by Leo Suarez

Church on Morgan Builds Community, Literally

Rendering of Church on Morgan

Rendering of Church on Morgan

At the corner of Morgan and Blount Streets, there is a lot of renovation work taking place. The formerly quiet corner is being turned into a church. It’s not just ‘another church’ as some may be quick to judge but rather a space that is dynamic and can be used as the community sees fit.

After taking a hardhat tour with the leader behind this new effort, Justin Morgan, there’s something unique going on here. The group is working with In Situ Studio to really make this place stand out.

Called Church on Morgan, no relation with Justin’s last name but rather the street, this space is being planned to directly serve the downtown Raleigh and surrounding areas. It’s an extension of the Edenton Street United Methodist Church, which you may be familiar with their historic location at the corner of Edenton and Dawson Streets. The new space is a response from Edenton Street United Methodist to serve and engage with downtown.

The new sanctuary of Church on Morgan, August 2015

The new sanctuary of Church on Morgan, August 2015

The location has significance as well. The congregation here believes that the power of food can really bring people together for good and as such the place is envisioned to be a hub for Second Saturday, a monthly event that takes place along the Raleigh Food Corridor.

While some folks may prefer the traditional approach to prayer, Church on Morgan’s approach is different. In addition to food, entrepreneurship, supporting local community, and gathering are also key elements. They told me that they are here to support people with ideas who need a space to try them out. For example, the outdoor patio is built so a food truck can roll up and serve. Wifi isn’t private, it’s a public resource for those that show up.

Rendering of Church on Morgan

Rendering of Church on Morgan

The idea is to tailor the space for a growing demographic, the urban demographic that Raleigh is acquiring over the years. You may see Church on Morgan hold tech events, pop-up food vendors, or even neighborhood meetings from those that live nearby.

I am not a member of the Edenton Street United Methodist but when I heard about this project, I became intrigued and love the idea of them helping create “collisions” in downtown. By collision, I mean where people are brought together and form relationships around common interests. That’s how you build community and teams that are set to do good around the neighborhoods we live in.

Church on Morgan plans to open in October and will be an active part of First Fridays. I encourage you to stop by.

Corner of Blount and Morgan Streets, August 2015

Corner of Blount and Morgan Streets, August 2015

The Location’s History

In addition to hearing about the story, I asked for a little history of that corner. The project includes three distinct buildings.

  1. The two-story building on Morgan Street where H&R Block used to be.
  2. The office building on the corner that used to be a gas station.
  3. The attached warehouse building along Blount Street.

Church on Morgan will flow between all three of these buildings and very little additions are being added. Other than some entrance/exit changes and a new outdoor patio on the corner, the buildings should look the same even with a new paint job.

This corner of Raleigh was very automotive heavy in the first half of the 20th century. Car dealerships, gas stations, and repair shops clustered the area.

All photos below come courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina.

N_53_15_6011 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6011 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6012 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6012 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6013 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6013 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6014 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6014 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6015 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6015 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6016 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_15_6016 Atkins Motor Company 1947

N_53_16_5380 Prob Atkins Motor Co Engine Tune-Up Equipment Feb 28, 1947

N_53_16_5380 Prob Atkins Motor Co Engine Tune-Up Equipment Feb 28, 1947

For digital copies of these images, note the call number, and contact Kim Andersen at State Archives at 919.807.7311 or email to kim.andersen@ncdcr.gov

by Leo Suarez

Municipography, Outdoor Seating, Wilmington Street Hotel, Moore Square, and Stone’s Warehouse

Municipography is a summary of current issues going through the Raleigh City Council and other municipal departments in the city. The point is to try to deliver any video, photos, and text associated with the discussions happening at City Hall or elsewhere. Since this is a downtown Raleigh blog, the focus is on the center of the city.

I recommend email readers click through to the website to see the embedded video.

I need to think of better titles for these posts.

