able to actually see into the building at the individual unit doors through the glass exterior while whizzing by in a car. While the property itself is well maintained, it’s certainly an eyesore. As storage demand grows, needing to be so darn “visible” will be less of a concern. They’ll have a full house and people will be on their waiting list.
    @Bruce, I still contend that high(er) design is possible and should be encouraged in our DT core. IMO, there are some great designs downtown and then some real disappointments in very key locations that can only be saved by the trees getting bigger that are planted in front of them.

  10. On the topic of new bridges, I’m selfishly wishing we had a bridge/ramp for Fairview-to-NB Capital traffic, right where the weird hologram tower is. The Fairview/Capital interchange allows for all other directions of traffic movement except this. Oh well, at least we get more greenway construction, fingers crossed for more creek daylighting. #RIPFinch’s

  11. @Will I noticed that the original Peace and Wade (current plans) once also had the Fairview bridge being replaced…that is now not part of the site rendering posted online. Just a thought, but maybe they took this back to the drawing board to think outside the box a little more. Not at all what you’re wishing for, but I had imagined eliminating that bridge entirely and stretching West under Wade, all the way to the Raleigh Bonded Warehouse property and perhaps tying into Wake Forest Road somehow. This area is very poorly connected with proper urban design, all in the name of whisking people from the beltline to downtown as fast as possible. I for one, prefer to approach the whole issue by trying to make downtown bigger, and improve the lives of people living in it, and focus less on on helping people who live outside of it, get in and out as fast as possible…it’s not the big scary place after 5 pm it used to be..hang out a while people…

  12. @Mark, I would suspect that what happens with West traveling north beside Capital and any possible green space would be part of a bigger conversation that could affect Fairview. Well, IMO, it should all be part of the same conversation. The stretch of Capital from Peace to Wake Forest Rd needs lots of love and these first bridge replacements are only the beginning.

  13. FWIW. My mechanic Pro Auto Repair recently had to vacate his shop on Capital Blvd. (just South of U-Haul/just North of The Cotton Mill).

    According to him this area is to be redeveloped as a storage facility.

  14. This area will transform over the next few years. This development and infrastructure improvements will push interest further north on Capital Blvd and West Street. Eventually we will see proposals for the Fairview, Wake Forest Road, and Atlantic Avenue interchanges. The service roads in this area would be perfect apartments/condos and retail.

  15. @Stew and that one is a damn shame. A real shame on our city, and I will tell you why. The auto repair shop is also next to the 622 Capital Blvd practice spaces that many (read: MOST) Raleigh bands used to use for practice, some of them for the past 20 years or so. I had a space there. The owner of the building (who also works for the realty company that rented out spaces there) sold it to a developer and, while that area is zoned for up to 12 stories, the rumor is what you stated here: a &$@#ing 5 story self storage building. Yes, right next to the Uhaul rental and (ugly) self storage building right next door that has been mentioned in this thread. I just love that City Council and the mayor like to run around town shouting that we’re going to be “the next arts capital of the south” and yet countless Raleigh bands that CREATE our music scene were just kicked to the curb. I would be much less salty about it if the rumored new development were something more worthwhile than a 5 story self storage facility. “Arts capital of the south”? Not with that B.S. happening.

  16. Mark, city’s capital blvd corridor plan shows exactly that… removing fairview-to-capital bridge completely. fairview t’s into an extended west street. but, with most intriguing plans the city comes up with, seems like they’ve abandoned the west street extension idea. basically the corridor improvements will be just replacing the jersey barrier with a small grass median and trees.

  17. @Jake, I was an original owner at the Cotton Mill and thought it was totally cool to see the band members coming and going from the building next door. It freaked my mother out but that probably contributed to reason that I liked it.
    Another storage facility on that side and stretch of Capital? Seriously? What a waste for the stretch of road that the city is trying to use as a northern gateway to the city.

  18. @John – exactly. I wouldn’t feel so angered by the whole ordeal if the developers who are demolishing were rumored to build a new tower (again, area is zoned for up to 12 stories), or even something more mixed use even at only 5 stories….. but a 5 story storage facility. WOW. Unbelievable. Let’s hope those rumors are false, but I doubt it. There was an article in North Raleigh News about the sale, and about how detrimental it could end up being to the Raleigh music scene (nowhere for Raleigh bands to practice = less Raleigh bands. Seriously, the music scene is thriving here in part because of that place- SO MANY BANDS practiced there.) In that article, city council member Mary Ann Baldwin was quoted saying that she got a notice that a 5 story storage facility was coming in next door (she lives at the Cotton Mill), so that sounds pretty real to me. Funny thing is, I wonder if she/City Council could’ve had a say. Like, I wonder why the city wouldn’t consider buying the place, renovating it (it was beat the hell up), and continuing its use as a practice space for Raleigh bands. I mean, City Council/the Mayor is the group touting us as “the arts capital of the south” … I can’t lay blame on City Council, it is a free market. But I just wonder if they could’ve done something to show how serious they are about being an “arts capital”…

  19. There seems to be a proliferation of “upscale storage” facilities ITB. I can’t even say the name without rolling my eyes.

    The City should convene quickly to discuss modifications to the UDO to limit this sort of building type in the core areas of downtown. The suburbanites can’t seem to get rid of their crap so they fill up their garages and then these eyesores.

    Got an idea for all the hoarders…..get rid of your crap. If you are going to keep it in a box shoved in a garage for 10 years or a storage facility…..:NewsFlash!!! You probably don’t need to keep the crap!!!

  20. @Uncle Jesse, every action has an unintended consequence and I suppose that the ‘paving the way” that the new UDO provides for development has reared its ugly head in terms of these storage buildings.
    I also suppose that these are more likely to pop up where the land his cheaper and the slice of land to the east of Capital and west of the tracks is probably cheaper for a variety of reasons inclusive of only having norhtbound car access and noise from the railyard and active tracks.
    It’s really difficult for a developer to find a money making opportunity for that property and this is why the band practice facility is such a good use. It’s not intended to be used by a wide public audience. It doesn’t have a constant stream of cars coming and going from it 18 hours a day and the specificity of its use trumps the negative of it being on, essentially, a one way street.

  21. Was on this website for a Office tower Downtown called, The Dillion. Pretty impressive,Been hearing so much Developments in Downtown SO why aren’t there any More Office Towers In Downtown. Raleigh is just too spread out.

  22. Thanks Dwight. I’m very excited to see what the developers are planning for that prime location. Fingers crossed they deliver something significant.

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