whatever happened to the "top of the hill" raleigh edition?

11/7/2013 2:36:04 PM

Approval Given to Rezoning for Stanhope Project
http://www.raleighnc.gov/home/news/content/CorNews/Articles/StanhopeProject.html

Quote :

"The Raleigh City Council has approved rezoning 4.28 acres of land on Hillsborough Street to accommodate the Stanhope Center, a student apartment and retail development. The council voted 6-0 on the rezoning during its evening session on Nov. 5. The Stanhope Center will be located on the south side of the 3000 block of Hillsborough Street between Concord Street and Friendly Drive. The development will have a maximum height of five stories and is expected to include apartment units, ground-floor retail space and a parking deck. Rezoning of the site to Neighborhood Mixed Use was approved with the following conditions: Ninety-five (95) percent of off-street parking to be contained in a parking structure wrapped by heated space, with no vehicles on the top level of the deck visible from the ground at rights-of-way. Also, there will be no vehicular entrance from Hillsborough Street; Building side on Hillsborough Street is to extend the entire length of the street right-of-way; A setback an average of 6 feet or more is to be provided above the first floor along Hillsborough Street, varying in width at least 4 feet every 80 feet; average setback of at least 10 feet within 100 feet of Concord Street right-of-way; A transit shelter with a trash container is to be offered on Hillsborough Street; Building materials are restricted on the Hillsborough Street façade and 100 feet back along Concord Street and Friendly Drive; Signage is restricted; Benches are specified and required on Hillsborough Street; Trash receptacles are specified and required on Hillsborough Street; Sidewalk pavers are specified; and, Site trip generation is limited to the equivalent of 660 residential units and 50,000 square feet of retail space. The site of the Stanhope Center development currently is used primarily for parking, with vacant storefront structures located at either corner on Hillsborough Street."

11/7/2013 4:46:54 PM

I don't think they will bury all the power lines on hillsborough through there, just most of them. The plan has always been to consolidate and bury some of them, not bury all of them. I hope they prove me wrong though.

11/7/2013 6:40:50 PM

oh Quail Ridge shopping center...

you just let me know whenever you decide to finish the parking lot and I'll come back then

[Edited on November 8, 2013 at 1:53 PM. Reason : :-!]

11/8/2013 1:52:49 PM

what are the building at the corner there?

11/8/2013 2:42:59 PM

^Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ

11/8/2013 2:52:13 PM

seriously? remind me to stay far away from that intersection on game days

11/8/2013 2:54:30 PM

^^wait, really?

11/8/2013 3:28:10 PM

It's never true. The Smithfield's is a lie.

11/8/2013 3:35:15 PM

Looks like Klara's shut down. Not too surprised.

11/19/2013 5:52:39 PM

Never went in there. It didn't really seem like it fit very well. Someone needs to open up a grill or something where you can get hamburgers/hot dogs/barbecue quickly during lunch.

11/20/2013 8:14:58 AM

Like a Q-Shack or Melvin's Hamburgers?

11/20/2013 9:16:43 AM

I don't know what a Q shack is but nobody wants to go into the damn bowling alley to get Melvin's.

11/20/2013 4:37:43 PM

Q-shack is a quick chain barbecue place that used to be in the Mediterranean place but folded. Melvins had a full storefront but folded. basically, he gave you a couple examples of what you were asking for to show you that they folded.

11/20/2013 4:43:14 PM

i'd forgotten that melvin's moved into the bowling alley

why do restaunts have such a hard time on that strip?

11/20/2013 5:06:03 PM

The thing is though, you don't need all that damn space. A quick grill doesn't even need places to sit, really.

11/20/2013 10:25:07 PM

Isn't that what the little tiny space next to Mitch's staircase used to be? I seem to remember someone saying that was a grill that sold through the window directly onto the sidewalk.

I actually don't remember why Melvins' retreated into the bowling alley. While the burgers were nothing to write home about, they were decent and cheap, and the service was pretty fast. It always seemed crowded in my remembrances.

Q Shack's closing was, if I recall correctly, precipiated by one of the two partners in the business skipping town one night with all their cash and some of the kitchen equipment. That's a hard thing to recover from, especially when rent is high to start with. But it didn't fail solely on the merits, or lack thereof, of the 'cue (which was far from the best around, but acceptable).

11/21/2013 2:41:48 AM

^ http://goodnightraleigh.com/2008/06/forgotten-bar-of-hillsborough-street/

11/21/2013 10:50:28 AM

Yeah, Mitch told me that he refuses to open anything in that location. He uses it as storage.

11/21/2013 11:00:45 AM

I guess I'm surprised that Mitch doesn't think of a more innovative use for that space. A lot of people say the lunch counter model has made a big comeback alongside the interest in food trucks. If it was under Mitch's direction and maybe a more take-and-go fashioned menu, maybe it could work? I dunno if that would distract from his primary business.

