News
Smedes York on WUNC’s The State of Things
Regardless of your opinion of Smedes York and his company York Properties- both have huge influence and power in this town. A former Raleigh Mayor, Smedes and his family have a long history in the area and York properties has control of huge portions of the city. Today WUNC’s Frank Stasio interviewed Smedes about his family business, development, growth, drought, transit in the greater Raleigh area. Listen to his personal take on the future of growth in the Triangle. Smedes York on the State of Things and the MP3 here
Hue Adds to Condo Alley
How did the newest condo building in downtown Raleigh get it’s name? “‘Hue’ was easier to type into a cell phone, said Jenny Martin, King’s business development director. “How hard is it to text ‘The Dawson on Morgan’?” she asked. “BFF. Hue. You do the math.” (FYI: Its initial name was The Nash, which would share the name with the public square that is located across from the construction site and itself only has 4 letters, but it seems not “hip” enough). Nevertheless, from this statement, an assumption can be made that Hue, the latest addition to Condo Alley, is attempting to cater to a younger crowd. The warehouse district seems to be slowly devoured by this type of development. Hue will add color to the area, but will it add character? What will its cornice twin neighbors think? And what about this marketing video that has made its way to Myspace and YouTube? More on Hue Below the Fold
Planning Raleigh 2030 Kick-off Event
Planning Raleigh 2030 Event Information From the City’s Website There will be short presentations made and background information available. This is a chance to meet and talk with the City Council, the Raleigh City Planning Commissioners , City Planning Staff, the project consultants, and the members of other City boards and commissions. Public input workshops will be held in three sets of three meetings each, for a total of nine public meetings. This first set of workshops, which will focus on the overall vision for the City’s future, will be held on November 13, 14 and 15. Each of these first three meetings will have the same format, function, and background information provided. Eventually public workshops will be held in all parts of the city.
Raleigh City Council Approves Oberlin/Pullen Roundabout
Hillsborough Street sucks. That’s why the Raleigh City Council voted to approve the first step in rejuvenating Hillsborough Street: designs for two roundabouts that would work to fluidly connect Oberlin Road with Pullen Drive. Why this is a significant planning move…
Rejected: Hillsborough and Morgan Roundabout Plans
Not surprisingly Mayor Meeker and the Raleigh City Council rejected the Hillsborough and Morgan Street roundabout design. The engineers decided to once again pitch the same flawed scheme even after receiving strong opposition during the first public hearing. More…
Follow Up: Zoning Hearing
How many egoists does it take to prove they are unconcerned with the destruction of Raleigh’s aesthetic and environmental integrity? Just one… but three can really screw it in. Rallied by undeserved applause, unifying t-shirts and the very audible comment of “she’s a socialist,” the re-zoning opposition group banded together to show their true colors—a zoning opposition based solely on the individual property owners’ right to as large a fiscal return on their property as possible. This large fiscal return would come from selling or renting of a property (hopefully NOT zoned R-4 in their opinion) as multi-unit dwellings or to have another behemoth mansion playing king-of-the-hill. More below the fold…
Public Realm and Walkable Cities Lecture
Need answers to these questions? What does it mean to be pedestrian friendly? Why is pedestrian friendly important? What characterizes a pedestrian-friendly city? How do we create a pedestrian-friendly city? What is the connection between design, development, and sustainability? This week you may get them! As part of the Raleigh Department of City Planning’s Designing a 21st Century City Lecture Series, Adrienne Schmitz, Director, Residential Community Development, Urban Land Institute , and author of various books including Creating Walkable Places with Walter Kulash, P.E., Principal and Senior Traffic Engineer for Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, of Orlando, Fla. will speak about The Public Realm and How to Create Pedestrian-Friendly Cities this Thursday September 20, 2007 at Kennedy Theatre in The Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. More Lecture Info Below the Fold
Lulu.com Relocating Headquarters to “Yellow Bulldozer” Building on Hillsborough Street
I received a tip this morning that Lulu.com may be relocating their headquarters to the “Yellow Bulldozer” site. Earlier this year the company’s founder, Bob Young, purchased the site. While Young’s original plans have continued to evolve, it looks at this point that he is considering moving the headquarters there, a scenario that was originally ruled out. If things go as planned the site would be redeveloped to meet Lulu.com’s needs and become the new North American headquarters for the company. That part of Hillsborough Street is very much a college area. Up until recently Google kept a Satellite office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. This kind of strategic locating of offices allows company’s to build brand awareness and encourage local recruiting. It is assured that Lulu and NCSU graduates would benefit from this location. With Lulu acting as one of the few public facing, Web 2.0 style companies here in the Triangle, Raleigh’s downtown would benefit immensely from its presence. The number of startups in the area is only rivaled by silicon valley. Increasing the profile of the Web startups locally can only help enhance our image and encourage more of the “creative class” to move here rather than away.
