A crane for the Skyhouse Raleigh project towers over City Market.
Under gray skies on the day before New Year’s Eve, there was activity on the Skyhouse Raleigh site. The tower crane was being put together, showing positive signs for active construction at the corner of Blount and Martin Streets in the new year.
Here’s hoping for more cranes in 2014. Happy New Year!
The beer flows in Raleigh. The flow has many flavors and venues.
Adding to that list of beer drinking venues is the Raleigh Beer Garden which will be situated at 614 Glenwood Avenue. The office building already on the site is up for a makeover and the beer garden will take over.
The new place comes from the folks behind Hibernian Irish Pub, Solas, and The Station. Posted here are some renderings of the new place that show the direction that New City Design Group are going with this project.
It looks like there will be a ton of outdoor space with a splash of greenery around various nooks and crannies. The two-floor design offers a few balconies as well, great for people watching. (and the view!)
Is there a term for a restaurant that has a ton of beer taps? The Raleigh Beer Garden plans to have over 100 so that makes it an extreme multi-tap restaurant with only The Flying Saucer able to come close within downtown Raleigh.
Here’s the current building as of December 2013. We could see movement on this project in Spring 2014.
As 2013 wraps up, there were plenty of things to look back on. Instead of the typical ‘Year in Review’ post, I’ve listed the five most visited 2013 articles. A lot of these we’ll be tracking in the new year so expect to hear more soon. Here’s the list.
#5 Trophy and Crank Arm Bring New Breweries To Downtown Raleigh
Raleighites like their beer. In 2013, downtown Raleigh saw two great additions in Trophy Brewing and Crank Arm Brewing. Throughout the year, the two places have come alive and expanded. There was a lot of buzz about these places and if you’ve gone all year without tasting these brews, you’ve got a few days to get one or two in before 2014.
#4 Parklets Could be Popping Up In Downtown Raleigh
Divisadero Parklet – SF Pavement to Parks by jeremyashaw, on Flickr
Approved in November, the parklets pilot program could help businesses bring new urban “mini” parks to downtown Raleigh. Targeting “underutilized parking spaces,” the program attempts to help bring this new, innovative concept to Raleigh.
As of today, there hasn’t been one built yet so here’s hoping that some pop up in time for Spring 2014.
#3 The Lincoln Will Bring 224 Apartments To Emo Raleigh
The bulk of the apartment boom is happening within and to the west of downtown Raleigh but The Lincoln defies that trend. East Raleigh is ripe for new developments and The Lincoln may start a new trend as it sits one block to the east of Moore Square.
#2 Innovate Raleigh Opens Up 227 Fayetteville Street, Renovations Underway
Announced in January, 227 Fayetteville Street has been under renovation all year. Paired with a makeover for adjacent Exchange and Market plazas, this section of the 200 block of Fayetteville Street should be even more active when this project is open.
This area already sees the highest pedestrian counts in downtown Raleigh and is starting to be the natural activity hub for all that is urban Raleigh.
#1 Edison Office Shows Site Plan For 225′ Tower
Edison block conceptual drawing by JDavis Architects.
The most viewed post of the year was this one about the upcoming Edison Office tower at the corner of Martin and Wilmington Streets. Gaining attention under the entire Edison project umbrella, the office component is still in the planning phases while next door a 23-story apartment tower, Skyhouse Raleigh, is currently under construction.
The Edison project includes this entire block, with buildings wrapping the mid-block parking deck. It clearly has a lot of buzz around it as a 2012 article about Skyhouse still gets hits constantly from readers.
Greyhound Terminal on West Jones Street in downtown Raleigh
The Jones Street Greyhound Terminal is moving soon to a new location outside of downtown Raleigh. Located here since 1969, Greyhound will move their operations up north to 2210 Capital Boulevard. They have signed a 10 year lease for the new location.
I wonder about the decision behind this and the plans for future integration of Greyhound into Union Station’s overall plan. Ideally, the currently planned Union Station, Raleigh’s much larger and upgraded train station in downtown’s warehouse district, will house a variety of transit options, including Greyhound, to offer users options and transfers between services.
The Union Station integration sounds like the most ideal end-goal but the move to Capital Boulevard adds an extra obstacle for travelers arriving in Raleigh that need to get to Greyhound. While not a significant amount of travelers, Greyhound is an option for those arriving at RDU and need a lower cost option to head to points in eastern North Carolina. Rental cars and taxi’s are too costly so public transit and Greyhound are the most cost effective way to get around.
Another part of the story here is that the property was sold in March 2013 to Real Estate investor Ted Reynolds. Long time readers may recognize that name as the same one involved with a tower planned for 301 Hillsborough Street, called The Hillsborough, back in 2007. Along with a few other projects, The Hillsborough met the same fate as the 2009 market crash scrapped it.
Perhaps the Reynolds have plans for the old Greyhound site at 314 West Jones Street.
An expansion being done at the Marbles Kid’s Museum. The Kid Grid exhibit will go here, partly thanks to a $1 million grant from ABB, Inc. The Raleigh Public Record reported on this back in July.
Marbles President Sally Edwards said Kid Grid will teach children about the Smart Grid and will be a full representation of the energy system. Edwards said the goal of the exhibit is to introduce children to science and math and encourage them to become engineers in the future.
*Commissioners Approve Loan for Marbles
Here’s a video from WRAL interviewing Edwards about the planned exhibit back during its announcement in 2012.
