by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

New bike corrals installed on Wilmington Street.

The bike parking scene is strong these days on the 200 block of South Wilmington Street. Two bike corrals have popped up near the crosswalk into GoRaleigh Station. The first incorporates street art and decorative planters. The second is shaped like a car, a common tool used to show that multiple bikes (people) consume much less space than a single car.

Bike corrals now seem to be the norm in and around downtown Raleigh especially with the incorporation of art now. Keep them coming!

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42 Comments

  1. Very COOL!
    Keep them coming, eliminate parking spots on
    Downtown Streets is OK with me, MORE THAN ENOUGH
    PARKING DECKS, and there are many convenient
    parking decks are everywhere (the last area that did
    not have sufficient parking, warehouse district, now
    has The Dillion)!!
    These bike racks are great, now let’s see more
    digital boards and fountains!!!

  2. I agree. I’d like to see on-street parking being the exception rather than the rule. This would mean wider sidewalks with parklettes, bike infrastructure, etc. with limited parking carved out of the wider pedestrian infrastructure instead of these parklettes and bike infrastructure carved out of presumed street parking.

  3. I just ran by that last night and was trying to figure out what it was. I love the idea.

    The Development Beat at ITB Insider is reporting the city council is voting tonight on selling a city own parking lot next to Lincoln Theater to a developer of some sort. Zoned for up to 7 stories. This is the first I heard of this but I’m intrigued. Literally anything is better than a gravel parking lot, especially in that neglected area.

  4. Nice picture, thank you!
    The bike parking scene may be strong but now we need the bikes…Lol

  5. @Jeff,

    Seven stories is an awful waste of land use just a single block away from the main street of Raleigh. Hopefully someone with a vision will start to consolidate the entire Lincoln Theatre block and build something useful.

  6. I wholeheartedly agree but I’m happy with whatever at this point. Hopefully the developer actually asks for a higher number of floors for once.

  7. @Fran

    What’s more useful than a 1940’s historic theater that has successfully been packing out awesome shows into DTR for more than a decade? I’ve been to Lincoln twice in the past 2 weeks and would be devastated if it went the way of Southland Ballroom. Lincoln was designed and built as a theater with proper acoustics, unlike that excuse of a concert venue that is The Ritz.

    I personally think a 7 story mixed use development with ground level retail east of Lincoln is perfect. I hope it happens!

  8. I guess it depends what they build. If it’s a 40 story masterpiece I’m ok with Lincoln moving. If it’s crappy 4 story apartments, then no. Still fine if it’s just the gravel parking lot being replaced tho

  9. Build around the Lincoln!!!!
    And that are should be zoned for 40-50 stories,
    are we that short sighted?!
    Build a 40-50 story building, two floors is retail
    and adorable apartments for Shaw students!!!
    DT needs to start catering to all students downtown
    (Campbell, Shaw, Pease, St. Mary’s, St. Aug’s, etc).

  10. @Evan,

    Trust me I’ve been to many great shows at the Lincoln Theatre in the past 12 years and it’s a true Raleigh icon but due to its location and lack of architectural importance it’s not long for this world. Especially if Amazon moves in and property values skyrocket. The Palace Theater, The Royal Theater, the Ambassador Theater, and the Capital Theater were are demolished. And those were more significant than the Lincoln.

    What we can do is support a relocation or even a redesign of the Lincoln.

    WHEN, not if, the Lincoln Theatre is demolished or relocated hopefully there’s a movement to preserve the outside mural wall and maybe incorporate it into the future Lincoln Theatre successor.

  11. The bidder of the property is from the President and VP of a company called Core Health Technologies. Their current offices are in Briar Creek. They are in medical web applications. Speculating; however, they may want to move their corporate offices downtown. Seven stories or not, having new corporate office group downtown would be a win.

  12. Keep in mind the site is next door to Red Hat’s Global Headquarters. Perfect for a hotel as well but I’ll take anything over the parking lot

  13. If we can’t grow as a city without preserving arguably the best live music venue in the city, which is historically significant considering it was built in 1939 and was originally an African American theater, then I’m not proud to call Raleigh home. We obviously don’t have the demand for a 40 story tower so quit dreaming people! Look at the Edison! The Dillon didn’t even go to the max of 20 stories! Face the facts: We live in the Triangle sprawl region, not the Raleigh metropolitan region. If amazon comes here, which they won’t good riddance, they will set up shop in RTP.

    It boggles my mind that people would rather have a tower to look at and never step foot inside rather than a street level cultural experience that could EASILY be saved, and enhanced with the presence of development on either flank.

  14. I’m all for building a high rise on the Lincoln lot, but the theater itself is a treasure worth saving. There’s no reason why those two are mutually exclusive.

  15. There’s a reason why isn’t not already on the protected building registry.

    The Historic Jim Crow era Lincoln Theatre was long ago gutted and abandoned for 20 years. The current one is a shell that looks nothing like the original building. Just look at old photos.

    You’re 50 years too late to save it. It won’t be saved.

