by Leo Suarez

Union Square Grounds Renovations

You might have noticed the construction fencing around some of the walkways on the capitol grounds. If you didn’t know what was going on, allow me to explain. All this information comes from some very informative banners that are hung up against the fence on the northern end of the capitol. Along with the information there is some very interesting history displayed about union square and its evolution to today’s setup. If you are walking by I recommend you stop and read a little. Here is a quote from the banner:

The walkway renovations at Union Square will increase access and safety for visitors. During this project, we will create accessible walks at the south entrance (Fayetteville Street), remove the steps at the corner of Wilmington and Edenton Streets, and replace portions of the pavement between these two points.

So it’s really nothing too exciting except more handicap access. The posted history was pretty interesting. At one point the capitol grounds had fencing all the way around but that has changed (obviously). Anyway, the capitol is hands down the touristiest thing about downtown so of course we are watching what goes on around it.


Rendering of the southern entrance.


Map layout of the affected area.

by Leo Suarez

Participate and Donate at the Raleigh Twestival

Raleigh Twestival from Kipp Bodnar on Vimeo.

An introduction about Raleigh Twestival (http://raleigh.twestival.com) an event to raise money for Charity Water.

This Thursday, February 12th, over 100 cities across the world are holding meetups for Twestival. This is a 100% volunteer event where 100% of the funds go to charity: water. There are still some tickets left, costing $11.40. Here’s the key info from the Raleigh Twestival webpage.

* Place – Edge Office, 400 Glenwood Avenue, Downtown Raleigh
* Time – 7pm-9ish
* Eats – Montage of Flowing Crudité, Fresh Cheese and La Frutta served with Italian Flair by Chef Ed
* Sweets – Fine Glazed Doughnuts of Various Varieties by Krispy Kreme
* Drinks – Lone Rider Craft Brews, Water, Italian Kitchen Sangria
* Auction/Raffle – Services and items from Social Media firms and Local businesses
* Fun – Music, Gaming, Networking, Video Booth and Photography
* Purpose – Donations via Event Tickets, Auction, Water Offsets

I’ll see you there.


by Leo Suarez

Collaborate and Work, Coworking in Downtown Raleigh

I recently attended the last Triangle Tweetup, pictured above, that was held right here in downtown Raleigh at Edge Office. This “tweetup” is a gathering of local individuals that interact on the internet through the service called Twitter. Twitter + meetup = tweetup, get it? Anyway, there were over 100 people at Edge, all with a common interest in socializing and putting faces to the internet avatars that each person has on Twitter. I have been using Twitter for almost a year now and I can say the local community is growing very fast. With this service, I have been able to meet and contact people for information or possibly collaborate on new projects. I also use it just for socializing; my twitter name is DTRaleigh. I recommend anyone that is interested to jump on the service and start interacting with local people (or “tweeple” as some like to say).

I open up this discussion with Twitter because I feel it is the most powerful tool to organize, market, and network with others that have similar interests as you. While Twitter lives and breathes on the internet, all the local users are still working, living, and playing individually around Raleigh. But what if there was a place for this community to collaborate, meetup, and work? What if there was a dedicated space for ANYONE that was interested in working with other people, sharing their ideas, and meeting others that can help them create those ideas? This is a slight introduction to the concept of coworking and a space for this is in talks for downtown Raleigh.

A good friend of mine, Jason DiMambro, has been leading the way on organizing the Raleigh community and is working with Empire Properties to set up a coworking space. At the recent tweetup on January 29th, Ben Steel from Empire gave a short speech about coworking and how Empire is very interested in providing a space for people to work in. Ben was pretty vague but looking at Empire’s track record, you can bet this will be a great looking, renovated space with a lot of character. If you pair this up with some great office furniture then this will be one of the best workspaces in the city.

The use of the space will range from the casual visitor to the dedicated worker. If your work requires you to be at the office then you will probably only visit a few times; to check e-mail after hours or to focus on a project when working from home is to distracting. Also anyone that works for themselves, out of coffee shops, their houses, on the phone or on their laptops, can use the space. Desks and tables will be set up for anyone to use at any time of the day, and night. For me, I can’t use the space for doing work because of my job but I would love to get out of the apartment and focus on the blog as well as the other projects I have in mind. The uses are very fluid and vary between everyone’s situation.

Coworking is a community driven concept where people that work for themselves, whether it is for money or yourself, can interact with others and share ideas. The coworking space will be the focal point of this community and while working on your own project, you can tap your creative side and give feedback to others on their ideas. I’m excited about this concept coming to Raleigh and the creative community will really embrace it.

If you are already on Twitter and would like to follow the progress of this space, follow CoworkRaleigh.

[Update: CoworkRaleigh twitter account has been disabled.]


Citizen Space, a coworking space, in San Francisco. Picture via Flickr: jaygoldman

by Leo Suarez

‘The Hills’ Runs Out of Money

It looks like this is the end of the line for the project called The Hillsborough. I think no one should be surprised by this as it has been reported in the past that the developers were facing an uphill battle securing financing. Now that it is official, we can move on. There’s no doubt that this land will become more valuable over time. You’ve got Campbell Law moving in across the street and easy access to Fayetteville St. and Glenwood South. Hillsborough St. is a major corridor in and out of downtown so the location is naturally great.

I’m going to bet that there is not a line of people ready to bid on the site and build a tower in these tough times so a temporary parking lot makes the most sense. Fill the hole and pave it over. It could be used by the Campbell law students and faculty. I’m sure the weekend church crowds may enjoy some prime parking right on Hillsborough St. too. It could even be used as a downtown construction staging area for Green Square, the Public Safety Center, or any other project in the nearby area.

Residents of The Dawson, enjoy your view a little longer.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Sorry for the lack of updates but being sick this past weekend and also being swamped with work has not really helped much for the blog. There are more topics coming up soon but I wanted to throw an idea out there for people to think about. I was thinking of re-shooting the walking tour and capturing much better pictures of each site. I was also thinking of creating my own walking tour cause I think the one listed is a bit out-dated and a little too long for a regular walk. Any ideas?

The Walking Tour:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
The Finale

by Leo Suarez

City Plaza Piecing Together



Most of you probably heard the news yesterday related to City Plaza. For those that did not, it was announced that Jimmy John’s has signed a lease for one of the spaces. From what I know, the Hillsborough St. and Page Rd. locations do pretty well. I think they will honestly kill it during lunch hours and pretty much own it on a nice weather day. If you haven’t been, Jimmy John’s serves pretty good sandwiches and makes them relatively fast so convenience is high. I believe the one near NC State stays open late too so we’ll see if this one does the same when it opens later this year.

Looking to the future of City Plaza, there are still other spaces to fill. The WRAL article claims that there are six total spaces available for restaurants. If all six become food places, then let’s hope there is a nice mix so that all meal hours are properly covered; from breakfast to late-night. It would be a shame for out of town visitors walking out of the nearby hotels to see an inactive “city center”.

Anyway, I’m actually really looking forward to City Plaza. Anyone’s first visit to Fayetteville St. can tell that there is some significance there and this plaza should make it feel like the center of all the activity on the street.