Quote :

"I think you are talking about the new SECU headquarters."

It looks like I am indeed. You're today's winner of the "guess a building described only by its color" game!

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 12:15 AM. Reason : .]

10/31/2012 12:12:52 AM

SECU headquarters also with space for the Museum and for DENR, all connected together

10/31/2012 8:38:40 AM

Quote :

"I know, right? If Ezcazu was in that part of town I would frequent them a lot more--plus they'd actually have foot traffic. I'm concerned about them after Market moves out of their space. They benefited each other by sharing a customer base--and without Market to bring in some more people, will Ezcazu get people up to them? Maybe if they make it more of a cafe space."

I think Escazu will be just fine. I've seen their chocolate bars for sale all over the place so they seem to have a good distribution system set up.

10/31/2012 8:43:36 AM

I, too, think Escazu will be just fine and will be able to successfully fill out that space.

The only thing that I'm not sure will work about all of it is a grocery in the new building. A grocery store has already failed in this part of town. I don't think there are enough people nearby to walk, and if you already have to drive I'm betting most just continue on to Harris Teeter in Cameron Village.

[Edited on October 31, 2012 at 9:06 AM. Reason : .]

10/31/2012 9:04:56 AM

I meant more along the lines of, can they bring traffic into their actual store. I have no doubts about their distribution practices, which seem top notch. I give Escazu chocolate for gifts a little more often than I should.

11/1/2012 12:56:54 AM

Yeah I'll be interested to see how a grocer does there. I would say maybe if they did something similar to Bickett Market in Five Points they'll do well, but not even that survived.

11/1/2012 8:51:54 AM

the reason a grocery store fails in those areas is because the people who live within the area and are interested in going to a non-traditional grocery store will just go to wholefoods, which is only 4 miles from the city center.

I can understand if this was new york and we didn't have cars that could easily get us from point A to point B, making getting groceries and then taking them to your house a hassle, but that isn't the case here.

Downtown would need to be much much much more dense for an independent grocery store to survive.

11/1/2012 9:26:07 AM

Well and apparently there's a rumor floating around the offices on Fayetteville Street that some sort of agreement has been reached to put a HT near there in the next two years, which I'm sure would kill off any independent grocer if that is true.

11/1/2012 9:35:18 AM

That would be great.

11/1/2012 10:04:01 AM

an HT mini would be awesome!

11/1/2012 10:11:54 AM

A harris teeter mini would be very cool. I used to go to a Publix in Miami that was medium sized, had 2 stores, and an uphill escalator. Something about 60% of full store size, with 2 stories would be cool.

Schnucks in St. Louis opened a small version called "Culinaria" http://www.culinariaschnucks.com/location_information.asp Something like this would work, especially after the additional 1000 apartment units are complete.

Also some downtown retail news: http://www.newraleigh.com/article/lumina-clothing-company-to-open-flagship-store-in-downtown-raleigh/

11/1/2012 5:06:54 PM

^typo in that post....meant to read "stories"

11/1/2012 10:45:45 PM

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2012/11/could-citrixs-raleigh-operations-grow.html

11/5/2012 7:35:08 AM

Fantastic

11/5/2012 9:45:45 AM

I'm not sure what happened to that transportation thread, but the topic comes up enough here that I'll just post it in this. Orange County passed its transit referendum overwhelmingly today, joining Durham County. This means funding is now in place to increase bus service, construct an Amtrak station in Hillsborough and most transformational, build light rail between Chapel Hill and Durham. It's too bad Wake County has come to a screeching halt and won't even allow its citizens to vote on the issue.

11/6/2012 8:56:12 PM

Well depending on how the vote goes in Wake tonight, maybe we'll get people who are more open to putting it on the ballot next year.

11/6/2012 9:41:12 PM

N&O is reporting that the Commissioners will likely be 6 Republican, 1 Democrat after tonight. You aren't going to see transit in Raleigh for a very long time.

11/6/2012 9:43:04 PM

11/6/2012 9:55:22 PM

Not sure what N&O is looking at considering all three seats are currently with Dems in the lead and one of those is an uncontested seat.

11/6/2012 10:22:35 PM

Yeah, I see that now. Not sure what the hell I read. Sigh of relief.

The three seats that were up for grabs were the three Dem seats, and they will all be retained, so it remains a 4-3 Republican majority.

Good news is McCrory is a big mass transit advocate (led the charge for light rail in Charlotte and has advocated a lot for improved statewide passenger rail), so unless he flip flops to be more in line with the GOP roads and oil are all that matter policy, it could be good news on that front

[Edited on November 6, 2012 at 10:31 PM. Reason : .]

11/6/2012 10:27:10 PM

I can't imagine ever seeing light rail between Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill

11/6/2012 11:32:21 PM

^Me neither, partly because it's a waste of money. High speed buses, on the other hand, might be just perfect.

11/7/2012 12:58:04 AM

http://www.gogoraleigh.com/2012/11/03/brixx-coming-to-cameron-village/

Brixx finally coming to raleigh. This was originally rumored for the corner space (still empty) in Oberlin Court with the side patio.

11/7/2012 12:12:36 PM

For some reason I thought we already had a Brixx around here somewhere.

Because we do: http://brixxpizza.com/locations/raleigh

[Edited on November 7, 2012 at 1:26 PM. Reason : a]

11/7/2012 1:25:22 PM

They call that Raleigh, but that area is Durham

11/7/2012 1:31:08 PM

Nothing special enough about Brixx that we need to have 2 in the area

11/7/2012 1:51:40 PM

^

11/7/2012 1:57:46 PM

^^

11/7/2012 2:53:49 PM

Vulcan, where would this hypothetical light rail in downtown Raleigh be built? Where is there room? It's not an anti-light rail statement, but I can't think of much open space off the top of my head. Even for our university, that lack of open space is why our football stadium is over at the Fairgrounds instead of on campus and why they expanded to Centennial Campus.

