by Leo Suarez

Project Highlight: Charter Square

Charter Square will consist of two towers located on the southern end of Fayetteville St. across from the new Marriott Hotel. You can thank Craig Davis Properties for these beauties as they will have, from their website [Update: Broken link]:

…two towers, constructed of natural stone and glass. Building One will consist of approximately 405,000 square feet of office, retail and residential space on 21 floors. Building Two will consist of 30,000 square feet of retail space with 120 residential units above the retail. The buildings will sit atop a 690 space underground, city operated parking deck and approximately 600 spaces will be reserved for the building’s office tenants. The towers will be adjacent to Raleigh’s new convention center, as well as numerous restaurants, retail and cultural venues.

The underground parking deck is currently under construction so until then we can enjoy these renderings of Raleigh’s front row.


North tower


South tower

by Leo Suarez

Capital Area Friends of Transit

The Capital Area Friends of Transit (CAFT) is an alliance of many community organizations, institutions and civic leaders who support regional transit for the Triangle. CAFT is building public support and political will in Wake County and the Capital area for a forward-looking transit plan that is convenient, accessible and affordable.

CAFT fully supports the recommendations of the Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) plan. CAFT calls upon the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and Durham Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) MPO to coordinate with Wake, Durham, and Orange counties and local governments to implement the STAC recommendations in conjunction with local land use planning and to develop specific local transit plans.

CAFT invites all local citizens, organizations, businesses and institutions to sign our statement in support of transit, as follows.

As Raleigh grows, transit will be important for the city to maintain the great quality of life that we enjoy. I encourage everyone that is interested to sign it.

by Leo Suarez

Shimmer Wall Video

The shimmer wall was officially turned on last night and there was a party held on Cabarrus St. to see the lighting. I’m, for the most part, always pretty positive about things in downtown Raleigh but I was disappointed in what I saw.

I later found out that the shimmer wall looks great if you are close up. Walking down McDowell St. you can really see the lights pop. However, if you walk one block west, for example, the colors are faded and it also looks like there is a dead zone near the top.

We still love Cree for the donation but from talking to people out at the event last night, the consensus was disappointment.

Thanks to Proactive Busybody and The Kitch for contributing.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh City Museum

In 1800, the city of Raleigh only had 669 people. 200 years after that, the city has changed just a little bit. This city’s expansive changes and growth can all be seen at the Raleigh City Museum located in the Briggs Hardware building on Fayetteville St. This small museum has many photos and maps showing the growth of the city over time. The area we call downtown now is larger then the entire city of Raleigh at one point in time.

Website: RaleighCityMuseum.org

220 Fayetteville St # 100
Raleigh, NC 27601
(go to map)
(919) 832-3775


Timeline with interesting facts and pictures of Raleigh


It started with one thousand acres……Click to read the whole thing

The [R]evolution of Media

The museum will be open during Raleigh Wide Open this weekend so make sure and put it on your to-do list if you have never been. As a bonus, the museum is opening up a new exhibit this Thursday called ‘The [R]evolution of Media’. This exhibit will explore the history of newspaper, television, and radio in the city.

Exhibit website

by Leo Suarez

Lots of RTN Video For Your Labor Day Staycation

For those of you leaving town this weekend, you are excused from this exercise. For the rest of the DT Raleigh staycationers that want more online Raleigh material, there are lots of videos on the Raleigh city website for your viewing pleasure. The video of the month contains lots of videos for the month of August. You can get some information about the convention center, Raleigh Wide Open, and the shimmer wall to name a few topics. This will prepare you for the week ahead. I’m sure you can guess what we will be talking about in the coming days right?

Video of the month page – RaleighNC.gov

Note: Videos work much better in Internet Explorer.