Fallon Park, Five Points Rezoning Public Hearing
As the teardown issue continues to steamroll across the public eye via blogs, articles and community groups a critical juncture is forthcoming. The public hearing for the possible rezoning of the Fallon Park and Five Points area is tomorrow, the 18th at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber of the Avery Upchurch Municipal Building. More below the fold.
Follow Up: Raleigh Condo Market
From Housing Bust, Credit Crunch Hurt Jobs by Jeannine Aversa, AP [Monday September 10, 2007]“The first significant crack in the economy’s foundation appeared when a government report last week showed employers cut jobs for the first time in four years. But what’s going to happen next?... Q: What happened with housing? A: After a heady five-year boom, the housing market went bust more than a year ago. Sales cooled and so did home prices. The housing slump—the worst in roughly 16 years—has been the biggest weight on the national economy.” Since mid-2005, there has been much speculation of a nationwide real estate bubble, particularly in the residential housing market. Of course, each part of the country, and each city for that matter, has its own unique set of demographics, growth patterns and economic circumstances which factor differently into various financial ratios and economic indicators that help economists forecast numbers and trends in housing markets. For instance, median home sale prices in Raleigh rose a whopping 8.3% in the second quarter of this year, earning Raleigh the status of one of the Best US Housing Markets. More forecast and analysis below the fold.
Lecture on Creating a Pedestrian Friendly City
The next installment of the city’s Planning Department’s Designing a 21st Century City lecture series will take place next Wednesday, September 20st. Details on agenda and speakers are below the fold.
Insider Opinion: Raleigh Condo Market
Wake County is one of the ten fastest growing counties in the nation, according to CNN Money, but can the recent supply boom of condos in downtown Raleigh be sustained? Many of the condo projects in Raleigh still have several units left as buyers cannot differentiate the product. Granite counters? Check. Maple cabinetry? Check. Rooftop pool? Check. Let’s face it, people are not jumping at each others throats to live in Downtown Raleigh. But why would anyone chose to live somewhere else? More below the fold…
North Hills East & Kane: We Need Welfare
In grade school all of the developer’s kids were the ones with that extra sense of privilege- it seems so obvious now that they got it from their parents. Raleigh is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation; as it grows, you have to wonder how the developers who profit most from this growth, acquired their sense of privilege. It seems they are justified in this because much of the city and county commissioners agree developers should get what they want at the expense of citizen’s dollars. You may have been following our discussion of John Kane’s plan to get every tax paying citizen in Raleigh to pay for his parking decks. After all, it is the citizens that will be blessed with his forth coming onslaught of Starbucks (the existing North-Hills-mush includes 3) and pseudo urban pastiche. More Below the Fold
Meeker: No Public Funding for North Hills
Mayor Charles Meeker denied developer John Kane on thursday by sending a memo to city council opposing potential plans to provide the developer with $75 million in public financing for a planned project.
