by Leo Suarez

Justice Center Expansion, $200+ Million and a Historic Raleigh Cost


The needs of the county are growing and Wake must provide proper justice services to all of us. To do this, Wake is expanding the current Public Safety Center with this new $214 million project pictured above. Here is the site in Google maps:

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The ugly parking deck, the Garland Jones building, and the Lawyers Building are all coming down for the expansion of the current site right next door. You may recognize these two buildings shown below.

The N&O has an article with more information. Here are some highlights:

Dubbed the Wake County Justice Center, the 11-story building will house criminal courtrooms as well as a number of county offices, including the Board of Commissioners’ meeting room, the county manager’s offices, the Register of Deeds and the Revenue Department. The current county courthouse will become the home for civil legal matters.

WHEN IT’LL BE DONE: Demolition is slated to begin by the end of this year, and the building is slated to be in use by 2013, according to a timeline of the project.

Wake County also has some information on their website, with more renderings of the building here.

I went out and got this picture yesterday. This is the current view from Nash square.


Before. Current justice center is tower in the back right

In 5 years, we’ll have this.


After. Replaces the deck and connects to current justice center

It is nothing too exciting. I guess this is one place I hope I never have to go inside? The building is a service to our county so if we do need this then I have no problem with expanded government services. The building is seeking a LEED certification, so I’m happy that there will be environmentally friendly elements to this new structure. The current parking deck being built on the site of The L will be used for employees commuting to work here. That means a rise in downtown workers and hopefully a rise in restaurants, shops, and living options in and near downtown for this increasing workforce.

by Leo Suarez

State of the City [UPDATE]

Mayor Meeker’s speech is today at noon over at the Progress Energy Center of the Performing Arts. I’m going to update this post later with some thoughts after I watch it. Unfortunately, I cannot go to it so I may have to wait until I get home from work so leave comments on your predictions or for those that went, please leave any reactions or reviews.

It is open to the public and they are also selling lunch.

[UPDATE 3:15pm]
I was able to watch the ‘State of the City’ speech given today by Mayor Meeker online while at work. The speech was nice and short and hit on key topics; some relative to downtown. The drought was the biggest topic, as it should be, and affects everyone in Raleigh. The mayor said that a study with the army corps of engineers has revealed that Falls Lake may be dry by this summer. I know I’ve been watching my water consumption but will start to see if I can do even more. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Here are some downtown highlights:

  • The mayor mentioned the amount of cranes downtown, showing tremendous new developments as well as renovation projects.
  • The Convention Center will open in August; it is fully booked through 2008 and mostly 2009.
  • Transportation will be very important this year. It is time to “get serious” about improving the bus service and creating a rail system.
  • Transit will also change “the old-fashioned way” starting with improvements to sidewalks, lights, and creating pedestrian friendly environments. The mayor mentioned complete streets as a model
  • There will be a focus on urban growth in downtown and along major corridors in the city.
  • The African American Cultural Center is currently in its design phase. Financial details as well as location are still being discussed.
  • There is a downtown parking study underway, results are still a few months away.
  • The mayor stressed energy efficiency in our city lights. There are over 30,000 incandescent bulbs around the city that are planned to be switched over to LED lighting.
  • There will be an Arts Foundation starting with the city putting up to $100,000 a year. The mayor used the new art pieces in Chavis Park and Fred Fletcher Park as examples of what would appear around the city.
  • Dorothea Dix is planning to move most of its beds to the site in Butner in 2Q 2008, but some operations will remain on the site for a little longer. The Dix master plan is favoring a park but it will really come down to what our state officials decide to do with the site (it is state owned property after all).
  • Affordable housing downtown was brought up and it is currently being looked at. No plans as of yet.

The mayor also made a small note about creating destinations around Raleigh, downtown, North Hills, Crabtree were some example. He wanted to light these places up to let people know that this is an important area of the city. He mentioned that the dome of the capitol building is now lit up as of about 2 weeks ago. This explains why I have been looking at the Capitol building at night so funny lately, I never caught this.

