by Leo Suarez

Sir Walter Statue Proposal

As many of you know, the Fayetteville Street Mall has been torn up and become a street again. In this process, the Sir Walter Raleigh Statue that was placed on the 100 block of the mall was shipped to Cincinnati for cleaning. Well, the cleaning is done and the 11-foot statue is ready to come home but Sir Walter’s previous home has now become a street. No one has decided what to do with him and the city council seems to ignore this issue. WRAL has a good article on the situation.

I feel that not enough people care about this issue which is why the statue has been sitting in Ohio, ready to come home for over 10 months now. I am now proposing a solution to this, one that will make everybody happy and one that the city can be proud of.

The triangle lot bounded by Edenton, Hillsborough, and West Streets is the location of my proposed Sir Walter Court. Right now it is a dirt parking lot for the empty shops across Hillsborough St. and there are plans for a hotel on the block to the east of the block. My proposal can be seen here.

My vision for this court is simple. The triangle area will have a new sidewalk on the south side to help pedestrians cross Edenton Street, which is not very friendly at the moment. The sidewalk running north/south along West Street will be renovated to match the Hillsborough sidewalk. These sidewalks are important because they will hold the pedestrian traffic connecting the hotels along Hillsborough St. and the core downtown districts to Glenwood South.

The statue will be placed on a pedestal with a granite courtyard amongst the tress that currently fill the triangle. There will also be plenty of seating around the statue. Of course, there will be extensive landscaping to beautify this area around the statue, especially the shrubs on the north side. The power lines in the area must be buried and attractive, tasteful lighting will go in its place.

Hopefully the shops across the street will hold a couple food places and some shops. I want the idea of getting food and sitting outside around the statue to be a very common thing. The area is filled with trees and shade is a good commodity already.

With the proposed Winston hotels, other Hillsborough St. hotels and developments, and the edges of both Glenwood south and the warehouse district nearby, this location is a prime connection and gateway to downtown. It will easily add connectivity to pedestrians and an additional attraction to visitors.

Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns?

by Leo Suarez

City Plaza seeking approval

The Raleigh City Council is about to meet today. They will discuss various issues around the city, one pertaining to downtown. The design for City Plaza has been sketched out, finalized, and is seeking approval today. The N&O wraps up the agenda.

CITY PLAZA. City Manager Russell Allen is asking the council to approve more than $1 million in funding to complete the design of several projects at the south end of Fayetteville Street, including the City Plaza. City planners have proposed building a $21 million high-tech plaza that could be closed to cars and reconfigured for parades, markets or concerts.

Update coming soon on the outcome.

UPDATE: Nothing was changed in the design but the decision on how to pay for the $21.3 million project was pushed back 2 weeks. Let’s hope this is the last delay so that construction can start and all this is finished by the time the convention center and hotel open up.

by Leo Suarez

Large parking deck upgraded to Massive

About a week ago, the city council amended an agreement between the city of Raleigh, Highwoods Properties and Progress Energy to build a parking deck to support RBC plaza. They also selected Stewart Engineering to be the technical engineering rep for the parking deck. The deck will sit mid-block on Martin St. and will have retail space facing the street. Here is a list of the changes to the agreement.

  • The eight-story parking deck will now have 1,242 instead of 1,050 as originally agreed upon
  • The deck will be built for future abutting developments.
  • Total cost increases from $14.17 million to $20.93 million.
  • The city will own two shelled spaces instead of one, probably for storage purposes.

Why do we care about this?

This is the first development that is moving forward on the PEIII block and future development must work around this huge parking deck. As was posted earlier this week, demolition of the old buildings here has already begun. I hope the rise in the number of spots for the deck is there for whatever is built around it. This will allow more room for developers to work with as they do not have to incorporate parking into their designs.

by Leo Suarez

Where to put the AACC?

On Tuesday May 1st the city council is going to discuss locations for the proposed African American Cultural Consortium. The AACC is meant to add to Raleigh’s cultural destinations as an educational and tourist spot. There are three groups involved in this and they have agreed to come together in this one location. They are the Pope House, the Martin Luther King Resource Center, and the African American Cultural Complex.

In the past, site plans were drawn up for building the consortium around the Pope House. Now, there are plans to put it on the block named “Site 2”. Site 2 is just a parking lot now in front of the Performing Arts Center but future development is planned here. If Site 2 is chosen as the location, then the Pope House will have to be moved here.

The Raleigh Chronicle summarizes the situation pretty well in this article.

location

by Leo Suarez

Historic Raleigh Gets Served

Over the past week, there has been some considerable work going on across the street from the Progress II building, the block we refer to as Progress III. Progress Energy owns the majority of the block and has major plans for this area. Possible plans may include a pair of 30 story towers but no renderings or announcements have been made.

Currently the block is being razed except for the storefronts facing Wilmington St. Most of them are closed and I expect them to be either destroyed or heavily renovated to be incorporated into whatever is built on the land behind the shops.

Witness the destruction for yourself. The map I have used earlier to show the construction on this block has been updated as well.


red – razed area, yellow – construction fences


That building used to have a middle section


Soon will bite the dust


Both those buildings used to connect

by Leo Suarez

West at North gathering

If anyone is interested in the condos being built at West at North, they are having an event soon.

Considering a new condo home at West?

Come get a sneak peek and see progress to date – from 6-8 pm Tuesday, May 8th.
Hors d’oeuvres and beverages provided.

After getting a taste of life at West, feel free to indulge in the energetic life of West’s neighborhood – Glenwood South. And find out personally why West is such a great place to live where you live.

Tuesday May 8
West Sales Center,
413 North Harrington Street, Downtown Raleigh
6-8 pm Social Hour
RSVP: 919-828-0077

All my best,
Ann-Cabell

The sales office is behind the building off of Harrington St.

I was looking into the condos here last summer and I am really curious to find out the current availability. West seemed to be on the expensive side of what is being built downtown. I’m hoping with events like this, they are not desperate to sell units.

Hors d’oeuvres here!