by Leo Suarez

Fall 2016 Restaurant Roundup

Email readers: This blog post has a virtual reality image in it. I recommend you click through to the site to see it.

New eats are tasty but what can also be exciting, to me anyway, are reasons to revisit some places as they are doing new things or new folks are bringing a new twist on it. This season’s update shows a lot of new concepts in old places, hopefully bringing you back in for a fresh take.

For a complete list of eats, drinks, and coffees in and around downtown, make sure to bookmark the DT Eats page. Try something new!

  • Kicking things off are new brews from Oak and Dagger. The pub is now opened, shown at the top of this post, in the former Tyler’s space in Seaboard Station. In addition to their already running bottle shop, the brewery has a small menu of eats and lots of space for large parties.
  • Sort of near the Person Street area, Brewerks, a cafe and bakery in the former Quality Grocery space, is now open.
  • Scott Crawford’s new restaurant, Crawford and Son, in the former Piebird space was on schedule to be completed by the end of October. The place seems to be close to opening and you can subscribe to updates on their website.
  • In the Warehouse District, Parkside is now open on the corner of Martin and Dawson. They are open for lunch and dinner every day.
  • The Morgan Street Food Hall has a running website and is taking applications for those interested in setting up inside. It was reported that Ed Mitchell is bringing Que to the location as one of the first ones to sign up.
  • In Moore Square, Empire Eats was chosen to run the food kiosk in the upcoming Moore Square redesign. Called Square Burger, they will be serving burgers with (wait for it) square patties on potato buns.
  • City Market Sushi is planning to open in November. Located in the former Troy Mezze space, the folks behind the new restaurant want to offer a more casual, and less expensive, approach to sushi.
  • Amorino, the gelato shop coming to The Edison Lofts, is still being worked on. Last I saw, it looked like there is a lot of work to be done.
  • The Outpost will be a tiki-themed bar located in the house at the corner of Hargett and Person. In addition to their casual atmosphere, the space will reach out to non-profits looking for space for events. They should open very soon.
  • Even though Niall Hanley is busy with the Morgan Street Food Hall, he’s working on a new concept for the basement under Caffé Luna. Named Watts & Ward, you’ll enter the 6,000 square foot bar from the steps facing Blount Street under the Montague Building.
  • Raleighwood Provisions is a new project from those behind Bittersweet. Located in The Edison Lofts, the shop will sell a wide variety of high-quality, local foods. The plan is to open before the end-of-year and you can follow them on Instagram.
  • The new restaurant in the former Battistella’s space will be called Royale and hopes to open by the end-of-year.
  • On Hillsborough Street, Dram and Draught is now open, serving beers and whiskey out of the old Esso gas station.
  • The District, going in the former Hadley’s space in The Dawson, is now hiring. They will serve “asian-inspired cuisine with a southern influence” and hope to be open mid-November.
  • In Glenwood South, Vidrio, the Mediterranean restaurant for the corner of Tucker and Glenwood Avenue, is now hiring.
  • In the West at North building, Little City Brewery is now open.
  • Remember the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe? Well, they were supposed to be open sometime soon but still no update on their new location in Powerhouse Plaza where Natty Greene’s used to be. They were doing some hiring about a month ago so hopefully it’s any day now.
  • On Fayetteville Street, Bare Bones is now open and serving up beer, burgers, and ribs. The new restaurant from Eschelon Experiences is located in the PNC Tower where Zinda was formerly located.
  • Nearby, Carroll’s Kitchen, the non-profit restaurant with a mission to help homeless women, is now open at the corner of Martin and Wilmington Streets.
  • Living Kitchen, the raw and organic restaurant, has now opened in Charter Square.
  • Wahlburgers, a burger chain started by actors Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, is coming to The Hudson where The Oxford was formerly located. It’ll be the first in North Carolina.
  • Bolt Bistro is changing concepts. In a month or so, the place should reopen as Pizza La Stella, serving pizza to Fayetteville Street patrons.
  • The London Bridge Pub is adding a kitchen. With their expansion into the next door space, they have plans to add a small menu and build from there. The food should start cooking in mid-November.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Fiber is indeed coming as Google’s ad campaign continues on. It’s no secret now that the building at 518 West Jones Street will be home to the area’s Google Fiber offices. Or maybe showroom? Storage room? Who knows.

Either way, Google has been very hush about the work that’s taken place in Glenwood South and now you can see the new branding on the building windows. Hopefully there will be more additions to the sidewalk area cause I’ve always found it to be a desert in the summer. (or extra cold in the winter)

Google Fiber may be great for the area but I’m still eager to see how this building will be used once they are up and running.

by Leo Suarez

New Raleigh-Based Podcast Focuses on Transit

Inbound Raleigh

There’s a new podcast out now and its focus is on Transit in Raleigh. I just finished listening to their second episode which is a great interview with our city’s transportation planning manager, Eric Lamb.

Called Inbound Raleigh, the podcast wants to talk about all the different ways to get around Raleigh that don’t involve a car on a street. After listening to the first episode, it really shows you how many different transit-related projects we have in the pipeline. We have bike share, a transit referendum next month, a bike plan, sidewalk expansions, a train station, and a lot more.

The podcast is run by Jennifer Suarez and James Borden, both of Raleigh Public Record fame. (Disclaimer, Jennifer is also married to yours truly.)

If podcasts are a way that you enjoy getting your media then I encourage you to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and/or listen to Little Raleigh Radio. They have been instrumental in getting the podcast off the ground and always deserve love when they help launch new projects.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Union Station Construction Update

Boylan Wye and Raleigh Union Station Construction, October 2016.