Click here to see the video on YouTube.
Thanks for the tip, Brian.
The 261 apartments at 425 Boylan Avenue have really taken shape after a year’s worth of construction. Plans according to the developer’s website state that the project will be completed in the Fall of 2014.
Just a recap of this upcoming apartment building for the Glenwood South district:
An interesting thought that I may queue up for another post is to talk about the walkability between Glenwood South and Cameron Village. 425 Boylan and the other apartments located on the western half of Glenwood South create a dramatic increase in density that walking to Cameron Village should be simple.
From 425 Boylan to the Cameron Village library is a 0.7 mile walk. However, will residents overcome this more barren walk between those two points? Compared to a more interesting 0.7 mile walk, like Glenwood Avenue from Peace to Hillsborough or the CBD from the Nature Research Center to the end of Fayetteville Street, the lack of urbanity between the two destinations may not promote walking as much.
That or horrendous parking at a location may force walking to the forefront.
The banners are down and construction barriers are up around the upcoming L Building. The L building project goes as far back as the summer of 2007, starting out as an office tower and now planned to be apartments.
Construction should start very soon.
A friend of mine made a reference to an old post here on the blog and looking back at it after all these years makes for a great followup. In 2008, I made a list of ten retail spaces that should be filled. Today six places off that list are now occupied. It’s not just restaurants though, retail has taken hold and the quantity of shops is only increasing year after year in downtown Raleigh.
If you look at the post, you’ll see photos of empty buildings where popular restaurants are today. Beasley’s and Chuck’s have ignited the corner of Martin and Wilmington Streets. The ground floor of the Odd Fellows building was empty until Deco, Nora and Nicky’s, and High Cotton gave people a reason to window shop at Hargett and Salisbury Street. Almost all the spaces in The Depot were once empty until Videri Chocolate Factory, Tasty Beverage Company, Jose and Sons, Junction Salonbar, and Tuscan Blu set up.
Before getting into another empty spaces list, an important thing to note is that there are areas in downtown where empty spaces are few and need to be built. The “missing teeth” of retail is being filled in and the options and variety is increasing. As fewer historic buildings needing renovation are available, this will increase the demand to build new shops in new construction buildings.
Glenwood South, end-to-end, is practically full. With The Wine Feed guys renovating their space in the Hampton there’s really not much new sidewalk retail space available. Projects like The Gramercy should be adding more retail spaces right along Glenwood Avenue. The now under construction Ale House building, at Glenwood and Tucker Street, may add retail/restaurants where an empty office building once sat.
Other notables include individual buildings around downtown. PNC Plaza has leased their retail spaces and it appears the smallest one along Martin has paper over the glass as if something is going on behind it. The Hue has renters in all their spaces minus one. Red Hat Tower has seen turnover but is typically full.
The simplest way to put it is that creating a list like the one below was more difficult today than it was five years ago.
And now onto the list.
107 East Martin
A small empty space for years but just around the corner from all the great restaurants at Martin and Wilmington. The problem, I think, is that it probably needs a lot of work to get something started here. I don’t know much about the details of renovation but this building looks pretty sad and start up costs must be higher than most.
Blount Street Deck
The Blount Street Parking deck has two retail spaces, one facing Wilmington and the other on Blount Street. The downtown staple, Cooper’s BBQ is moving to the space along Wilmington and the one facing Blount is still waiting for its first tenant since opening in 2008. Facing City Market and being close to Moore Square, I would think this could be an attractive space. What will probably make it happen for this nook is when nearby residential projects like Skyhouse and The Edison open up. A services type shop would be perfect for downtown residents in this area.
The Atrium
The Atrium has such a good location along Fayetteville Street but needs a lot of work to be useful. The old, brick building is missing a roof in the back so someone with a lot of passion for this architecturally flat building will have to come along to spruce it up. Eventually, the location will be too good to pass on it for some developer.
Boylan Pearce Building
This has been empty ever since Fayetteville Street dropped the mall from it’s name in 2006. The Boylan Pearce Building sits in the prime 200 block of Fayetteville Street, experiencing some of the highest pedestrian counts in downtown Raleigh. Almost a year ago, there was news of a buyer of the building with plans to restore it.
Days before I planned to post this, signs of construction on the bottom floor popped up. So it’s possible this space is coming off this list sometime soon.
The Raleigh Sandwich Shop
Sandwiched, pun intended, between some busy shops and restaurants along Wilmington Street, the Raleigh Sandwich Shop has such a good location for someone to consider working with it. I’m going to punt this one over to a great post at Goodnight, Raleigh about the shop. Remembering the Raleigh Sandwich Shop
The Shops at 500 Hillsborough Street
This little strip of one-story retail spaces is kind of an island between Glenwood South and Fayetteville Street. The shops that are there serve niche markets, like the violin store, but next door, the spaces are empty. This is a tricky area I feel as the better move would be to join the cluster of businesses in the other districts. Until the growth reaches here, this may be the same for a long time.
City Market
I feel like the City Market building is the flagship in historic charm for downtown Raleigh. Some may say the Briggs Hardware building but I lean more toward the ole girl on Martin Street. The half facing Martin Street has been vacant for quite some time now with the other half being used by the event venue, Cobblestone Hall. It’s a big space and difficult to break up into smaller ones, if even possible. A big restaurant operation or large retail store is perfect for this space.
Currently, there are posters around it for an event space called 214 Martin.