Tag / Convention Center

by Leo Suarez

Finishing Touches Around The Convention Center

Have you checked your calendars? We are three weeks away from Raleigh Wide Open 3 and the opening of the Raleigh Convention Center. The final details outside the center are now being smoothed over and will be ready for your eyes and feet soon.


Paving Salisbury, planting trees, laying bricks and more at the plaza entrance. Click for bigger picture.


After almost three years, McDowell is now walkable again.

Shimmer wall installed, new street/pedestrian lights are up and working.


Installing sidewalk lights in front of the entrance on Salisbury St.


Cabarrus St. will soon have flowing traffic, cars and people.

by Leo Suarez

Two-way Conversion of Lenoir and South St.

Approved back in September of 2007, the two-way conversion of Lenoir and South streets is another bullet point on the long list of changes that surround the new Raleigh Convention Center. The entire street will not be converted; just a couple blocks around the downtown core. Lenoir will be a two-way street from South Saunders to Wilmington and South will get the same treatment between Dawson and Wilmington. See it on a map.

This is no surprise that these changes are for visitors to easily navigate to and from the new convention center and Marriott hotel. The three major southern downtown entrances are covered with South Saunders, McDowell, and Wilmington streets having two-way access to Lenoir. Dawson St. is a major thoroughfare for visitors coming from the north on Capital BLVD.

New streetlights are up around the convention center on Lenoir St.
by Leo Suarez

DTR’s Pieces of Flare: The Shimmer Wall

News is slow but conversation never dies. With that, I wanted to dig up an old post that talks about the shimmer wall that is going to be put on the west side of the convention center. For all the juicy details, click here. The wall will cover about 9,000 sq. ft. which is quite large. Here are some renderings and recent pictures of the shimmer wall skeleton.

Right now there are no towers blocking the view when you are driving up South Saunders St. or looking from Dorothea Dix campus. The dancing lights will add some flare to the Raleigh skyline.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Wide Open III on Sept. 5-6

RWO III has been announced and it all revolves around the opening of the new Raleigh Convention Center. Clear your calendars for a two-day party on September 5th and 6th. This new info comes from a news conference held this morning which the N&O has covered.

RALEIGH – A two-day downtown celebration Sept. 5 and 6 will mark the opening of Raleigh’s new convention center, officials said today.

At a news conference this morning, Mayor Charles Meeker and Wake commissioners’ chairman Joe Bryan announced plans for a street festival to be called “Raleigh Wide Open III” and an indoor “showcase extravaganza.” They expect 100,000 people to attend.

The events start with a ribbon-cutting at noon Friday, Sept. 5. The celebration will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. that day and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.

by Leo Suarez

City Plaza Will Not Be Ready For Convention Center Opening

I sent off a couple e-mails about the current state of the City Plaza project. I thought it was a no-brainer that getting this plaza done at the same time as the opening of the Raleigh Convention Center and Marriot Hotel was important. The response I got was not so pleasant.

Leo,
Thanks for your inquiry. In the City Plaza, we are completing the negotiation of the easement with the owners of the Bank of America building – this should get us ready for a full funding, design approval and authorization to proceed at the last Council meeting in March or the first of April, Which completes construction in May of 2009. I have enclosed a rendering. Thanks

Daniel T. Douglas AICP
Division Manager
Raleigh Urban Design Center & Communications Group
Department of City Planning

By the way, the attached rendering has already been posted on the city’s website. Here are more for your viewing pleasure.

The convention center and hotel will be open September of this year. It looks like we’ll have a nice construction site in the middle of Fayetteville St. for eight months after this. Before you start getting all upset like I did, you may need to think consider some other factors.

The perfect scenario would have been for the plaza to be ready for all the new visitors, and current residents, to see and enjoy. It can be argued that first impressions are important and getting this thing done on time should have been something to fight for. But honestly, this is only eight months and we have booked some conventions through 2020. Fayetteville St. is not the only district downtown. There are plenty of other areas that will be ready to serve visitors in the mean time. It is also important to note that this is out of the city’s hands as the owners of One Hannover (BoA building) are the major player in this little project.

It is unfortunate that we have to wait even longer to do a drive or walk from one end of Fayetteville St. to the other. I would have preferred it to be ready for the September opening, but if eight more months is needed then I’ll deal with it.

by Leo Suarez

Convention Center Opening Date?


This may or may not be news to you but it is to me. I was not aware of an official opening date for the new convention center but it is posted on the Raleigh Convention website, shown in the pic above. Here are some details from the webpage.

Come September, be the center of attention at the new Raleigh Convention Center. Join tens of thousands of your friends and neighbors at the Raleigh Convention Center Grand Opening.

Just what are we celebrating? First, the new 500,000-square-foot convention center will be a state-of-the-art stunner. It will bring people from near and far to Raleigh where they’ll discover a dynamic downtown surrounding a rare array of convention attractions – the new center, the new Marriott City Center, the Sheraton Raleigh and the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

It looks like we have about 8 months to go. Click here for the rest.

Click here for old news on convention center bookings.