It sounds like Raleigh is doing great but our water supply is the biggest concern. If we all can battle through this drought and the city can come up with a plan to solve this issue, then we can finally move on from this 10 month war. It sounds like the mayor has ideas to slow sprawl and attack traffic problems now before they get out of hand. He used Charlotte as an example when talking about transit and how their model was good. I’m glad they got the chance to go out there and see the light rail line personally.

You can watch or read more about the speech (as of 3:07pm) at WRAL and ABC11.

by Leo Suarez

EnviroCon: AIA Creating New Headquarters Downtown

The American Institute of Architects, NC chapter, just wrapped up a design competition for their new headquarters to be located in downtown Raleigh. They are currently located in the old water tower on Morgan St. but will move in 2010 to their new location in Blount Street Commons.

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NewRaleigh has all the details about the competition and awards ceremony that took place last week. The N&O also has an article that talks about the building and its green, enviro-friendly features:

North Carolina’s architects hope to break ground this year on a headquarters in downtown Raleigh.

And naturally, being architects and all, they want to make a statement. In this case, a “welcome to the 21st century, carbon-neutral, energy-efficient, deep green” statement.

Initial sketches suggest plenty of windows to let in light and an overhanging roofline to shield the building from the sun.

A geothermal energy system, considered the most efficient way to heat and cool a building, will keep things comfortable inside, Frank Harmon said.

The goal is to create a building that uses at least 55 percent less energy than traditional styles when it opens in 2010.

Harmon thinks his company can easily meet that goal, along with the ultimate standard: creating a building that uses no energy derived from fossil fuels by 2030.

The efficiency goals that the AIA have set are bold and I support it 100%. I wish them luck in reaching them.

Click here for some renderings of the design.

by Leo Suarez

Metro Beats Its Way Into City Market

Metro Café and Lounge had their opening party Friday night and will be adding a new beat to City Market. I went over on Saturday and became an instant fan when I walked in. The owner, Mauro, has set up a hip and comfortable lounge that is perfect for a glass of wine or a casual cocktail. You can take a seat at the bar, grab a table or relax on some of the couches. Metro will play house music during its parties and on some weekends host fashion shows, wine tastings, and other local events. If you are craving something outside of the beer realm, make sure to give Metro a try for a coffee or a good wine. For all you First Friday-ers, make a stop at Metro this week and check it out.

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by Leo Suarez

Planning Raleigh 2030

The City of Raleigh has launched a new website, www.planningraleigh2030.com. Since news is slow I wanted to highlight this link and let you browse the many documents to see if you can find anything interesting. According to the timeline we should have an adopted plan approved sometime around May 2009. Here are a couple of interesting points I noticed after maybe five minutes of browsing:

  • “Raleigh is nationally recognized as a model green city”. I do not at all agree with this statement. Yes, we are heading in the right direction but far from being the model that other cities should look upon. I’m a big supporter of the LED replacement initiative taking place across the city. This may be an act to follow, but the city as a whole, still has some work to do.
  • Looking at the growth maps across Raleigh, it seems that the fringes of the city are the areas where the most growth is occurring. I believe this trend needs to slow down and annexing more land and connecting the cities with more highways is the wrong way to approach things. We do not need to consume more, but create efficiency with what we already have.
  • Raleigh’s population as of July 1, 2007 was 367,995.
  • The central district population has 20,664 people, the 3rd lowest district in Raleigh, after The Umstead and East districts.
  • We are hovering between 3.3% and 4.1% annual growth over the last 3 years.

Of course, the stats may not really show anything. The planning districts are not the same size and those in north Raleigh are significantly larger then the ones downtown and around NC State. But should that matter since a city’s downtown is generally the densest area?

What I’m really interested in is a map with job density and traffic patterns around the city. That could really help us see where the upgrades to our transit system should go.