by Leo Suarez

Vote on October 8! Then, nerd out with us at Isaac Hunter’s

Raleigh munigeeks unite!

We’re hosting an election watch party on October 8. To kick off the early voting, I’m posting about the event that Tuesday night and everyone is invited.

After you’ve voted, and you can do that early right now, come join an informal, non-partisan, unaffiliated meetup at Isaac Hunter’s Tavern for true geekery over Raleigh politics.

We want to put the election results up on a screen and refresh them until we’ve got all the winners figured out. It’s sure to be a good time and I’m excited to be doing this for the first time.

See the events on Facebook and Meetup here:

Raleigh Council Election Watch Party
Date/Time: Tues., Oct. 8 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Isaac Hunter’s Tavern

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

The surface parking lot at 301 Hillsborough has now been closed. That’s because construction will be starting on Raleigh Crossing, the new building planned for this site. This is the same one we’ve seen renderings of throughout the year.

There was a ground-breaking ceremony last week which included folks from Pendo, the Raleigh-based company that will primarily occupy the office space of Raleigh Crossing.

We’ve been following this site for years, practically since the beginning of the blog so I’m pretty excited to see something rise out of the ground at this space. Plan to watch it rise throughout 2020!

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Steel framing of the office building coming to Smokey Hollow phase 2.

Steel is rising up on Harrington Street for the office tower component of Smoky Hollow. It seems like it was only weeks ago that the site was flat. At this rate, the nine-story tower will be topped out sometime in the Fall.

It’s such a dramatic difference compared to how the area was built up before. Surface parking in front of one-story office buildings lined Harrington Street for years. Traffic was nonexistent.

Now, with a little imagination, you can envision the street with a lot more life and active uses. Harrington has been connected to Peace Street and there will be a lot more residential and office space in the area.

There’s a lot to look forward to with Smoky Hollow!

by Leo Suarez

Next Reader Meetup is on Sept 19!

It’s time to get together one more time and meet other readers of the blog and those participating in the Community. We’ve had a great turnout at these things and it motivates us to keep them rolling.

In addition to myself, we have other hosts that you should meet and follow online including:

  • The Acorn, a weekly newsletter about real estate in the Triangle.
  • Raleigh Convergence, a curated newsletter on issues, ideas and creative neighbors of Raleigh
  • Inbound Raleigh, a podcast about transit and transportation in Raleigh

Hope to see you there.

Reader Meetup
Date/Time: Thurs., Sept. 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Dram and Draught
One Glenwood Avenue
by Leo Suarez

Get Your Raleigh Flag From Civic Flags!

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Steve Rehnborg over at the Raleigh Night Market recently and he showed me his first wave of products that his company, Civic Flags, is offering. This includes a City of Raleigh flag!

Partially inspired by this 2012 blog post about the flag, Civic Flags fills in a gap in our city: you can’t easily order a flag for your own enjoyment!

I’ve got my flag so wanted to inform readers of the new site. Jump on over and see what they got. You can also follow them on Instagram to keep up with them.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Moore Square is now open!

The downtown square on the east side of downtown Raleigh has finally reopened after years of planning and construction. The square went through multiple iterations of various plans with a wide stakeholder group but we’re finally here.

The former square design consisted of many paths and pockets to hang out where the new design has fewer but wider paths for strolling. Seating is plentiful along low walls and there’s no reason not to lay out on the grass.

On the edges, you’ll notice short barrier walls that encourage visitors to use the paths as a way to protect the roots of the old oak trees. There are lots of newly planted shrubs that will look great after a few years when they’ve matured a bit.

In addition to a community table and child play area, the plaza has a splash pad and outdoor seating. With the kiosk nearby, this will be the square’s hub of activity. Square Burger has set up shop in the kiosk and is serving burgers, fries, and shakes.

I expect the square to be quite busy when the fresh Fall weather hits downtown.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Photo by @oakcitydylan

Demolition is taking place on the western half of the site named Bloc 83. By the time you read this, the site along the southern side of the 600 block of Hillsborough Street may already be cleared out.

This is the second-half development that will pair up with the already open One Glenwood. For a refresher of what is to come here, jump back to this November 2018 post about the development named Two Hillsborough.

I’m certainly missing the Esso Gas Station that stood at the corner and had one of my favorite bars, Dram and Draught. However, I’m happy to see new urban-style development that should be a part of the Raleigh of the future which makes transit-use more feasible and even brings about even more retail and restaurant space.

Dram and Draught has moved into One Glenwood and should re-open soon.

Finally, for nostalgia’s sake, I’ve got a snap of the Esso Gas Station in 2015 after it was renovated but before the bar set up shop in it.

Corner of Hillsborough and Boylan. August 2015.