Lots of downtown Raleigh related items were on this week’s council agenda. I don’t see the video for the daytime session on the city’s website so no video will accompany some of the sections today. They said they were experiencing some technical difficulties that day so perhaps that is why.

Either way, let’s recap.

Outdoor Seating
The hottest topic of the week was the discussion around PUPS, Private Use of Public Space. I’ve covered this before, even sent a letter to city council, but this week the council has changed the hours of operations of our outdoor seating. This is a city-wide ordinance change by the way.

Outdoor seating now has to be closed at midnight Sunday-Thursday, 1am Friday and Saturday nights. To be clear, this only affects outdoor seating that takes place on public property, basically sidewalks. Private outdoor seating is unaffected.

Affected downtown businesses fought this as some of them depend on the sidewalk space for a higher quantity of customers. Reducing their capacity earlier means less dollars. Others against the change claim that we’re biting into our economic success.

Those for the changes claim that downtown is not vibrant and the rowdy bar scene is a burden. It boils down to nearby residents who’ve complained about noise and the inability to get adequate sleep.

My thoughts, in short, are that the reduction in hours are unlikely to do anything while hurting businesses. No one wins, only people lose. The market for bars is thriving. That’s not the problem. The problem is the lack of diversity in downtown business. Opening a bar, clearly, is the most profitable, least risky business right now in downtown Raleigh. How can we make other services and retail more attractive? We don’t have any leadership on this issue currently and I’m disappointed that the Downtown Raleigh Alliance was not an active leader in this debate.

Wilmington Street Hotel

The rezoning request for the proposed 12-story hotel at the corner of Wilmington and Lenoir Streets was approved. From the agenda:

A hearing to receive a request of the Trustees of the General Baptist Convention of North Carolina and Derrick L. and Heather Z. Scales to rezone approximately 0.51 acres from Neighborhood Business with Downtown Overlay and Historic Overlay District-General (NB w/DOD & HOD-G) to Downtown Mixed Use – 12 stories – Urban General – Conditional Use (DX-12-UG-CU). The property is located on the southeast quadrant of the intersection of S. Wilmington and E. Lenoir Street and extends eastward on the south side of E. Lenoir Street.

To catch up on this project, read 12-Story Hotel Planned for Wilmington Street Moves Forward.

Moore Square
The Moore Square redesign plan is moving forward. From the agenda:

Staff seeks authorization to proceed with the second phase of the Moore Square improvement project which generally includes master plan adjustment and development of a preliminary schematic design process for the period of August through December, 2015. This phase will also include regulatory meetings with the Department of Administration, the Raleigh Historic Development Commission and the State Historic Preservation Office. Schematic design will be presented to the public through an open
house; to the Parks, Recreation, and Greenways Advisory Board; and to the City Council for final approval in December.

This item was approved and that means that the redesign moves into Phase 2, schematic design. As a note, I’m on the Moore Square Public Leadership Group for this project so will report here after the next meeting when some work on design is released.

Stone’s Warehouse

If the embedded video doesn’t show for you, click here.

The sale of Stone’s Warehouse was approved. Transfer Company will be buying the site for $2.02 million. Plans for the space include a food entrepreneur incubator as well as a general store and community hall. Market-rate townhomes will be built as well as another building for additional food business space.

Catch up on Stone’s Warehouse here.

by Leo Suarez

Summer 2015 Restaurant Roundup

Rooftop seating at Taverna Agora

Rooftop seating at Taverna Agora

This summer, there have been some big time openings in the downtown Raleigh Eats scene. One of them even puts us in the Guinness Book of World Records.

