Although avidly following the recruitment of Apple and Amazon I agree with Leo that most of this is speculations fueled by the local media. The spring hill site is well located and connected but I feel just a tick too far from downtown to create that urban environment Amazon is seeking.
I d love for both to come to Raleigh/Triangle initiate massive growth and force us to adapt as a consequence 
That would be a huge benefit to both the park and Amazon. A central park like the one the city wants should be surrounded by lots of activity. Either way, the group working on the park master plan has a pretty good track record. Since it won’t be completed for another year, there’s time to make sure a decision by Amazon is incorporated.
This is the time to be careful what we wish for. The jobs that Amazon would bring are enticing to be sure. But Amazon would generate so much growth in an incredibly short period of time. I, for one, would not be terribly disappointed if they did not choose Raleigh.
I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if they didn’t choose Raleigh, but I’m fine with the growing pains. I was disappointed with all the RTP talk, excited by the DTR talk, and annoyed about the centennial campus talk. I want new buildings downtown, not more stuff on the outskirts. It’s all hype tho. I’d be shocked if they actually come here. And another tech company with a thousand or so jobs in RTP isn’t anything to me either, which is all Apple is.
Forbes jumping in with an article about Raleigh and A&A. Retreading the ATTOM stuff, but still interesting that it’s not just the local media talking about us.
Hmmm. Now the recent reimagining and redesigning charrettes for Mission Valley, Central Prison and Governor Morehead School make a lot more sense. While transit is indeed poor down that way, the road situation could be improved quite a bit by connecting Maywood to Centennial and also punching it through to Gorman at Marcom…NC State did buy those apartments on Champion Ct and has been talking about totally redoing Fraternity Ct for two decades. With careful thought, you could get a decent urban environment connected with its surroundings.
Fun thought experiment that I swear is related to this…
NC State’s mechanical/aerospace engineering program has a lab working on something called the “ecoPRT”, which is an autonomous carriage-shuttle-thing that can both run on regular roads/sidewalks, cheaply-built dedicated guideways, and probably be ordered like an Uber or Lyft. It seems like the lab it’s from is still working on the software and test runs, but they’ve gotten funding and support from the Research Triangle Foundation and the state legislature -and they want to eventually use it in and around State’s campuses.
State is sort of-vaguely-kinda looking at adding new mass transit infrastructure on campus, and it looks like ecoPRT is the most serious option they’ve looked at. I’m a grad student here and I’ve been frustrated enough by how long it takes to go on a GoTriangle bus from Centennial Campus that I tried to find this, so this is how I found out about this thing in the first place.
Assuming they can get it working soon enough (they’re supposed to start field tests around the engineering campus by now but I haven’t seen any signs of it -and they’ve been awful about keeping their website and Twitter up to date), what if ecoPRTs could be used to connect State, Amazon (if they come to Spring Hills), Dix Park, Western Blvd., and even the rest of downtown?
Hopefully not straying too far off topic, but saw a prototype of the ecoPRT being hauled around the other day.
… and being pulled by a Prius no less! LOL.
If anyone is interested in learning more on EcoPRT you can peruse this site.
Any word on Amazon’s decisions…If Amazon picks Raleigh, it will change the face of Downtown for the Better. And make Charlotte look silly by comparison. Such Potential for downtown…warehouse…glenwood south…capital…boylan heights…and all of Downtown. City buses like GoRaleigh/GoTriangle would have to Beef up their Routes to accommodate Amazon. Keep in mind that this is for the Good of Raleigh, so there is no need to freak out. “We” as a community have to embrace this change and welcome it with open arms.
I feel like we are at a stand still right now. Until we actually hear from Amazon themselves I’m not going to get my hopes up; although, I really hope raleigh gets it.
I’d love to see some kind of twin towers at the two Fayetteville St. parking lots. Maybe a Petronas Towers pedestrian bridge between them that frames the view of DECPA from the Capitol. I dunno, fun to think about!
I hate to pivot the conversation away from dreaming about what kind of development opportunities Amazon/Apple could bring…
…but this happened.
An advocacy group wants Apple and Amazon to drop the Raleigh-Durham area from consideration for new campuses if the state legislature continues with its move to write a voter ID requirement into the state constitution. House Republicans filed a bill Thursday that would ask voters in November if a voter ID requirement should be added to the state constitution.
…speaking of which, Republican assemblymen are proposing a state-constitutional amendment to require IDs during elections (even though it was barred by federal courts because it disproportionately makes voting by black people harder "with almost surgical precision”).
This looks like HB2 and how Amazon sounded wary about choosing the Triangle for HQ2 because of a lack of LGBT+ protections… what do y’all think? Could this endanger our chances, too, if this amendment passes the Assembly and state referendum?
I don’t know if it will hurt our chances or not. I feel like by this point both companies have an idea what they’re going to do. While I’m strongly opposed to HB2 and this voter ID myself, I hate this “boycott everything because there’s a law some people disagree with.” It’s easy to walk away from everything bad; it’s a lot harder, but ultimately better, to jump in and try to change things. It’s not like the majority of Triangle residents and future Amazon or Apple workers are the ones pushing these laws. Big companies and the new residents can help put our state back on the right course.
