The inner workings of the SECU tower rise above Salisbury Street. This is most likely the stairwell and elevator shafts of the building. See a rendering of the finished project here.
First Presbyterian Church Building For The Future
If you haven’t noticed already, the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of Morgan and Salisbury Streets has leveled their education center and construction is underway for the replacement. Why the need to destroy such an old and historic building? The good people of the church tell us why right on their site:
The main driver behind this ambitious construction and renovation project was the deteriorating condition of our “Old Education Building,” the part of our property that housed our library and some Sunday School classrooms. After a period of neglect, the building reached an unsafe state a few years ago. We no longer ventured into some of its scarier sections. Our Building and Grounds Committee raised a concern several years ago that portions of the building were subject to being condemned by the city and constituted a hazard.
Not only is the education building being replaced but the sanctuary is being heavily renovated as well. The sanctuary has been up since 1900 but the congregation goes back as far as 1818, meeting in buildings either on or around Capitol Square until the present day building was erected. While the present day capitol building was being constructed, the North Carolina Supreme Court used to hold meetings in the church’s session house from 1831-1840.
The renovation and design work was done by Frank Harmon Architect PA. Some may recognize that name as they are the firm that designed the NCAIA building that is now being built on Peace Street. The firm has designed a master plan for the church and their complex along Salisbury Street. From this press release:
According to Frank Harmon, FAIA, his firm is working on a plan that will unite the different elements of the campus, provide open green space within the campus, introduce principles of environmentally sustainability, and improve the property’s accessibility, which features a five-foot grade change.
The project will also involve replacing the current two-story educational building with a three-story structure (including basement), The new building will feature such “green” elements as a vegetated roof, an abundance of natural light and ventilation through atria and window placement, a geothermal heating/cooling system (or ground source heat pumps), and rainwater collection cisterns. Materials used will be locally available and, wherever possible, recycled.
Expect all the renovation and construction to be complete around Summer 2012. You can also catch a small rendering of the new building on Frank Harmon’s website.
All About Downtown Raleigh FREE Wi-Fi and More
Click to see the full map.
Reading about New York City’s recent expansion of Wi-Fi in city parks made me start to think about what we have in terms of free connectivity to the internets while being outdoors.
As a refresher course for those that don’t know, there is free, public Wi-Fi in certain sections of downtown Raleigh. Take a look at the map above for the covered areas but simply put if you are standing outside and are around:
- Nash Square and City Government Complex
- Fayetteville Street
- Wilmington Street
- Raleigh Convention Center
- Moore Square
- City Market
you should be able to pick up the signal, labeled “Downtown Raleigh FREE WiFi”.
The City of Raleigh provides the Wi-Fi service and you can get more information about it here.
Now having the Wi-Fi is great and all but I’m curious to know how many people actually know about it. Walking the sidewalks of Fayetteville Street, there is no way to know that bandwidth is buzzing around you. I think for some visitors, it would be useful for them to know that they are in an area where there is free, public Wi-Fi.
In a subtle way, maybe it would be helpful to let people know of this service. I put this sign together really quickly to illustrate one possible idea.
The wireless symbols above the 100 indicate that this block has Wi-Fi. Signals on the blue wayfinding signs could also be added. There are lots of ways to go about doing this.
Municipography, The City Budget and The Arts
Municipography is a summary of current issues going through the Raleigh City Council and other municipal departments in the city. The point is to try to deliver any video, photos, and text associated with the discussions happening at City Hall or elsewhere. Since this is a downtown Raleigh blog, the focus is on the center of the city.
The agenda during the City Council meeting yesterday, June 7th, 2011, did not involve many downtown topics directly. The Raleigh Furniture building, at 119 East Hargett Street is up for consideration as a historic landmark. This issue moves to the Raleigh Historic Districts Commissions and will report back on June 21st.
The excitement during yesterday’s meeting were the many comments on the 2011-2012 proposed budget. Watch or listen to the video below to get an idea of what citizens had to say.
Comments About The Budget
The comments about the budget went long during the evening session of the council meeting and arts funding opened it up. After some brief words from a few members of the community, the show of support was strong when a large group of arts supporters stood up and left together, bringing the meeting to a short stop before moving onto the next comments. There is no doubt that the arts are important to downtown Raleigh so this line item on the budget should be tracked closely.
CityCamp Raleigh Follow Up and The Council To Discuss Open Source
Campers on the last day of CityCamp Raleigh prepare their presentation.
The first ever Citycamp Raleigh was a huge success. The Friday government and business panels were thought provoking and insightful about how data can be used if it was opened up to the public. The unconference format was a perfect fit for the many discussions and brainstorming sessions that took place throughout the day Saturday and Sunday. After this weekend, I’m inspired and motivated to demand that our city, county, and state open up more data to the public for our consumption. Transit, parking, zoning, crime, pollution are all examples of the types of data being gathered already and could potentially be released to the public.