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

First, here’s a flier for a new pop up sandwich shop, Linus and Pepper’s, that will be open for three weeks on Salisbury Street starting today. It’ll be student run and is backed by Jon Seelbinder (Level Up Kitchen and Barcadium, The Architect) who also is working on other projects in downtown. Read more about it in the N&O.

landp

  • Pictured above is the rooftop seating at the new location for Taverna Agora. The restaurant moved from North Raleigh to 326 Hillsborough Street and that empty, shell of a building is now more lively than ever.
  • Ashley Christensen’s Death and Taxes has finally opened at the corner of Salisbury and Hargett Streets.
  • Christensen has also announced that she is working on a pizza restaurant that will be located next door to Poole’s Diner.
  • Now that the Charter Square south tower is complete, we’re waiting to see what Eschelon Experiences brings to one of the ground-floor spaces in the building.
  • Construction fencing is up where Whiskey Kitchen will go at the corner of McDowell and Martin Streets.
  • Near Person Street, Standard Foods may actually open. At least that’s what they say as they are now hiring.
  • Person Street Pharmacy has finished their makeover with a new cafe.

Rooftop seating at Taverna Agora

Photo of the back patio at the Raleigh Beer Garden a few days before opening.

  • In Glenwood South, Niall Hanley and Cliff Bleszinski have set a Guinness World Record for most beer taps. The Raleigh Beer Garden is now open and has 366 beer taps spread across two floors. The place is huge and should be quite a draw within and outside the city.
  • In 510 Glenwood, Big Boom is now open. The new restaurant is from Vincent Barresi, of Vincent’s Italian Cuisine fame in North Raleigh.
  • JMR Kitchens (Taste, The Oak) is opening up more. on West Street in the former Mantra location. The new restaurant will serve “Italian-inspired small plates.”
  • Near Moore Square, Treat is now open and serves Maple View Farm ice cream.
  • I’m still keeping track of Provenance, planned to open in the Skyhouse Apartments building.
  • The N&O reported that Larry’s Beans is opening up a retail shop in the same building.
  • Still in Skyhouse, Taz is opening up a convenience store (as he does) called Oak City Market.
  • A dive bar called Ruby Deluxe is opening on the 400 block of Fayetteville Street.
  • Renovation work is taking place at 313 West Hargett Street. Twitter chatter says a wine bar is in the works.
  • Zinda has dropped their restaurant concept and is focusing on being an event space and club.

by Leo Suarez

Feedback on Outdoor Dining in Downtown, PUPS

Dear members of the Raleigh City Council,

I want to write to you today with some concerns about the proposed change in hours for outdoor dining in downtown Raleigh. In my opinion, closing down outdoor dining areas earlier will reduce the noise levels a negligible amount to be useful at the expense of economic vitality in our city’s core. There are also other contributors to noise that I feel were not mentioned during the Law and Public Safety meetings on this issue.

What I see missing are the proper metrics that balance noise levels and resident acceptance. How many hours less does it take to get the desired noise levels? What metrics are being used here? I would like the council to discuss this because cutting an hour or two off outdoor dining may reduce noise but not to a level that satisfies the source of the complaints. If reduced hours of operation on outdoor dining must take place, please implement a 6-month trial period here. The trial period could test this rather than putting in place unnecessary restrictions that benefit no one and only restrict local businesses.

From my point of view, noise is the problem trying to be solved and outdoor dining has been pinned as the source of this noise late at night. Due to the thriving nightlife we have, a few others contribute to the noise pollution in downtown also that are not being talked about. Vehicle traffic, food carts, and amplified music are other elements that add to the hum of downtown’s nightlife yet no restrictions on them are being proposed.

From a resident point of view, vehicle traffic, including motorcycles with loud exhausts, trolleypubs with woohing riders, and cars that are all about that bass, have been another noise-related pain point. These contributors only raise the noise level of conversation from outdoor patrons. Food carts with generators and amplified music add to it as well. The relative noise level from outdoor dining is a product of the surrounding environment and this has not been discussed.

An alternative view could be to look at removing noise contributors first before harming local business. Please take a look to see if removing all outdoor amplified noise would help. Please consider closing down certain blocks of Glenwood Avenue and Fayetteville Street every Fri/Sat night, removing vehicles that contribute to the noise. Please work with food carts to provide electrical plug access rather than run loud generators.