Boylan Wye and Raleigh Union Station Construction, October 2016. Click for larger.

We haven’t visited the construction site for Raleigh Union Station in a few months and this weekend, I went out to catch up on the progress. The weather was nice and the clouds were amazing, helping me land some great exposures of the site.

The photo above is the “money shot” of the station, taken from the Boylan Avenue bridge. A lot has happened since I grabbed a photo from the same spot in April.

Looking around we can spot a few things taking shape. Check the above photo out on Flickr so you can zoom in, out, and around.

In the foreground in front of the Dillon Supply Co. sign, the ticketing and baggage claim area is coming together. This area will also house Amtrak offices and general operations rooms.

The station will actually be bigger than the old warehouse that was at this location as this kind of exoskeleton of steel is starting to wrap it.

Boylan Wye and Raleigh Union Station Construction, October 2016.

Boylan Wye and Raleigh Union Station Construction, October 2016 as seen from Hargett Street.

It wasn’t much of a renovation but rather a reuse of some parts (and that’s still a stretch) as the building was gutted to the bones. This new framing should create the spaces for the new retail and restaurant space and their outdoor balconies and walkways.

I can probably guess that the mound of earth around the site came from the Union Station project as lots of land had to be moved for the parking lot and the new entrance along West Street.

Boylan Wye and Raleigh Union Station Construction, October 2016.

West Street being lowered to go into the parking lot of Union Station.

Above, you can see what the end of West Street looks like today. This mess will eventually have West Street going underneath the rail line and into the station. For additional reference, I’ve thrown up the site plan, with a few minor edits, which you can see how vehicle traffic is supposed to flow.

Raleigh Union Station site plan.

Raleigh Union Station site plan. Click for larger.

The last major thing I noticed was the process of working with the tracks themselves.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station, near Cabarrus Street. Click for larger.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station, near Cabarrus Street. Click for larger.

Looking at the station from Cabarrus Street, you will notice that only the active line to the current train station is intact. The rails on the left in the two photos above serve the station today while the rails on the right end before the construction site. It looks like that line is down for awhile until the bridge is built over the lowered West Street.

There also used to be other rail lines, two of these offshoot kind of tracks, in this area but those are gone now. Here’s an aerial shot from Google Maps to show you the four tracks mentioned here.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station.

Track work taking pace around Raleigh Union Station. Click for larger.

No doubt, this track rearrangement is making room for the new platform that will take passengers through a concourse underneath and between two new tracks. You can see that if you jump back up to the site plan.

Here are some other photos from my walk around the site.

Raleigh Union Station in October 2016 as seen from Hargett Street.

Raleigh Union Station in October 2016 as seen from Hargett Street.

Raleigh Union Station in October 2016 as seen from West Street.

Raleigh Union Station in October 2016 as seen from West Street.

by Leo Suarez

Boylan Flats Plans 48 Apartments on Boylan Avenue

Future site of Boylan Flats

Future site of Boylan Flats

Site plans for Boylan Flats were submitted (SR-066-16) to the city recently, a new development consisting of 48 apartments at 615 North Boylan Avenue. This is the surface parking lot directly behind the McDonald’s that faces Peace Street and The Paramount across Boylan Avenue. Rather than a 200+ unit, multi-property building that we typically see, the footprint of Boylan Flats is much smaller. (0.233 acres)

Site Location

Site location. Click for larger

According to the site plan, the new building will be five-stories tall at 72 feet. Parking will be on the ground floor with a gated entrance and lobby facing Boylan. The plan also mentions a 1,025 square foot rooftop open space.

Per the planning process, the sidewalks will be completely redone, 14′ feet wide, and bike racks will also be included with the parking spaces. No renderings are this point and with any site review like this ones, details may change.

We’ll follow this one for sure cause if you’ve been following this blog for awhile, I love anything that removes surface parking.

Site Location

Site layout (proposed). Click for larger

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Rendering of Hargett Place

More like Render of the Week.

Above is the rendering for Hargett Place, a group of 19 townhomes for East Hargett Street. I’m into this project because of the high-quality (perceived anyway) as well as unique townhome design shown in these renderings. This is a housing type that I think is hugely lacking around downtown Raleigh and I would like to see much more of it.

For sale, rather than for rent, units are also nice to see in a part of Raleigh where rentals dominate so some balance to the market always seems like a good thing to cheer for.

The rendering reminds me of brownstone rowhouses that you can spot in older cities in the northeast. I can see a very comfortable street face along East Street with these homes facing City Cemetery. Once new sidewalk trees mature it’ll be a nice place to walk in the future.

by Leo Suarez

Citycamp NC 2016 is on September 22-24

Registration for this year’s Citycamp NC is open to the public and once again, I’m helping spread the word about this fantastic unconference. In its sixth year, Citycamp NC continues to get bigger and this time will be in downtown Raleigh at Nash Hall.

CityCamp NC is a three day unconference event focused on innovation and collaboration for municipal governments, community organizations and citizens.The event includes open sourced talks, workshops, and hands-on problem solving to re-imagine the way the web, applications, technology, and participation will shape the future of NC cities.

The final list of speakers is still being finalized but to give you a hint of what to expect, the event will include:

  • Public CIO Panel who will include representatives from Wake County, Raleigh, Greensboro
  • Amy Gaskins, Panopticon Global, formerly of MetLife and NOAA
  • J Erik Garr, Google Fiber

From the inspiring lightning talks during the first night all the way to through the weekend sprints, it’s always been an active and energetic event. Let me know if I can answer any questions that you may have.

2016 Citycamp NC

Date/Time: Thurs., Sept. 22 to Sat. Sept. 24
Nash Hall
108 S Blount Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
Register here