Quote :

"The only things that will survive as leased spaces are going to be the cheap, high volume stuff.""

This is why I really wish they'd open a Sammy's type of sports bar in the old H-Street / La Stella space. Cheap-ish entrees & appetizers, lots of TV's, beer specials / towers / pitchers / buckets. Nothing can stay open there, or in the Porters/McDaids/Bocci spots due to the high rent and the type of concepts that they keep trying to open there. The only places that seem to do a decent lunch & late night crowd on that street are EV and PR.

[Edited on December 12, 2018 at 11:02 AM. Reason : tbdv]

12/12/2018 11:02:13 AM

.


[Edited on December 12, 2018 at 11:13 AM. Reason : .]

12/12/2018 11:12:37 AM

It should be put back like it was in 2002. It is shit now.

12/12/2018 2:33:30 PM

Glad to hear we're getting a Guasaca. Have y'all tried the place where Waba used to be - it's called Pisco Mar - it's like a Peruvian/South American fusion (with ramen) and it's actually really good. Groupons are nearly 50% off for it and it's a steal considering how much food you get.

Quote :

"I really wish they'd open a Sammy's type of sports bar in the old H-Street / La Stella space."

Could not agree more. We used to tell the managers at H-Street / La Stella that they needed to just go full-on sports bar. Something corporate that could handle the initial losses would probably work really well here, like a Buffalo Wild Wings.

Quote :

"The only places that seem to do a decent lunch & late night crowd on that street are EV and PR."

This is true because they own the buildings they're in and they keep things super cheap (EV) or have a really wide range of stuff (PR).

12/12/2018 2:36:38 PM

EV will be gone in about half a year, so there’s opportunity to swoop in.

12/13/2018 8:08:46 AM

^really? link?

12/13/2018 8:51:34 AM

^^what's the deal on EV? Aren't they doing one of those mixed use buildings where it's like 12 apartments and then retail on the bottom?

The part I'm confused about is I heard that EV reserved the rights to keep the bar/restaurant on the first floor of said mixed-use building. Is that true / are they actually going to do that?

12/13/2018 12:40:42 PM

^^nm, I should read the previous page more often

12/13/2018 2:15:46 PM

haha, same. I knew I read that somehwere

Quote :

"Update: According to some crowdsourced journalism, East Village has stated that a developer is looking at the property but it is not under contract yet. If the project is approved and moves forward, East Village will have the right of first refusal to put the restaurant in the bottom floor of the apartment building."

12/13/2018 2:27:18 PM

Word is they are adding a new lane for Lime and Bird E-Scooters with viaducts over each traffic circle.

12/20/2018 3:36:55 PM

I just thought this was a neat pic:

1/7/2019 1:39:23 PM

Renderings of "The Standard" aka old NC Equipment Co./Lulu building.

I wish they'd push the design a little more hard-industrial and put the tractor on top of the NE entrance tower (probably some ordinance that prevents that?), but so it goes...





https://mcadamsco.com/project/the-standard-at-raleigh

[Edited on January 23, 2019 at 3:37 PM. Reason : god it's been forever since i posted some crazy code]

1/23/2019 3:36:18 PM

Souless

1/23/2019 4:23:06 PM

I mean at least it's not new city design?

1/23/2019 4:52:48 PM

All of the businesses between Cup a Joe and East Village have moved out. Can’t be a good sign.

1/24/2019 9:05:42 PM

I'm ok with that.

1/24/2019 9:15:32 PM

Quote :

""

lololol

Why even keep the tractor sign at all? It is just a cookie cutter design with a random tractor...looks dumb.

[Edited on January 24, 2019 at 9:59 PM. Reason : bleh]

1/24/2019 9:58:18 PM

That Sushi Mon place that's over by the Zaxby's now is pretty good, only problem is it's like $4/hr to park in the deck over CVS.

1/25/2019 9:34:59 AM

east village is closing after the superbowl

1/25/2019 10:02:04 AM

But are they going to reopen in a new building? They own the property.

1/25/2019 4:03:47 PM

Huh? They sold the property, it's being developed now.

Yeah as far as I've heard they are exercising option to leave space when building opens in 2020

1/25/2019 7:28:28 PM

All this makes me happy that I went to State when it still looked like a college town street

1/26/2019 9:51:50 AM

[Edited on January 27, 2019 at 8:50 PM. Reason : hmm]

1/27/2019 8:49:14 PM

Gotta go to the OG spot before and after game today!!! Maybe even super bowl...

1/29/2019 1:13:43 AM

the crane is coming down soon, probably early march (possibly weekend of march 8)

2/13/2019 2:43:10 PM

TEAR IT DOWN NOW

2/13/2019 2:49:26 PM

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article226202105.html

story about the crane here.

said it will be at least a year to review any new plans for construction, then the construction will begin, etc. so that shell of a building will be there for years to come, unfortunately.

2/14/2019 2:56:39 PM

they should stack a bunch of potted plants all over it

paint a mural (it's already graffiti'd to death)

anything really

[Edited on February 18, 2019 at 8:27 AM. Reason : .]

2/18/2019 8:26:52 AM

rip Smashed Waffles

6/14/2019 4:12:24 PM

yeah I didn't see that place working out when it was announced. I tried it a few times but it just wasn't that good - the waffles were hard and usually they just had them in the case rather than making them to order.

So what's vacant right now?

The froyo/bubble team place on the corner of Pogue (I think?)
McDaids/Bocci
H-Stret/La Stella
Freshii
Smash Waffle

They need to put in a Five Guys - that would absolutely kill it. I'd also love to see a BWW or something where La Stella / H-Street was. Seems like the corporate restaurants can absorb the summer drought better and still keep prices low enough for students, who also seem to go for the name recognition of national brands.