After this discussion has taken place and possibly attempted on a 6-month trial basis should we start to talk about limiting the local businesses themselves.

Thank you for taking the time to think about my feedback.

Leo Suarez
208 Freeman Street

by Leo Suarez

Greyhound Apartments Plans 250 Apartments on Jones Street

The former Greyhound terminal on Jones Street

The former Greyhound terminal on Jones Street

A site plan (SP-53-15) was submitted to the city for what’s being called Greyhound Apartments for 250 units on the west side of the block bounded by Jones, Lane, Harrington, and Dawson Streets. The work is being done by the same group that brought us The Lincoln apartments, Banner Apartments LLC.

The site is made up of three parcels, those being the old Greyhound bus terminal, the one-story building at the corner of Jones and Harrington where Trig Modern is located today, and the single-family house along Harrington Street that was built in 1910. (according to iMaps)

It shouldn’t surprise many that the architect behind this apartment project is JDavis Architects as they seem to be the go-to architect for these types of mid-rises in downtown Raleigh.

Map of the area

Click for larger

The site plan shows a preliminary plan for the building and reminds me of a modified version of The Lincoln. (no surprise) The northern half of the building will contain a parking deck with the southern half, a courtyard. All of this is wrapped with apartments and won’t be shown to the street.

The parking deck entrance will be on Harrington Street and this site plan doesn’t show any retail spaces. There is a bike-storage room that I haven’t seen in other projects downtown so Bike Raleigh fans should be happy about that.

The Triangle Business Journal has a preliminary rendering that you can see here.

Jones and Harrington is turning into a residential heavy intersection. With real retail still in it’s infancy along Glenwood Avenue, and struggling to be honest, I’m not convinced that retail spaces are needed within these projects right now.

by Leo Suarez

Municipography, 301 Hillsborough Street and Advent Church Building on Person Street

Municipography is a summary of current issues going through the Raleigh City Council and other municipal departments in the city. The point is to try to deliver any video, photos, and text associated with the discussions happening at City Hall or elsewhere. Since this is a downtown Raleigh blog, the focus is on the center of the city.

During this week’s city council meeting, the zoning request for the renovated church building at 501 South Person Street was discussed again. Also, a decision was made on how to sell the property at 301 Hillsborough Street.

501 South Person

If the video doesn’t load for you, click here and jump to minute 24.

This has been in the works for awhile. For a refresher jump to an older post about this.

After numerous conditions were included, it seems that both the neighborhood and the owner of the future restaurant came to an agreement. The rezoning was approved.

For more on this, I recommend jumping to “Prince Hall Rezoning Case Receives Council Approval” on the Raleigh Public Record.

301 Hillsborough Street

If the video doesn’t load for you, click here.

The discussion here was around how to sell the city-owned land at 301 Hillsborough Street.

There were some great points put out by Councilor Stephenson around our downtown plan and how the city should use the land to get some of the planned suggestions. (like a grocery store) However, the requests were very last-minute and most of council moved to approve the process of opening up the land for auction. In this scenario, there is no way to sell the land to a developer that presents certain types of plans.

It’s a money making endeavor only from what it sounds like. The money could then be used elsewhere. The current offer is for $3.1 million.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Union Station Construction, Summer 2015

Future home of Raleigh Union Station

This past weekend, I stepped out onto the end of Martin Street real quick to see if there was anything going on at the Raleigh Union Station construction site. The photo above was taken on Saturday and shows no visible signs of construction. (except the street barricades)

Perhaps last minute plans are still being worked before crews start making progress. I remember that the new station will be funded through a variety of funds coming in different directions so maybe that’s a slow process.

It just seems to be taking longer than expected seeing as how the first groundbreaking announcement was for March 2015 only to be delayed until May 2015. Here we are in July and still waiting.

Staying positive still at this point though.