11/21/2013 2:03:48 PM

Katmandu and the weird house next to it where Time Out was are both rubble as of today.

12/3/2013 12:04:30 AM

Goodnight, sweet prince

12/3/2013 3:33:13 AM

I have to assume the parent Time-Out is at least marginally better than the Hillsborough one.

12/3/2013 10:22:43 AM

If you're wasted.

12/3/2013 10:40:39 AM

It's actually not bad even sober. Greasy, sure, but that's to be expected for that style of food.

12/3/2013 10:46:29 AM

Time-Out (chapel hill) was on one of those food shows... Man vs. Food I think. (not for a challenge... just one of the local food joints they show.)

[Edited on December 3, 2013 at 11:35 AM. Reason : ]

12/3/2013 11:32:25 AM

Quote :

"weird house next to it where Time Out was"

RIP original Farmhouse and your 50 cent PBR

12/3/2013 11:54:13 AM

Quote :

"Time-Out (chapel hill) was on one of those food shows... Man vs. Food I think. (not for a challenge... just one of the local food joints they show.)"

Well that explains the Man v. Food sandwich board in the picture above.

12/3/2013 12:25:34 PM

I like the food at Time Out. We go over to the Hill sometimes to eat there if we're bored or if we just beat them in something.

the one they just tore down was good too, it just had a terrible location and no one knew what it was.

[Edited on December 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM. Reason : 1]

12/3/2013 2:32:39 PM

Capital Comics building is gone. Flattened in under an hour. PB's tomorrow.

12/4/2013 8:09:37 PM

That'll be the last one in the strip gone, right? (I'm no longer in Raleigh so I haven't seen the progress of this firsthand)
-Yellow House & Look Out!
-Farmhouse & Brewery
-Time Out & Katmandu
-Capital Comics
-PB's

Unless I'm forgetting one that covers everything from the corner of Friendly over to Lulu.com.

12/5/2013 12:21:57 PM

Yeah, that's the last one. I think the third disused space in the CC/PB's block is the same structure as PB's, so it should all come down at once. I could be wrong, in which case that third structure would be the last one to go.

12/5/2013 2:53:26 PM

It's all gone today.

12/5/2013 3:19:37 PM

Someone take some pics if you can!

12/5/2013 4:11:33 PM

REST IN HELL, DINNERPLATE

12/5/2013 4:46:04 PM

RIP a bunch of places I used to go to.

12/5/2013 5:52:31 PM

Kabab & Curry Indian & Nepalese Bistro coming soon to old Klara's/Frazier's space.

12/9/2013 9:11:54 AM

^i just saw that, and look forward to trying it. Hillsborough St is getting all ethnic! (jasmine, david's dumplings, chile bomba mexican, shanghai bistro, golden dragon, now indian and nepalese)

12/10/2013 10:49:30 AM

surprised that chile bomba has lasted this long

12/10/2013 11:05:37 AM

Speaking of...

12/10/2013 11:49:02 AM

surprised that India Mahal has lasted this long

12/10/2013 11:50:32 AM

Quote :

"surprised that chile bomba has lasted this long"

It's the same family that ran El Rodeo though, right? Just a different concept? Seems they probably know the location and the crowd well enough to keep it afloat, considering how long El Rodeo was there.

12/10/2013 12:10:15 PM

Has Groucho's opened up yet??

Nevermind, I see their facebook page says January 2014

[Edited on December 10, 2013 at 2:41 PM. Reason : https://www.facebook.com/GrouchosDeliOfRaleigh]

12/10/2013 2:38:17 PM

^^ It's actually closing. They're going to re-brand it again. Chipotle is crushing.

12/10/2013 2:44:54 PM

Quote :

"Chipotle is crushing"

this is why I was surprised

12/10/2013 2:58:53 PM

I was on Hillsborough St on Sunday and Chipotle was packed...line of people to the door


walked down a little bit to Chile Bomba and the entire restaurant was empty.

Not surprised they are closing.

[Edited on December 10, 2013 at 3:25 PM. Reason : f]

12/10/2013 3:25:28 PM

They're not all that great, so don't feel too bad. Dunno how they're going to rebrand in a way that will help them unless they leave the Tex-Mex behind.

12/10/2013 3:43:01 PM

Chile Bomba is sit-down and Chipotle is quick service, two different things IMO. But for the lunch crowd, which is the killer deal on Hillsborough, maybe it's not that different after all.

12/10/2013 4:36:31 PM

Anything on Hillsborough St that doesn't win the students' business is guaranteed to fail. Chipotle just has more of what students are interested in. Quicker, cheaper, simpler. Hillsborough St's general attitude towards vehicles only compounds that line of thinking. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but the businesses that are going to make it now are different than the ones that would have been making it a few years ago.

12/10/2013 4:41:49 PM

Quote :

"Someone take some pics if you can!"

please

12/10/2013 7:40:13 PM