Over the Top / Inside the Beltline
The mysterious Over the Top / Inside the Beltline blog has been such a wonderful resource for tracking the irresponsible construction occurring inside of old Raleigh. The two authors seem to be writing under pseudonyms, Fallonia Parker and Irena Dorton, inspired by local landmarks. Regardless of their identity- they are pointing toward both thoughtful and ignorant commentary on the subject of McMansion-biggie-sized development that is occurring at certain Raleigh addresses. Recently they cited the share.triangle.com triangle ongoing ‘discussion’. Read the post below the fold
‘Retail Pavilions’ Approved for City Plaza
The pulse of downtown has quickened and one can predict the positives of yesterday’s council approval of the design phase for four glass retail pavilions. These spaces are somewhat reminiscent of the NYC Apple cube as they rise from the ground within an open square. We look forward to seeing more as the plans develop. The Simpson Organization is responsible for the space- owning the proximal Bank of America building. Click the image above to see the whole scene. There is a 5 million dollar gap in the money the city council has approved (16 million) and the budget (21 million) for this project. The council has asked Russell Allen, City Manager, to find a way to meet that budgetary gap. One of the recommended solutions is cutting the extent of this plan, the first thing we would see removed would be the lighting, concert facilities, and water/fountain features. Don’t let this happen, contact your council member and let them know you need the project fully financed. If this project gets partially funded it seems the first thing the city will loose are the portions that the public will enjoy most. More Below the Fold
Community SCALE Submits Proposal for Neighborhood Rezoning
Community SCALE, a neighborhood development advocacy group, has submitted a proposal to City Council for a “downzoning” of 140 properties in the Fallon Park, Anderson Heights and Bloomsbury neighborhoods from R-6 to R-4 zones. The proposal suggests these lots be rezoned as R-4 residential which means a maximum of four units per acre and would additionally require new houses to sit 5 feet farther from their neighbors and 10 feet farther from the road than the current zoning mandates. R-4 zones may include units such as single-family dwellings, churches, shelter units, home occupations, public schools and libraries but do not include units such as multi-family dwellings, condominiums and group housing; which are allowed under R-6 zoning. More on rezoning proposal…
Decentralizing Raleigh: Why Cameron Village Is Not a Village… Yet
Cameron Village was the first outdoor shopping mall built between DC and Atlanta. One of the original decentralizing developments in Raleigh, it offered an alternative to shopping downtown. Though envisioned as containing single family housing, apartments, retail and restaurants, the development fundamentally ignores traditional growth patterns and follows the engineered formulas of urban sprawl, separating uses by zone. In other words, it’s not a village. But why then, does the name suggest that it is a municipality, or even suggest that it functions as one? What does that tell about its motives? More on Decentralizing Raleigh: Cameron Village…
L Building: Update
From Triangle Business Journal: “RALEIGH - Empire Properties’ Greg Hatem intends to bring a taste of his hometown of Roanoke Rapids to downtown Raleigh as he adds to his collection of center city eateries. Hatem, who has an ownership stake in four downtown restaurants, plans to open two more in the $60 million L Building he’s developing in partnership with Concord Eastridge of Arlington, Va.” Highlights from the full article.
Preservation Homes: Built to Burn?
This morning one of the McMansions under construction in Sunset Hills caught fire around 4 AM. The house at 1419 Nottingham Rd, was still under construction by Preservation Homes, but looks to be burnt beyond repair. The neighboring house, also under construction, shows signs of significant fire damage. This area has been ground zero for tear downs recently, spearheaded by Preservation homes and other developers. The signs point toward arson, as the house had other signs of vandalism; the portable toilets the construction workers use had been overturned and burning embers were found in neighboring yards. The construction has been moving at a rapid pace as small duplexes and single family homes been replaced by 6 and 7 thousand square foot houses that do not have yards and frequently use the park they border as overflow parking. These houses have highlighted the irresponsible approach that developers have taken in the neighborhood as they clear the lots of any trees and build the house within inches of the edges of their lots. Many of the homes in the area shade the previously sunny gardens and yards of their neighbors and remove any feeling of privacy as they loom well above what would be perceived as an appropriate size.