A really great story I heard during the CityCamp discussions was of an open data experiment that took place in Washington DC. The city of Washington DC opened up their transit data in a friendly format for web and app developers to play with. In a short time, many applications were created by citizens or small companies. While most failed to take hold, the few that did stick eventually became adopted by many users of the transit system.
What I like about things like this is that the city does not spend money on one application and we are forced into that one environment. What are the chances that it may fail? By opening up the data and allowing independent developers to take a stab at making an application, we can learn what works and what doesn’t before the city spends money. The risk is lessened this way.
I could go on and on about the benefits of open data and how other cities are embracing this philosophy but I’ll stop here and move on to the city council agenda for this week, the meeting on June 7th, 2011. Here in the special items section:
Open Government/Open Source Systems
During the May 3, 2011, Council meeting, Councilor Gaylord presented a resolution
concerning open government by encouraging the use of open source systems and insuring
open access to public data. It was directed that the item be placed on the May 17, agenda
for consideration.During the May 17, meeting, several questions were voiced by Council members and it
was directed that the item be placed on this agenda for further consideration. A copy of
the proposed resolution is included in the agenda packet.
If you support this and want to see more data available to the public then I want to ask readers to e-mail their councilors and tell them to adopt this. Info to get it done is below.
E-mail the entire council at: citycouncilors@raleighnc.gov
Write your own e-mail or copy and paste this one.
Your Comments Needed on CAT Buses
No, the Hurricanes aren’t in the Stanley Cup. But when they do go back, if you would like to see more CAT buses decked out in red and white, you need to comment on the Short Range Transit Plan being carried out by the City of Raleigh and a few other organizations. Comments about your current use and how you feel about investing in more buses would be helpful too. You can find a survey on the city’s website here. From the site:
Project Scope
The purpose of the plan is to identify ways to increase mobility in the Capital Area. The plan will be based on input Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the City of Raleigh, the Town of Cary, Wake County, the North Carolina State Wolfline and other Wake County municipalities, agencies, businesses, community leaders, residents and other interested parties. The Bus Transit Development Plan will look at the transit needs for all of Wake County and will be designed to integrate with regional transit routes.
I feel bad talking about this a bit late as two of the four public meetings have already occurred but here are the dates for two more meetings to discuss this plan.
Tuesday, June 7 5-7 PM
Triangle Town Center 2nd Floor, near Belk
5959 Triangle Town Blvd
CAT routes:
1 – Capital
25c – Triangle Town Center
WFX
Thursday, June 9 5-7 PM
NCSU McKimmon Center – Room 3
1101 Gorman St
CAT Routes:
12 – Method
CityCamp Raleigh Announces $5000 Prize For Best Idea of The Weekend
Have you registered yet for CityCamp Raleigh? It’s already been mentioned once on the blog so take another look now that the free event happening this weekend may point some cash your way.
The organizers have announced a $5000 prize to the team or individual with the best idea at the event.
CityCamp Raleigh announces a $5000 prize to be awarded to the top group or individual with a technology solution. The prize will be awarded on creativity, execution, and feasibility. Details will be provided at the event.
Technology and government may not seem like a great team but when the two are combined, great solutions to everyday problems can be created. That is what this event is about. There is a growing list of ideas out there already. Dive in and take a look to get the creative juices flowing.
As a reminder, the agenda for the weekend is as follows.
Friday, June 3, 2011 12:00 – 5pm
Vintage 21, 117 S. West Street, Downtown Raleigh
Friday, June 3, 2011 5.30 – 8pm **GovUp MeetUp Event**
Flying Saucer, 328 West Morgan Street, Downtown Raleigh
Saturday, June 4, 2011 9am – 5pm
Vintage 21, 117 S. West Street, Downtown Raleigh
Sunday, June 5, 2011 10am – 4pm
The Stockroom, 230 Fayetteville Street, Downtown Raleigh
2011 Top Places of Empty Spaces, Filling Retail Space In Downtown
Some have heard it, others say it. “We need more retail.” And then there are some who make the suggestion that downtown needs more space for this sought after retail. Do we need more space for retail in downtown Raleigh?
Long time readers of RalCon may remember older posts where I went over some of the most important spaces that, at the time, were left vacant. For some background reading make sure to jump here:
Top 10 Empty Spaces To Fill Around Downtown (September 19, 2008)
Follow Up, Top Ten Empty Spaces to Fill Around Downtown (September 28, 2009)
It has been well over a year since the last post on this topic so I thought I would take us through again. Rather than naming and ranking the places, let’s just start with different districts and discuss their evolution over the past few years.
