Charlie Goodnight’s might just be the sacrificial lamb that the NIMBY’s need to rile support to their side in the upcoming elections. The council needs to act on this one with nuance and caution if they intend to continue their work for another 2 years. It’s one thing to approve a rezoning in a pocket location over the objections of a few neighbors, but it’s a completely different thing to lose an institution that has emotional ties to all generations of voting Raleighites.
While the council has been on a tear approving rezoning after rezoning, and essentially setting the foundation for development for many years in Raleigh, that pipeline of rezoned properties will become increasingly more expensive as development opportunities on those properties dry up.
If the developer isn’t requesting a rezoning here (are they?), and if the comedy club isn’t protected (is it?), then this is a tall and challenging mountain to climb for the council.
Hopefully someone can provide some more productive avenues (probably better to direct emails toward someone on council), but the owner’s info is on the application.
BUT googling his name did give me an angry laugh. Outrage over trimmed trees, but little respect for Raleigh history.
I agree with everyone here, council needs to tread carefully with this. Goodnights can always open somewhere else (and if they’re leasing this space, there’s little they can do to avoid being pushed out), but the building itself has a ton of character and the proposed replacement building is the opposite of “character.” If Council members start to advocate for the existing building being reincorporated into the new development in some way, that would probably create a lot of goodwill and maybe hold back some of the (increasingly justified) belief that this Council is just a rubber stamp for speculators.
Have to agree here. If the YIMBY council becomes a greased rail for approving overpromised, underdelivered garbage by vision-less developers and architects, we will all want to stop that quick.
What really kills me here is that there’s such an obvious win-win, where they develop the parking lot behind Charlie goodnight’s and leave the building in place.
Not doing this is a perfect example of what the nimbys love to talk about: a greedy developer reaching for too much.
And since this is a site review project, by Statute, review of this submission must be quasi - judicial. The only lever that Council may have here is to offer concessions like higher density zoning (which would be fine with me) but since it seems like the developer has already paid an architect for plans, that is unfortunately looking unlikely. The only way might be to literally buy them out with cash (which would also make them look really bad!) or to try something crazy like eminent domain on the building (which would be quite a process and maybe not happen quickly enough.)
What about public outrage? At least the property owner is local; maybe he’d be shamed into changing course if he understood how upset people were?
Usually, online protests to save buildings don’t have much effect, but this seems like a place with a lot of memory for a lot of people. Maybe we should start one of those petitions. Could keep it nuanced, too, reinforcing the need for density+increasing housing but not at the expense of character and history, so that it doesn’t come off as a NIMBY petition.
Sorry, but I’m betting that most NIMBY’s have no idea where or what Goodnight’s is. For one thing it’s not in it’s not in their backyard.
I wonder if we could get a bunch of the comics who have performed there over the years to join a cause to “Save Charlie Goodnights”. I know John Reep got his start there while he was a student at NCSU.
We’ve seen lots of great comedians there over the years. It is our go-to date night on the rare weekends we ship the kidos off to their grandparents.
There was a plan for Charlie Goodnights to move downtown in the the bottom of the City Center Parking deck on S. Wilmington St some years ago… I believe that Raleigh was offering incentives for Goodnights to move. Not exactly sure why it never materialized but maybe the same deal could be proferred.
The hardcore NIMBYs are always gonna NIMBY. It’s not them who decide the election, though, it’s the ‘swing voters’ who care less about NIMBY vs YIMBY, who decide the election. This will be an issue the NIMBYs will try to exploit as a wedge; if a big portion of those voters do care about places like Charlie Goodnight’s, it could change the outcome. I suspect this may be the case; the most persuasive argument the YIMBYs probably have is their vision of Raleigh as a dense, bustling, exciting place (rather than a sleepy overgrown Boomerburb). And replacing Goodnight’s with apartments kills some of that excitement - it feels like a step backwards.
Now, the NIMBYs attempted to use arguments about RDU/Umstead Quarry as a wedge last time and were unsuccessful, but there’s no guarantee the political winds won’t shift over this issue. You can bet they’ll try!
I think it will suck if Goodnight’s gets torn down. It is not something I support, so I do not want this to be available as a wedge for the NIMBYs to exploit.
I’d hate to lose Goodnight’s current home. But I won’t deny, they could do really well if they got a location Glenwood South. The foot traffic could really benefit them.
Smoky Hollow Phase 2 would be a good landing spot IMO.
@John big no from me. Goodnights in any other building is simply not “Goodnights” - the building and its interior layout is as much Goodnights as the name itself.
Clearly I don’t want it moved. I’ve been going there since the mid 80s. I am only saying SH2 in the event that it has to move.
I’d be interested in the revamped Creamery building also, since it is historic as well and in a better location. I doubt the timing would work though. In complete agreement that losing Goodnight’s or even just its current building is a huge loss for Raleigh and a powerful tool for NIMBYs to sway public opinion.
“Sandreuter confirmed that the development will mean the demolition and replacement of the decades-old building at 861 W. Morgan St., home to Goodnights Comedy Club, which continues to operate. He said HM Partners and Goodnights were able to reach an agreement, and that Goodnights will continue at another location.”
“decades-old” is certainly one way to describe a 92 year old building in perfectly acceptable condition.
Oh I understand. I’m just saying it just wouldn’t be a fair trade off at all. It must remain intact.
FUCK THIS (20 characters 
)
Is this the same Sandreuter that can’t deliver on 400H? But sure, go ahead and bulldoze a Raleigh icon.