RDU WTF Reimagines The Soleil Center

JT
12/11 11:34 AM

The world’s most expensive cell tower…hilarious.

corey3rd
12/11 02:44 PM

shouldn’t that be a white flag?

NRcynic
12/14 01:19 PM

The ultimate issue with the Soleil Center is that planning wasn’t very thorough.  Crabtree Valley is a floodplain.  The construction of such a tremendous facility with residences and underground parking isn’t exactly feasible.  Issues of flooding in developments prior to Fran were generally ignored, but there tends to be a closer look at these issues now.  How are the panicking residents going to be evacuated from a building with it’s bottom floor nearly submerged?  The same city that approves this development would surely be responsible for the care of it’s residents also.  Perhaps the ground could be raised in order to provide safety for Soleil but compromise other communities previously built in the same floodplain.  Who designed this place?  Maybe the developers are part of the group of people that warranted news coverage of Crabtree Creek flooding last year as it clearly was some sort of surprise.  People forgot that the floods were once a nearly annual event also affecting a number of other Raleigh areas.  By the way, I would love to offer you a discount on a reasonably new home within feet of Walnut Creek.

Jones
12/14 11:34 PM

Flood plains aren’t why Soleil is having problems. Its because nobody with the money to buy a 1.5 million dollar condo wants a view of the roof of crabtree valley mall (in a nutshell). The locations sucks in so many ways, it makes me wonder how Soleil Group had the smarts to make any money prior to taking a stab at this project.

NRcynic
12/15 01:07 PM

Million dollar condos certainly do not seem to be a reasonable investment beside the mall to me either, but infighting over the floodplain issues are what originally stalled the project in 2005. It’s only been a matter of a few months that the lack of commercial viability has been considered by the investors.

MMI
12/15 03:59 PM

As tall as that thing was going to be, I don’t think that the view would be as big an issue as we think.  Sure, the mall would be down there (Hey, nice flat roof!), but one’s eye would probably naturally look farther out than that (given the height).

Of course, it still sounds like a boondoggle, since the principal issue of finding people to pay a minimum of $850k for a Crabtree location (plus the flooding issue) is still there.  Personally, if I am paying that much money for a home, I am damned sure going to want to own the land underneath it, too.

Ron Salem
02/20 12:36 PM

I think the Soleil Center would have been and still may be a beautiful, well thoughtout, center. The condos were overpriced and that portion of the plan slowed down the process from the beginning; then the economy tanked and countinues to do so. I truly think we have all been effected by this. As far as the location goes, I think it is a fantastic location, especially in light of the center that is planned for the large track of land up behind Crabtree. Critics can say what they want about Crabtree but it is a fantastic mall that has been continuously kept up to date since it beginning in the 70’s. And which mall do the majority flock to in the entire area…Crabtree. It has the closest proximity to town of any enclosed mall and is the most convenient.  Look at the mall area from Glenwood Ave;  I think the architects and planners should be commended for their design in recent years in. The colors, warmth and design that the area conveys is truly remarkable.  The same design is planned for the area behind Crabtree. When I look at the big picture it is an area that I would be proud to see happen. Other mall areas near town that have had recent success seem bland with lack of color, and over congested which will prove to be a bottle neck with traffic trying to get on and off of the beltline (440) with a single lane ramp in both directions. Crabtree will prove to flow betterwith with direct access to 40 up Edwards Mill Rd towards the RBC Arena area, access east and west on Glenwood avenue with more that just one intersection to enter that area, and direct access north on either Leadmine Rd or Creedmoor Road. I was in favor of the Soleil Center and still am!

arthurb3
02/20 03:41 PM

Crabtree Valley Avenue is supose to be extended North from Edwards Mill Road to connect with Glenwood at Morehead Drive. That would help with the traffic and the Glenwood/Creedmore intersection.