Seaboard Station
I had to investigate this one because of the recent chatter in the comments about the upcoming renovation to 111 Seaboard. Outside of that renovation, there are two main empty spaces amongst the warehouses that make up Seaboard Station.
Rumor has it that Tyler’s Taproom will set up in the old Tookie’s Grill space near 18 Seaboard. Walking up to it, Tookie’s has been pretty much gutted. What is interesting is that a hole in the wall has been made opening it up to the space next door and adding what could be a large restaurant area. The Tookie’s space could hold a bar with a bunch of TV’s and the larger space next to it could be the restaurant area with larger tables. Outdoor seating may be tricky though as there isn’t much room outside the doors. Either way, this seems to be the likely candidate for a Tyler’s type bar/restaurant.
The other space near the rear of Seaboard Station, near Peace China, has been subdivided into, what looks like, offices. From the work that has been done, there is little indication that a restaurant will go in. It’s tough to think that Tyler’s would go here after seeing the Tookie’s space in its current state.
There is your update as of today. Let’s hope for some good news in the near future.
Glenwood South
Glenwood South has been running near capacity from what I have seen. A couple places have changed in the past year or two though, The Rockford has changed owners, Ivy has closed and is now being renovated, The Artisan is now where Sauced Pizza used to be, and a few other minor tweaks.
The most important space that is empty or being worked on in Glenwood South, in my opinion, is the corner space of 222 Glenwood. This huge space could hold a landmark restaurant that shows off its activity through the huge windows that face the street. The corner entrance could really make it a statement to pedestrians and drivers coming up Glenwood. This space has never had an occupant.
I’d like to see outdoor seating instead of parking spaces on the side street but I’m just nit picking.
The rest of the building is pretty much occupied, with signs up now for the upcoming Tutti Fruiti and Zaky, we could be weeks or a few months away from an opening.
The Warehouse District
The Warehouse District is on the rise thanks to the injection of activity brought on by Contemporary Art Museum.
The Depot building is more stable then it has ever been in the last few years with Jibarra leading the way. Tuscan Blu has opened this year and a beer bar, The Union, anchors the historic building toward the back. The upcoming Tasty Beverage Company store will open this year leaving the prime Davie Street space looking for a tenant.
Martin Street is on the rise as well. Raleigh Denim has moved into Commerce Place and Brewmaster’s has filled the old Joe’s place on the corner of Dawson Street. You’ll see more art in the area because of the new museum and the relocation of the Visual Art Exchange nearby.
Over on Hargett Street, The Hue could use a little love. There still is some empty space on the ground floor but it has improved slightly. A real estate agent is renting space and there is work being done on Astoria Cafe. There is still plenty of space and hopefully it gets filled as more renters move into the building.
Fayetteville Street
There’s a lot to cover on Fayetteville Street so let’s start with what was highlighted in the past posts. The following spaces are still empty:
- 114 Fayetteville Street, next to Isaac Hunter’s
- Odd Fellows, corner of Hargett and Salisbury
- Boylan Pearce Building
- Spaces along 100 block of East Hargett Street
This picture from 2008 still applies.
So does this one.
So there are still some holes to fill along North Carolina’s Main street and the side streets but there is some positive news here.
Finally, one of the ground floor spaces of the RBC tower will be filled. A Pan-Asian restaurant from the owners of Sono and The Oxford are working on something new in this space. The tower still has two other retail spaces that are empty but walking along Fayetteville Street will be complete on this block once the new place opens up.
Ashley Christensen will be bringing three new establishments to the corner of Martin and Wilmington Street. We highlighted this building on one of the older posts on the blog so we can now take it off the list. From the article,
She plans to open three new eateries – a burger joint, a fried chicken and honey place and an underground bar – in a 4,000-square-foot-space in downtown Raleigh in late spring. She says the food will be “simple but with a lot of energy going into the details.”
I had some good times a few years back at Alibi Bar but I’m not sure it competes with it’s successor, Neptune’s Parlour. Pair it with King’s in the upstairs space and you have a killer combination. The ground floor space that used to be Martin Street Pizza will be a restaurant in the future, rounding out the trio of offerings at 14 West Martin Street.
City Market
What I think is the grand daddy of downtown, The City Market building, is sort of half full. Still.
Half of the historic market building is being used as event space while the half facing Martin Street, the one I call the front, sits vacant. Cobblestone Hall is used for weddings, receptions, parties, anything really. They play on the historic charm theme with City Market’s cobblestone streets.
It has been years since the fire at Greenshield’s which used to be in the building. Does anyone have the year by the way? Still, I think City Market is being held for something grand, something that really is a regional draw and a landmark institution for downtown.
The conversation here is really just a subset of new openings, closings, and empty spaces around downtown.