There is a rail line that runs alongside Glenwood but I think that's used more for shipping than taking people from Apex to downtown.

[Edited on November 7, 2012 at 3:30 PM. Reason : /]

11/7/2012 3:26:34 PM

^ http://dtraleigh.com/2011/03/light-rail-in-or-over-downtown-raleigh/
Clicking on the second picture gives an expanded view.

I think all of the plans use existing rail corridors, most of which have sufficient space.

11/7/2012 3:31:00 PM

Here is the full plan: http://www.ourtransitfuture.org/index.php/projects/wake/w-maps-reports

11/7/2012 4:50:43 PM

Wolf creek express! LOL

11/7/2012 8:37:09 PM

^^ God I wish I could snap my fingers and make that magically appear today

11/8/2012 8:35:51 AM

Back to the grocery store discussion.

Where I currently live in New Brunswick, NJ, this just opened today: http://newbrunswick.patch.com/articles/the-fresh-grocer-opens-its-doors-to-new-brunswick#photo-12104512

A large and extremely high quality (it's pretty freaking awesome) grocery store open 24/7 right smack in the middle of an urban area (and it's not like New Brunswick is some huge city; it has a population of 55,000 though granted it is three times denser than Raleigh). It's going to be a complete game changer for me.

I would love to know more about how this project came about. The article does say "the task of finding a supermarket for New Brunswick was difficult, as many supermarkets were hesitant to invest in an urban center." Like Raleigh, there are several (off the top of my head I can think of at least 4) nice suburban style grocery stores in the immediate area, so for people who drive, there is no shortage of options.

In downtown Raleigh, you have I believe a little over 5,000 people living in downtown proper (maybe it's higher now), over 15,000 within a mile radius of the city center and over 90,000 within 3 miles. Perhaps more importantly, you have 40,000 people who work downtown every day. There may be enough of a market there. I know Gregg Sandreuter, who is developing the Edison project, wanted a grocery store on the ground floor there and even said he would offer the space rent free, but couldn't find any takers. Perhaps there are some lessons that could be taken away from this project here. Then again, maybe they are such different environments that it's an unfair comparison.

11/9/2012 3:15:58 PM

One of my family members looked at opening one downtown and couldn't figure out how to get the numbers to work. Grocery stores have extremely small margins, you need a lot of volume to make it.

(this was when the vacancy rate was higher, I'm assuming it looks better if some others are considering it now)

[Edited on November 9, 2012 at 3:40 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2012 3:39:04 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/09/2472841/ncdot-advances-plans-for-new-raleigh.html

11/9/2012 8:09:32 PM

I was visiting downtown Raleigh this past weekend for the first time in probably 4 years. Got some tasty brunch at Beasley's. It was hipster central down there. How cute.

11/10/2012 11:36:11 PM

^ OTB

11/11/2012 6:14:42 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/21/2499470/ny-firm-plans-to-renovate-vacant.html#storylink=misearch

Good news for some building renovation downtown.

11/25/2012 12:20:54 PM

Kroger is closing its store on MLK and New Bern, leaving the Food Lion on Raleigh Blvd. as the only grocery store on the east side of downtown. Jesus.

11/25/2012 1:32:10 PM

^^ Interesting I was walking by that building Friday and was wondering what the deal with it was. Good to hear it's going to be renovated.

^ That made me sad to hear. I think a Food Lion or Compare would do better in that New Bern location.

11/25/2012 4:35:25 PM

My kroger is closing

11/25/2012 8:55:01 PM

Quote :

"State, Raleigh close to deal on Dix campus RALEIGH, N.C. — The Dorothea Dix campus will become a 325-acre "destination park" under negotiations between the City of Raleigh and Gov. Bev Perdue's office that could be final as soon as next week. Documents obtained by WRAL News show that Perdue and her staff have been working on a deal for months and that they have discussed both an outright sale to the city as well as an arrangement under which North Carolina State University would own and manage the property. The tentative final version of the deal involves a long-term lease – somewhere from 75-to-99 years – under which the city would develop the property as a regional park. "

Does NCSU had the funds to manage the land?

[Edited on November 27, 2012 at 8:45 AM. Reason : http://www.wral.com/deal-to-turn-dix-campus-into-park-close/11813979/]

11/27/2012 8:45:18 AM

Fantastic news

11/27/2012 9:31:59 AM

That's awesome.

11/27/2012 10:32:37 AM

Good news. Hopefully it can be interconnected somehow to Pullen Park (if it isn't already--haven't been in that area since I moved over 4 yrs ago). With that said, it'd be nice if they could extend Pullen Rd. to Centennial Pkwy somehow.

11/27/2012 10:45:15 AM

Raleigh needs houses, not another frisbee golf course. The land should have been sold to private developers and the money used to reduce taxes. Instead, taxes will have to be raised to pay for this monstrosity.

11/27/2012 1:26:41 PM

hey everybody, it's unpopular opinion guy!

11/27/2012 1:34:16 PM

Opinion? The fate of Dix Hill was a legitimate and fierce debate in the past few years. If the choice is phrased properly...i.e. "More housing and lower taxes or another park less than a mile from the biggest existing park in Raleigh that will only be sparsely frequented by students"...then I think that you'll find that my opinion is in fact in the majority.

You revivalists think you can spend all the money in the world to fix up your dilapidated hipster paradise, but sooner or later the taxpayers will revolt.

[Edited on November 27, 2012 at 2:02 PM. Reason : .]

11/27/2012 2:01:39 PM

did you sign the NC succession petition? North Carolinian bad-ass!

11/27/2012 2:02:58 PM