by Leo Suarez

Powerhouse Plaza Flips From Hotel and Office to Apartments

Corner of West and Jones Street.

Surprise, surprise. Another on-hold project, Powerhouse Plaza, goes the apartment route. The once planned 11-story mixed use building for Glenwood South, at the corner of West and Jones Street, was planned to have retail, office, and possibly a Hyatt hotel. The rendering for the old building still exists on Cline Design’s website so take a peak before it’s updated.

A preliminary site plan was submitted to the city back in December and reveals just a few details about the 203 apartment building, called Link Apartments at Glenwood South. Search the city’s website for “site plan 057-12” or get it direct here. (pdf) [1-31-14 – UPDATE: broken link]

No renderings are included and the overall site plan, of just the first floor it seems, doesn’t show anything too exciting. It’s still early in the process though.

203 apartments directly in Glenwood South is a nice boost of residents and a great way to use the under-utilized space. I’ll be following it.

by Leo Suarez

A Human Definition of Downtown Raleigh

View of downtown Raleigh from Boylan Heights

I had a few exchanges on Twitter recently and the question being discussed was simple. Do you consider Glenwood South to be a part of Downtown Raleigh? This followed with more conversation of what is and isn’t consider to be in downtown.

In cases of real estate or jurisdiction, hard lines specifying what’s in or out are needed. For awhile, I’ve felt that this doesn’t work with locals and visitors. I may have a new way of thinking about this that I want to put on this blog.

I chimed in to the Twitter conversation and gave my personal definition of what areas make downtown. Here’s the short, dictionary-type definition.

Downtown Raleigh is a patchwork of unique, urban districts and the neighborhoods that border them where easy accessibility is possible by all users.

I realize the “downtown or not?” question will always exist but I want to try a different approach to this rather than the traditional “lines on a map” method.

For background, let’s start with the city’s definition. According to iMaps, I’ve redrawn the Downtown Overlay District on this Google Map.


View Downtown Overlay District in a larger map

The railroads must have some influence on this map in some way as most of the west and southern borders are train tracks.

Most of Glenwood South is not considered in downtown but rather a different section called the Pedestrian Overlay District. Not quite the same ring as Downtown but ok.

Next, we have the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and they have broken up the area into districts. The idea of districts have become part of their branding, it’s even in their logo, and terms like Warehouse District and Government District are catching on.

Their site consists of a nice map and with the districts clearly specified. If you are in one of the five districts, you are in downtown.

So finally, I want to remove the maps, remove the boundaries, and try to humanize this a little more.

Downtown Raleigh consists of any areas, blocks, neighborhoods, and buildings that are within the core and around it. I’m loosening the definition a bit because the situation changes for everyone. If you can get out and feel comfortable walking from within the neighborhoods to Fayetteville Street, for example, then you are in downtown. However, if you are at a point where that walk is just a little too much then you are probably located on the fringes or just outside.

This could make a great data visualization project. If the data could be gathered, it would be possible to “draw” what downtown is by the method of how people travel to and within it. Walkers, cyclists, transit riders, and drivers are coming from all over. As you travel away, each method starts to decrease. There are less walkers the further you go. Beyond that, cyclists drop off. Last transit riders aren’t there and only drivers are within reach.

This blog considers downtown Raleigh to be the theoretical area drawn up by all of these travelers together.

I wanted to put this out there as some of you may be interested in a new way of defining Raleigh’s downtown. I also wanted to get this up because I have a feeling I will be referring back to it in future conversations.

Oh, the answer to the original question is yes, Glenwood South is in downtown Raleigh.

by Leo Suarez

Winter 2013 Restaurant Roundup

Bad Daddy's Burger Bar

Happy New Year readers!

In an attempt to test, or fuel, your commitment to any eating related resolutions in 2013, I’m dropping the restaurant roundup this week. The DT Eats list keeps growing as it’s constantly updated.

  • Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar is now open in the newly renovated retail spaces along Seaboard Avenue.
  • Within the same spaces at Seaboard Station, work appears to be continuing on a new coffee shop, Blend and Grind. However, it’s been awhile and their Facebook page is very quiet.
  • Dos Taquitos Xoco, pronounced similar to “Show-Co”, is a new Mexican restaurant in Glenwood South and will open very soon. Check out a picture of the bar below from their Twitter.

  • The renovation work on one of the houses at the northern end of Glenwood South has finished and View Bar is now open.
  • On the same 600 block of Glenwood, another house renovation project is done and Cornerstone Tavern is now open. Make plans to hit this one up in the Spring as the outdoor seating is plentiful.
  • Krave, located in the 510 building in Glenwood South, is getting a remake and is now called Myst.
  • Bolt Bistro and Bar is now open on Fayetteville Street in the space formerly occupied by The Mint.
  • Fiction Kitchen, a 100% vegetarian restaurant on Dawson Street, will open very soon.
  • The Royal James Lounge joins the cluster of bars on the 100 block of East Hargett Street and is now open.
  • A new bar, with an 80’s theme, had a New Year’s Eve opening on the 200 block of Fayetteville Street. Coglin’s is run by the guys behind Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern.
  • The Warhol, a new LGBT friendly bar has opened in The Dawson’s retail space right next to The Borough.
  • The Port City Java previously located at the corner of Fayetteville and Martin Street is now a Subway.

by Leo Suarez

Downtown Raleigh Lecture Videos For Erasing Any Holiday Boredom

Bored over the holidays? Here’s a video that should get all Downtown Raleigh fans excited. It’s part of the Urban Design Center’s education forums titled, “Raleigh’s Identity -What’s Downtown Got to Do With It?”

This is the first video of eight planned lectures. It’s very interesting to see the different downtown plans, with some going as far back as the 1950s.

Enjoy!

by Leo Suarez

Looking Back Through Downtown Raleigh In 2012

Sidewalk of Fayetteville Street

2012 wasn’t the most exciting year for Downtown Raleigh in my opinion. When looking back, there were no signature moments that really made 2012 stand out. The only fireworks were over Fayetteville Street on July 4th and on the internet the day after.

I will say that 2012 was the year of the Resident. Residential plans and new development boomed in relative terms this year. Several new projects broke ground or were approved targeting the hot rental market. Developers are responding with more apartment complexes in the rest of the city but in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, construction has begun on a dense, more urban product.

Union Station took its largest step forward this year, with an announcement of the project being fully funded. Plans are to have the new train station up and running around 2016/2017 time frame.

In 2012, we also saw the city sign a 75-year lease on the Dorothea Dix property to the southeast of downtown. The city plans to turn that into a signature park.

Honorable mentions this year also go out to these stories:

Residential Projects

Increasing the foot traffic in downtown is one of the best ways to bring on the “urban” in Raleigh. It’s great to see these residential projects moving foward, creating neighborhoods, and spurring businesses to pop up along the sidewalks.

The most dramatic announcement in 2012 was probably Skyhouse Apartments, which plans to bring 320 apartments to Martin Street near City Market. The tower will be 264 feet in height and be one of the densest buildings in the city. The plans for the building are not unique though as Atlanta currently has the exact same building.

Glenwood South has been busy building new apartments with the 425 Boylan and St. Mary’s Square projects. These two structures will provide around 400 apartments about two blocks from the Glenwood South strip. That’s a nice injection of residents for those businesses there.

Crane at the future site of 425 Boylan

The one project I’m rooting for is The L Building, the once planned office tower on McDowell Street that has been stalled for years. Now turned residential, the project may have some legs and we’ll finally cover up the hole it has left around the Wake County Parking deck.

2012 had great news for the residents at the West at North condo tower on West Street as the building is sold out. There was also news of a seven-story apartment tower planned for the surface parking lot right next door. Add that to Glenwood South’s rise in being a future neighborhood hangout versus entertainment district.

Union Station Funded

To re-live the Union Station announcement in 2012, watch the video below.

Other Notables

In addition to a great new site re-design, that I had way too much fun building by the way, here are two more articles that I liked posted this year.

Cheers, 2012!