by Leo Suarez

EnviroCon: Are You Participating In Earth Hour?


Earth hour was started last year in Sydney, Australia and the event is growing in popularity with more cities participating this year. Raleigh has not signed up and I wish I knew of this sooner to get us on there. You can still participate by shutting off your entire house for an hour at 8pm tomorrow, Saturday March 29th. Even in its second year, there are huge contributions to this planned event.

So on March 29th, whenever 8pm rolls around, over 350 cities in 35 countries, millions of individuals, the Sears Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, and 2,100 corporations including HP, Coca Cola and McDonald’s, are all turning off their lights.

Via Ecogeek

by Leo Suarez

DTR’s Pieces of Flare: The Shimmer Wall

News is slow but conversation never dies. With that, I wanted to dig up an old post that talks about the shimmer wall that is going to be put on the west side of the convention center. For all the juicy details, click here. The wall will cover about 9,000 sq. ft. which is quite large. Here are some renderings and recent pictures of the shimmer wall skeleton.

Right now there are no towers blocking the view when you are driving up South Saunders St. or looking from Dorothea Dix campus. The dancing lights will add some flare to the Raleigh skyline.

by Leo Suarez

Slow Goings At The Atrium

The Atrium is still not complete. It is actually in standby mode and there has not been work here in months. I do not know of what will eventually happen here but it is not looking good so far. Could this be another dead project?

Anyway, I wanted to highlight the facade change. Here are two pictures; a before and after sort of speak. I think they went from plain/boring to dull/”red brick again?” I’m sure they were just trying to match the 112 property next door but instead failed miserably to create anything exciting.


Oct. 2006


Mar. 2008

How would you feel if 112/114 Fayetteville St. were torn down for something taller?

by Leo Suarez

Untapped Resource: Halifax Mall

The government complex is a part of downtown whether we like it or not. The whole area becomes a ghost town at night and you can hear a pin drop on the weekends. However, within this black hole there is a true gem. Halifax Mall is the large grassy field in the middle of all the government buildings and it needs a little love on the weekends.

I took a walk around there this past Saturday and there is plenty of green space for some sports action. The weather was great for a game of football, soccer, or whatever sport you prefer. Maybe I just came at a bad time, but 2:00 pm seemed like an ideal time for people to show. The grass is certainly greener then your yard and the views are pretty cool. There are benches, water fountains, and plenty of parking. There is just no human presence.

Maybe I’ll organize a RalCon soccer game and we can play here. Who’s in?

by Leo Suarez

Hinsdale Row Nestles Into The Neighborhood

The Hinsdale Row project is on the edge of our downtown but is still important none the less. It borders Glenwood South and if built, will no doubt influence the area around the Peace and Glenwood intersection. For those that like to dive right into a huge pile of details, click here for links on the Glenwood/Brooklyn neighborhood website.

The original plan, according to this presentation, will consist of 29-31 townhouses with pedestrian entrances street side and a garage in the rear. There will be a mix of 2 ½ and 3 ½ story townhouses which will blend in with the surroundings. The Peace St. side will have some retail to stay in tune with the Streetscape Plan. Offices and residential units are planned for the spaces above the retail. The inner space of the block will also have a raised courtyard.

A rezoning proposal on the lots on Hinsdale St. is currently being pursued. If approved, it will allow a reduction of the setbacks. The data is in the presentation, page 14, and clearly shows how this change would continue to blend in with the neighborhood.

More key points to highlight:

  • New sidewalks will be built and trees planted
  • New street lights will be installed, matching the ones currently on Glenwood South
  • Streetscape will also creep down Boylan Ave.
  • There will be no parking in front of buildings on Hinsdale St.
  • Materials will predominantly be brick, no vinyl siding
  • All residents will have a covered porch or entranceway
  • At least 5 commercial spaces will be available

To further the developer’s point that this project will play nice with the neighborhood, two key items were highlighted in the Standards for site plan approval document:

(4) The plan contains adequate measures to mitigate the impact of the development on nearby residential neighborhoods from incompatible characteristics such as:
a. Building scale;
b. Architectural character;
c. landscaping;
d. amount and placement of impervious surfaces;
e. placement of structures and vehicular surface areas; and
f. orientation of uses and entranceways.

(6) The plan provides for a unified development within the site and with adjoining properties when such properties are either:
a. under similar ownership as the site,
b. are being developed in a coordinated manner with the site, or,
c. the site shares a common relationship with the surrounding properties, where establishing similar architectural elements, landscaping, shared access or signage will promote good order, convenience and safety.

So while this project gets tweaked to satisfy the neighborhood and the city council let’s take a look at what is currently on the block. Here is the list of the nine properties that will be affected by this project. I did not see any plans for relocation, sustainable demolition, etc. so their fate is yet to be determined.





I am very impressed with the extreme attention to detail that the developer has taken with making this project blend in with the neighborhood. This is certainly a quality development we have on the horizon.

by Leo Suarez

Site One Is Now Charter Square

I want to link you over to Gogoraleigh’s post about Site One, now called Charter Square. There, you will find a great write up on what is to come on the south end of Fayetteville St.

Please note the label change from Site One to Charter Square.

Along with Gogoraleigh, I want to encourage everyone to check out the other local blogs and websites highlighted in the links section in the right sidebar. Ever since I have started following the Raleigh online scene about three years ago, a lot of good content has come out since then so make sure and support your “other” local media!