  16. Trying to claim the Lincoln is some sort of historic structure is a stretch. I like live music too and have seen several shows there but let’s not pretend this is like Memorial Auditirum. We can certainly lament the loss of another music venue but maybe Lincoln will reappear somewhere that is actually “historic”

  17. Or it will be saved…? Are you the COR development manager?

    You’re only responding to the small aside I made referencing the history of that building. And anyways, it’s not functioning as a Jim crow era museum, it’s a theater, as it was in 1939. The larger point being ignored is that the Lincoln is one of the main cultural establishments downtown and is well known by booking agents and bands around the country as The Place to play in the Triangle, forget Raleigh. We get a ton of midsize acts that Durham does not because of the Lincoln.

    Destroy the Lincoln and we will be one, in my book, substantial step closer to a white bread vanilla town that drives more creatives to Durham, an exodus that has been playing out for some time already.

    But hey it looks like things are leaning in my favor if this suburban app company wants to move downtown next to the Lincoln.

  19. Evan I need you here when some of these people are hammering me over my preservation comments! I agree with everything you said. Lincoln is 100% worth saving on both historic counts (even if altered) and current function counts. So many people here seem to think “the City” builds 40 story buildings. They don’t. Developers do, and do so when sufficient demand materializes. “The City” should grow some damned backbone when it comes to its limited historic inventory though. I can point out dozens of cul-de-sac neighborhoods I’d love to raze in favor of gridded streets and shiny 40 story boxes…the short-sighted are those who allowed the, and continue to acquiesce to, suburban sprawl (there is no such thing as “urban” sprawl…that grinds my gears…if it’s sprawl, it’s not urban)….not building as huge as possible next to Lincoln is a tiny fraction of the shortsightedness (if any..) that the Ramen noodle style physical layout we are stuck with in 98% of the “City” is.

  20. I hear you Mark – some things are worth saving because they are important to Raleigh! It’s not a NIMBY case, it’s an opportunity cost. Personally I would love to see a flagship 40 story tower downtown, but there are so many other places it could go that wouldn’t hurt any existing good that’s going on in the city.

    What about those mediocre hotels that were proposed for the Enterprise lot and catty corner to it? The N&O lot? The Edison lot? The Firestone corner? Of course zoning is a separate issue, as the Lincoln lot is approved for 7 stories. The other lots I mentioned are zoned for 20 i believe. Which do you think will have a better go at receiving a variance to 40?

  21. Even if the Lincoln weren’t historic, I’d still be in favor of keeping it. There was talk of putting some kind of entertainment district in the Southern Gateway parcels, but why not do that on the Lincoln lot? Develop the west side of the parcel into a few more theaters and create a small theater district. Also there’s absolutely no reason these theaters couldn’t be inside a high rise, Ed Sullivan Theater is in like a 10-story building, Chase Bank Auditorium (where they record “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell me”) is in a skyscraper.

  23. After reading some of these comments you’d think the Lincoln was sandwiched between 4 of the largest building in Raleigh.

    -It currently sits almost completely isolated, on more than 5 acres of surface and gravel parking. There are more than a dozen more surface parking lots as well, in our city core.

    Please, go inside, you might have a good time.

  24. Yes – historic preservation is NOT NIMBY y’all – it’s helping to create and define a city with character. Build up all around it (we got plenty of parking lots to pick from) but we need to preserve historic / significant properties as well (something Raleigh needs a hand up in, given the mass State Gov construction and parking hey day we’ve already got going on.

    Also – fun fact – the bike corrals are meant to be a curb buffer for peds so that they can get out a few feet to be more visible to oncoming traffic and have a buffer as they cross the street. Look forward to seeing these bike corrals used! Our family is pumped to swing over and park our bikes soon!

  25. The council minutes for February 6 shows that FNB Tower should start at the end of March or early April !

  27. Hey @Dwight – I don’t believe you searched Google correctly.. definitely shows PNC

  30. Lol, Dwight said “tallest buildingS” not building, and he’s right. It’s listed at 316 ft.

  31. The fact that The Lincoln Theater sits on an otherwise large tract of undeveloped land is exactly why it’s vulnerable.

  32. Olde Raleigh posted some very bad news. From what they are saying the Hayes Barton Baptist Church in five points owns the 5 or 6 historic homes behind them… they have neglected to take care of them and now want to tear them down to make a parking lot for the church. This is very upsetting to me .. because the historic homes in that area help to define it.. to tear them down to make an asphalt parking lot is just horrible.

  33. @TheNightHawk, that’s un-Godly news. Can we save the house and tear down the church instead? ;-)
    Seriously though, that action will ruin that entire stretch of White Oak Road. Are the neighbors up in arms? I sure would be. I just looked on streetview of Google maps and all of those houses are charming examples of early 20th century residential. They also sit up on a hill compared to the ones across the street. A parking lot on that property would destroy that neighborhood.

  34. Dwight, do you know if city council actually approved the sale of these parcels by Lincoln Theater?

  35. @ Jeff , I think that they did for app. $864,000 !I think the city paid app. $150,000 for the 3 lots in the 80’s ! The money will go to affordable housing !

  40. Did you know that the tallest building in the nation’s 10th largest city, San Jose, is 286 feet?

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