6/17/2019 10:18:34 AM

yeah, i really don't see hillsborough street being a place for independent restaurants for quite some time. there just isn't enough of a food traffic culture on that street to support independent shops through summer time. Bars are a different story, but even some of those have suffered- Pi/Mandjri, 5'clock bar, etc. That street needs a full end to end plan, outlining what sort of clientele mix it wants, what type of businesses are they going to put there to support attracting that clientele, what big businesses will anchor the street for summer droughts and foot traffic, and even what the buildings should look like to be incorporated, etc.

Right now changes on Hillsborough Street are because the city and some entrepreneurs are willing to take a gamble and see what works out. While it's fair to point out that Franklin Street does better because there are fewer options throughout Chapel Hill, so demand clusters there, we also need to be honest that Hillsborough looks like trash and has for ages. That street isn't going to be something to talk about without some systematically and strategically planned changes.

I mean fuck, I avoid that street when going from Neomonde to downtown not because of the extra minute or two it takes but because it's a complete disappointment.

6/17/2019 11:28:08 AM

yeah it sucks how inconsistent the architecture, development, etc. have been. they need to subsidize a makeover of the storefronts, but it's a waste because they know everything privately held is going to be sold out to investment groups trying to do the mixed-use stuff, which could be fine, again, if it's uniform in style.

there is no nightlife on Hillsborough anymore - pretty much all of the students go to Glenwood South now (Lucky Bs, and the Cornerstone amalgamation). Mitch's is dead by 8pm. PR hangs on but isn't what it used to be. Other than that, there's just a bunch of hookah bars that seem to be fronts for something because they're always empty.

6/17/2019 3:05:12 PM

lol I think PR is better than it's ever been

but that's cause I'M OLD AND EVERYONE IN THERE IS EVEN OLDER

6/17/2019 3:55:03 PM

Agree Marko

6/18/2019 12:22:07 AM

^3 the strangely high number of hookah bars is one of the things that I really dislike. Hillsborough Street and Capital Blvd have been the two biggest eye sores to me. At least Capital seems like it's on the way for a decent makeover.

I remember when this thread started, which was apparently 2006, and I sat back and got excited about how cool Hillsborough Street would be and my only frustration is that the plan would probably take 10 years and I may not be in the area to see it and take advantage of it. Fast forward to 13 years later, I'm still here but the street isn't any better. I'd even go as far to say that it is worse. The peak was maybe 2008, with redone lighting and bus stops, creative shops such as locopops, the new Lulu building, and restaurants that were trying to cater upward. Most of all, there was the sense that the street was turning the corner. Since then, I feel like we've regressed because the new development is poorly done. The series of multi units right before Morgan Street are hideous. The units near Dixie are either poorly done, way off scale, or both. Plus the buildings across the street begin to look even more unappealing by comparison. Worst of all, there is no longer hope we're turning the corner.

I don't know who our architectural review board is but they really need to step it up.

6/18/2019 11:12:28 AM

I think the road itself is much improved. Storefronts keep repainting and somehow keep looking more and more like trash. Electric Company Mall looks like utter shit. Practically all of the storefront signs from Wells Fargo to Jimmy John's look like they were designed in Microsoft Word with random, tacked on additional flourishes that never seem to actually take into account the architectural spaces. Eclectic would be wonderful, but all this just looks like random shit stapled to other random shit.

At least Target got rid of the monstrosity that were those atrocious columns that they arbitrarily cut into the facade of The Alley.

6/18/2019 11:53:13 AM

I completely agree. It's amazing how electric co. mall looks substantially worse than it did ages ago.

Here is what it looked like, back when ManMur was there.




I'd say the way it looks now is even a step backward from how it looked in the early 2000s.




[Edited on June 18, 2019 at 12:21 PM. Reason : comparison]

6/18/2019 12:14:40 PM

The corporate and often out of town money building crap on Hillsborough is the same crowd building crap downtown and then selling once it’s fully leased. The one plus is that a lot of it is stickbuilt on the cheap so a good deal of it will be ready to be torn down in 20 years. Surely we can keep this thread alive until then.

The Taco Bell/Smashwaffle building is for sale if anybody wants it:
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/2304-Hillsborough-St-Raleigh-NC/16173677/

The other downside I’m seeing is that the increased density on Hillsborough is drawing student renters away from the older multifamily on Western/Avent Ferry and that whole area is getting slummier as landlords get less picky.

I miss Katmandu.

6/18/2019 9:32:20 PM

Yeah, it's hard to believe it somehow out-crapped itself since the early 00s.

One note tho. Part of that original Man Mur building burned down and got rebuilt in the 1960s.

http://goodnightraleigh.com/2010/01/hillsboro-streets-manmur-bowling-center-the-geographic-center-of-north-carolina/

6/19/2019 10:43:44 AM

bowling center from original to western is amazing. how it went from a nice looking front to that shitastic concrete paneling is beyond me.

6/20/2019 7:05:42 AM

Kebab & Curry is taking over the Porter’s/McDaid’s/Bocce space.

Anyone eaten there?

7/18/2019 3:36:01 PM

I've eaten there a couple times a while ago, I thought it was pretty good Indian food, and I remember the service being friendly.

7/18/2019 3:58:32 PM

Moge Tee is replacing Smash Waffle. At some point I need to find out what bubble tea is.

9/27/2019 5:46:06 PM

Quote :

"older multifamily on Western/Avent Ferry and that whole area is getting slummier as landlords get less picky. "

I moved away a while ago, but this was a gripe I had in that area. Its like they(renters) wanted to cater to “poor college kids”, but instead catered to poor people.

9/27/2019 6:45:26 PM

How did this turn out?

10/7/2021 1:39:18 PM