In case you have not seen it yet, here is the flattened construction site at 301 Hillsborough. The Hillsborough’s final rendering has not been released it seems. Until then, Dawson residents can enjoy their new view.
The Hillsborough site with Bloomsbury Estates in the background
Something different. Taken from the Harris Teeter parking lot.
This may or may not be news to you but it is to me. I was not aware of an official opening date for the new convention center but it is posted on the Raleigh Convention website, shown in the pic above. Here are some details from the webpage.
Come September, be the center of attention at the new Raleigh Convention Center. Join tens of thousands of your friends and neighbors at the Raleigh Convention Center Grand Opening.
Just what are we celebrating? First, the new 500,000-square-foot convention center will be a state-of-the-art stunner. It will bring people from near and far to Raleigh where they’ll discover a dynamic downtown surrounding a rare array of convention attractions – the new center, the new Marriott City Center, the Sheraton Raleigh and the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.
It looks like we have about 8 months to go. Click here for the rest.
Click here for old news on convention center bookings.
Make sure to read this WRAL article about the possibility of an outdoor amphitheater on the block directly west of the new convention center. I had thought that this area was supposed to be used for future convention center expansion. I really think that using this land for an outdoor concert venue is not the best use of it.
This is valuable property that is in the thick of our budding downtown. If the city is really serious about pushing conventions here, the potential of expansion should be maintained. Hopefully, if this amphitheater is built, it will not impact this or can be taken down. If expansion is not considered, then the land could be sold at a premium price and something tall and dense could be built.
If the amphitheater is built, it will sit empty for a majority of the year. Raleigh does not have the weather for a permanent venue to hold shows and events for 365 days. There are typically no more then maybe 15 downtown outdoor concerts each year with the current trend. The outdoor concert scene needs to improve, not expand.
I really think the land should remain open space for now, but I’m waiting for the final design from the city. Here’s my idea for big outdoor concerts: make the Dix property a park and you’ll have plenty of room there.
UPDATE: 1-4-08
Here’s a final rendering of the convention center. This also shows the block to the west, with the current warehouses gone. I’m curious to see how an outdoor amphitheater would work with the ramp that goes under McDowell St., used to load large items in the convention center.
Here is a link list for those that were not downtown for First Night. All the links include pictures or videos of the celebration.
Pictures on:
Videos on:
Know of any others worth seeing? Share it in the comments.
Posting for RalCon will continue next week but I wanted to share this skyline picture I just took today. I’m in Miami for the holidays visiting family. With the picture, I wanted to throw out a discussion question. Could Raleigh ever contain a skyline of this magnitude and if so, when will this happen? Do you want to see this happen?
I believe Raleigh will have something much denser. Thoughts?
Here is a quick construction update on the first of two buildings at Bloomsbury Estates. The brick looks very nice and I think this condo building will stand apart from the rest of the ones going up downtown.
Sidetrack Brewpub is also coming along but at a snail’s pace. The bar is just now taking shape. Perhaps they are planning to open when the first of the BE residents move in. Who knows.
GreenCon is a new label that I want to introduce highlighting any ‘green’ efforts going on around downtown. The latest one that I stumbled upon were the new parking meters on the 200 block of West Hargett St. Here is some background information about these meters. We could see more of these pay stations instead of parking meters in the future.
The stations are very easy to use. The picture below gives you an idea of what they look like. I first thought that parking spaces were labeled on the street, but the signs make it very clear as to what your space number is. Being able to pay before 8 a.m. is also a plus to this system.
What makes these new pay stations green is that they are run on solar panels. It is not a new technology as other cities have installed them but I think whoever made the decision to go with this model deserves a pat on the back. However, whoever installed the pay stations and signs were not thinking things through. See something wrong in this picture?
Slight miscalculation.