by Leo Suarez

Bike Racks in Downtown Raleigh Evolve, Show Attitude

Bicycle racks seem to be popping up all over downtown Raleigh and it’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be losing steam.

In 2011, the city installed about 75 U-shaped racks around downtown to accommodate the growing cycling population. In the Spring of this year, North Carolina’s first bicycle corral was installed near the corner of Hargett and Wilmington Streets.

The love for the cycling community continues with some more unique bicycle racks, shown below, that have been installed recently or in the past year. There’s even more to come so keep an eye out.

Bicycle racks outside of Beasley's Chicken and Honey on Martin Street.

Bicycle racks outside of Beasley’s Chicken and Honey on Martin Street.

Bicycle racks outside of The Flying Saucer on Morgan Street.

Bicycle racks outside of The Flying Saucer on Morgan Street.

Bicycle rack along Seaboard Avenue.

Bicycle rack along Seaboard Avenue.

Bicycle rack along Wilmington Street near the State Capitol building.

Bicycle rack along Wilmington Street near the State Capitol building.

Bicycle rack in Exchange Plaza.

Bicycle rack in Exchange Plaza.

Bicycle rack near Moore Square.

Bicycle rack near Moore Square.

by Leo Suarez

Spring 2013 Restaurant Roundup

I hope everyone is spending as much time as possible outside before the heat kicks in. This is one of the best times of the year in downtown Raleigh for walking and outdoor eating.

Here’s the latest list of restaurant news.

  • Dos Taquitos Xoco is now open in Glenwood South. Besides sitting outside on the outrageously decorated patio, the booths with the toy train serving chips and salsa are pretty enjoyable.
  • Kimbap, a Korean cafe, has opened in Seaboard Station. There is a lot of sustainably grown food served here as well as a very gluten-free friendly menu. The dumplings are excellent!
  • They have been open for some time now but Trophy Brewing has been making progress on their new kitchen and outdoor space. Expect that to be open soon.
  • The Videri Chocolate Factory in the warehouse district has added a coffee bar.
  • Fiction Kitchen has now been open for two or three months and is 100% vegetarian. The tinga tacos are way tasty!
  • Cafe de los Muertos is opening a store in The Hue building and should be open late this summer or early fall.
  • Another coffee shop, Joule Coffee, is still being worked on in the former Wilmoore Cafe spot. According to the (silent) Twitter account, it’s still planned for a Spring opening so expect it soon.
  • This fall, a doughnut shop, Donut Theory, is planning to open in a space near the intersection of Saunders and South Street.

Also, a little bird has told me that the space between Neptune’s Parlour and King’s on Martin Street may be serving food out of the window this weekend. Is The Garland finally going to open? Perhaps we’ll know in a few weeks.

by Leo Suarez

The Lincoln Will Bring 224 Apartments To Emo Raleigh

Corner of Hargett and East Street

Corner of Hargett and East Street as seen in March, 2011.

Emo Raleigh (East of Moore Square) may be getting a big influx of housing units if a new development gets approved by the city. According to a newly submitted site plan, The Lincoln is a full-block apartment building for the mostly empty, grassy lot bounded by Hargett, Martin, East, and Bloodworth Streets.

Currently, just a single house sits on the lot and for years the developers behind The Lincoln have been working to acquire property, move houses, and get everything ready.

The site plan tells us that the 70′ high building will be designed by JDavis Architects and offer one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Looking at the preliminary site plan we can see that there will be apartments along all four faces of the block with an enclosed parking deck and pool.

If I’m looking at this map correctly, the deck entrances look to be on Bloodworth and East Streets. See for yourself on this extracted image I created, posted below.

This is great for the Moore Square area as well as the adjacent Thompson-Hunter neighborhood. This side of town has been quiet on the development front. If successful, The Lincoln could raise more interest in new projects for East Raleigh as there is relatively cheaper land here.

The Lincoln Preliminary Site Plan

by Leo Suarez

Rendering of The New Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street

Rendering of the Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street.

Rendering of the Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street.

In addition to doing a wonderful restoration job to the Jordan House at the corner of Peace and Blount Street, the Holy Trinity Church of Raleigh is building new digs.

Above is an architectural rendering of the new building which will be located along the 100 block of East Peace Street. The land was just surface parking for more than 20 years to the best of my knowledge and adds some diversity to what could be a heavily residential area if the Blount Street Commons project is ever fully completed.

by Leo Suarez

Union Station May 2013 Public Workshop

Union Station conceptual sketch

Conceptual sketch of the future Union Station

Yesterday, a group from the City of Raleigh, NCDOT, and Clearscapes were hosting the public at the Contemporary Art Museum to show off some updates to Raleigh’s upcoming Union Station. This is part of an ongoing effort for citizens to take part in the design process of downtown’s new train station.

The last public meeting was only two months ago so I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. Clearscapes did have slightly new renderings and one interesting slide about the feedback that they have collected.

Raleigh Union Station

Almost half of the comments collected so far are related to connectivity, mainly pertaining to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The design of the new station is attempting to be easily accessible by a variety of modes and from many different directions. In addition to obvious connectivity off West Street, the architects are tossing around the idea of connecting a walkway westward up to Boylan Avenue.

Parking was another concern from the public. There’s no real concrete solution for Union Station parking at this time. The site plans show that only 36 spaces can fit on the site. All parties agree that this is far too few to adequately serve the station. There’s work being done behind the scenes to try and find a solution in the surrounding properties so more details are to come for sure.

The rest of the comments cover a couple of other things. People are interested in really making the entrance way an iconic space, especially the plaza. Use of natural light was also commented on and is leading to designs with more glass.

Raleigh Union Station civic plaza

Here’s a new sketch that I haven’t seen before that shows the gateway from the civic plaza. The cross section shows the possible flow of pedestrians from the plaza and into the station. It also shows how the station will work “around” the in-use freight track that runs between the plaza and the station.

Raleigh Union Station civic plaza

Here’s the latest site plan for you to geek over. Click on it to see it large. I didn’t realize how long the Amtrak platform really is.

Raleigh Union Station site plan

by Leo Suarez

Edison Office Shows Site Plan For 225′ Tower

Corner of Wilmington and Martin Street in April 2013.

Corner of Wilmington and Martin Street in April 2013.

Looking at the latest update at Raleigh’s Current Development Activity page, there’s a new entry for The Edison Office tower. The site plan sheds more light, and hopefully a sign of progress, on The Edison, a multi-tower project planned for downtown Raleigh.

In addition to the Edison Apartments and Skyhouse Apartments, The Edison Office tower site plan shows a 225 foot tower with retail over office across 310,000 square feet. These preliminary plans are just a sketch of what’s to come so hopefully with plans at the city, progress is being made behind the scenes.

At the same time, the website of JDavis Architects has a rendering, on display for The Edison Apartments and not Edison Office, that shows a concept of the entire block built out.

Edison block conceptual drawing by JDavis Architects.

Edison block conceptual drawing by JDavis Architects.

If you’d like to analyze the floor plan, take a look at the image below and make sure to view it large to see the entire northern side of the Edison block.

Preliminary Site Plan for The Edison Office tower.

by Leo Suarez

Carousel Reopens at Chavis Park

Chavis Carousel Reopening by dtraleigh, on Flickr

This past weekend, I was down at Chavis Park for the carousel reopening. The end of this renovation project also starts the process of creating a master plan for the park.

While Nash and Moore Square offer green space, Chavis really is the closest park that downtown Raleigh has. Make a visit there this Spring if you haven’t been in awhile or ever.

I recommend viewing this picture Large. The skyline is right there!