by Leo Suarez

111 Seaboard moving along

The One Eleven Seaboard condo project has been talked about lightly over the past few months. They just got their website up recently, which offers some information about the project. Right from the front page:

One Eleven Seaboard is being developed as a 53 unit condominium project with urban design located in the gateway to downtown Raleigh. Located in one of Raleigh’s trendiest and most desireable areas, this exciting mixed use infill project offers a truly unique place to live. Just steps away from Logan’s and Seaboard Station, 1 Eleven Seaboard is within walking distance of Cameron Village, Glenwood South, downtown Raleigh and Mordecai. With prices ranging from the low $200,000 to the mid $300,000s, anyone can find their place at 1 Eleven Seaboard

Might not be the nicest walk under the train tracks and Capital Blvd. coming back from Glenwood at night but living here does put you close to everything. There is even ground floor retail and with all the new shops in the Seaboard Station, a small community may be on the rise near this old train station.

Location

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Even Wider Open

I was hoping the city would have another one and my wish came true. Raleigh Wide Open 2 is coming on July 21, 2007. Last year, about 65,000 people crowded Fayetteville St. for tons of live entertainment. The event even had a great headlining band, Royal Crown Revue, which was followed up by one of the most spectacular fireworks show I have ever seen. If this year’s event is anything like last year, you do not want to miss out on this.

Details on the entertainment have not been released but I’ll be following closely and will bring that information to you once it is available.

Article

by Leo Suarez

National news coming to Fayetteville st.

So everybody knows that Raleigh is so hot right now. CBS has come once before and now they will be coming back to do the early morning news on Fayetteville St. The Triangle Business Journal has the scoop:

It’s not often that a major network television program is broadcast live from Raleigh. But that’s exactly what will happen July 13, when CBS’ “The Early Show” will set up shop in the City of Oaks for its Summer in the City Tour.

The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau confirmed Friday that one CBS anchor, as well as weatherman Dave Price, will be on location to tout the Capital City.

by Leo Suarez

Shimmer wall details

Here is some more information on the shimmer wall of the convention center, that was mentioned earlier here.

WHY A SHIMMER WALL
There is no entrance to the Raleigh Convention Center from the western side. The wall houses the 500,000-square-foot facility’s chillers and boilers that require significant air flow. Yet the wall facing McDowell Street is the most visible as motorists enter downtown Raleigh. Some 20,000 vehicles arrive downtown via the thoroughfare each day. Even those not destined for the center city are offered downtown’s most inviting vista as they motor east and west along Western Boulevard.

The convention center’s design team of TVS, O’Brien Atkins and Clearscapes saw the wall as a canvas yearning for artwork that defined the essence of Raleigh.
“The design team wanted to do something that would add visually to downtown,” Clearscapes’ Stephen Shuster said.

In addition to the wall’s visibility, it also benefits from spectacular southern and western sunlight.

So what would make maximum use of this visibility and light?
Shimmer wall thought the design team; the ultimate coupling of these two natural elements.

“To gleam; to shine with an unsteady light; to glimmer” is the definition of shimmer. So how to make a wall do that? The design team, working with artistic inventor Ned Kahn, decided to put 79,464 4-inch by 4-inch aluminum pixels hinged on louvers to allow for free motion on 4-foot by 4-foot grids. The design is 211-feet by 44-feet. To aid nighttime “shimmering,” backlight the 9,284-square-foot wall with 56 LED fixtures.

But not just a shimmer wall, the design team demanded. Rather a shimmer wall that offered an iconic image of our city. The oak tree, the design team exclaimed.
The oak tree – the symbol borne on the Great Seal of the City of Raleigh; Raleigh’s unofficial tag line – the “City of Oaks.” But the oak tree for oh so much more.
“We wanted an image that could be understood and appreciated by all – children and techies,” Mr. Shuster said. “A tree is a complex system. It symbolizes growth. It symbolizes the environment.”

At rest the almost 80,000 4-inch by 4-inch pixels will offer a clear depiction of a mighty oak in shades of silver. And yet this oak tree will be ever changing. The flow from the boilers and chillers; the natural breeze, the whoosh of the stream of cars along McDowell will keep the image at flux. As will the shifting slant of sun rays. Adding further to the uniqueness of this shimmer wall will be the back lighting from Cree’s LEDs. And the LED colors will vary, depending on the season, the celebration – whenever and whatever!

Lot more can be read here.

by Leo Suarez

Shimmer wall to distract drivers; entertain the kiddies

The city has announced a $1 million donation from Cree Inc. that will go toward a shimmer wall on the western side of the new convention center. This is the wall that overlooks McDowell St. and is certain to be very eye-catching as people drive by. The wall will be substantially large and at 9,000 square feet, should easily draw a crowd. Once it is done you can probably find me stumbling over from the warehouse district on Saturday nights to stare at it like a mesmerized fish.

Watch the WRAL video for a great visual of the design.

N&O story

by Leo Suarez

New Leader for the DRA

The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has not had steady leadership in four years but hopefully that has changed now. David Diaz has been hired as the new head of the DRA. The Triangle Business Journal reports:

David Diaz, head of a downtown booster group in Roanoke, Va., is pumped up to be the new president of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and he hopes to help make the Capital City’s core “hip and cool.” Diaz confirmed Wednesday that he will take the position at the head of the group, which has five full-time employees and three part-timers. He will replace Nancy Hormann, who stepped down in October but has stayed on during the search for her replacement. “If you look at almost every magazine that rates cities, Raleigh’s always coming out at the top now,” Diaz told Triangle Business Journal. “I’m always amazed, and I’ve been aware of it for a long time. I feel blessed that I’m getting an opportunity to come to Raleigh.”


It sounds like a good hire and I like his focus on the smaller buildings over the larger. The taller buildings will take care of themselves and if Diaz focuses on revitalization of the older, smaller buildings, it will have a greater impact on street level activity and create a greater impression to residents and visitors.

N&O story.

by Leo Suarez

Bike trails in and around downtown

Today, I will finally be getting my bike from the shop and am looking forward to doing a little biking around downtown. The City of Raleigh website has lots of information on the greenways that zig zag their way throughout the streets and parks. I posted some links at the bottom for more information on this. They have a really good map showing all the trails and points of interests. I think with gas expected to be at $3.75 a gallon as the national average at the end of the summer, it may not be a bad idea for all of us to have an alternate option of getting around.

Greenway Trail System
Park and Greenway Improvements