Well if you have them, you kind of want parking decks to face a giant railroad wye, as opposed to walkable streets and squares.
Maybe because trains are hip with transit forward folk, but I rarely see people complain about the massive waste of urban space and walkability the wye is, considering a few hundred people access DT via train per day whereas thousands access by car daily and need parking to support local businesses and future investment in density/econdev/transit. 
I mean, youâre right. I was mostly reaffirming what Francisco noticed. It really does jump out at you. As an aside, sort of, if you hate cars or at least question their overbearing relationship with everything else in life, you might enjoy a podcast called the war on cars. The episode I just listened to urges people to stop just accepting the car fate of things and think of them as an invasion in your/our walkable, bikeable cities, which is how original cities were designedâŚway before cars existed (though of course, wagons, carts, horses and those similar modes did). Are downtown grids really good for all the cars those decks can hold? Its a lot of pavement for sure, but at what expense? Safety, walkability, general enjoyability. The sheer number of decks from that angle really shines a light on just how much deference there is to cars.
Yeah and I donât think any of us mind the parking structures themselves⌠and understand the need for them. I think we all can agree⌠we just wish they were done better. They were either wrapped with a hotel, apartment, restaurant/retail, office, etc or underground more, or at least have structure on top.
Another one that drives me crazy every time I drive by it⌠is the new one on Glenwood just north of Crabtree Mall⌠its so obtrusive! I can barely see the building itself⌠but the parking deck⌠boom! Right there by the road for all to see that ugly structure.
Unfortunately they are needed. I would never work downtown without decent parking.
Raleigh is one of the least walkable major cities in the nation, and that includes walkability to public transport. The few walkable neighborhoods that we have are priced out of reach of the 95% of the population. Raleigh has dug itself into a big hole in this regards. They need to drastically improve pedestrian infrastructure (which is insanely costly), greatly increase density in the neighborhoods with already established pedestrian infrastructure, and drastically improve public transport. Unfortunately, we have city wide politicians that run based on the motivation that they donât like the changes they saw in Raleigh the past 10-20 years, and end up making things much worse through the impediment of sustainable growth.
The garage behind the Origin Hotel has to eventually get hidden by a building that will face Hargett. At the rate things are moving along, I canât imagine that it will be too long before that happens.
I do hate the wye. Especially the space between the CSX tracks and the NS tracks, directly behind the former Boylan Bridge Brewpub. That is about 5 wasted acres. Empire Properties owns some of it, but I would think that it would be nearly undevelopable, wedged between two active railroads and accessible only by at-grade crossings along Hargett on either side that are planned for eventual closure. The culprit is the NS line to Fuquay and its ridiculous diamond crossing the NCRR. Rip that out and build a sensible connection (as described in the thread) and all the problems are solved.
I would also like to see the parking lot inside the wye developed into an office building. There isnât a lot of space to work with in there but there is some: the parking lot is about 15000 sq ft, which would be pretty typical for office building floor plates in Raleigh. Put a few levels of parking (some underground), go up 20 floors, and youâre all set. Call it Union Station Phase 3.
How bout this super minimal footprint tower in NYC I 
yesterday. I know the solid bedrock under most of manhattan allows for this scale of buildings but even a shorter <40 might work in DTR?
Letâs put in a signature fountain in that space!!! 
It would add to the view from Boylan, and be an interesting use of the space. Plus it would not require the general public to cross the tracks⌠only those ppls servicing/cleaning the fountain. Heck, maybe they could even incorporate that weird concrete tower thing into the fountain design. haha
I think should get air rights over tracks and put maybe 2 level parking deck over the whole thing. Then put buildings over the parking and landscaping over the parking deck, Kind of like a park with building in it. Put the fountain over tracks east of One Glenwood.
If we must have a fountain, it could go in the center of the roundabout drop off area in front of Union Station. I donât think I would be on board with the idea of a fountain bigger than that here.
But the idea of air rights over the tracks here is a good one. A 2 tower complex encompassing the Union Station parking lot on the west, over to the Father & Son block on the east, connected by, realistically, (sigh) a podium of parking spanning the tracks. Hotel tower on the west facing Union Station and sharing its drop off circle; office tower on the east facing West Street. Roughly 15ksf on either side of the tracks.
Be sure to leave enough room to add a second track through there in case it ever is needed.
The structure costs per sf on something like that are insane. Only in Manhattan can a developer get away with building that because of the $ they need to sell/rent the space for.
15k square foot floor plates are not exceptionally small anyway. The BB&T tower on Fayetteville Street has approximately 5ksf15ksf floor plates. So does the Residence Inn at Salisbury & Lenoir.
Are you sure about that 5k square footage number for the BB&T?
Thereâs a big difference in loading between 80 floor small footprint towers in NYC and 30-40 floor ones. The same can be said about comparing a 30-40 to a 10.
Giant fountain in a round about in five points would be awesome!
BTW - one of the best spots for a restaurant in Raleigh would be in the Form and Function building! Unique looking building with fun/pretty views of five points⌠enough space on back east side for a beautiful kitchen⌠AND a roof top bar! I canât go in that place without getting sad its not a restaurant/bar.
Nope! 5k is a typo. It is approximately 15ksf floor plates. Stupid phone keyboard. Fixed it above!
It could be a Massive Fountain!! I love this idea. 4 acres of jets and sprays!!
However, I think you could do a tower here if you built over the tracks, like a number of folks have mentioned. A lot of access came from Boylan or Morgan Sts - a la Hudson Yards in NYC.
Does the church at 5Points welcome evening parking. Itâs always empty, 100 spaces, maybe? That would really be a neighborly thing to offer to businesses.
I donât knowâŚthey are about to tear down historic houses to create more parking. But that would be great if they would allow local businesses to use that for parking (support their community). They would just need to enforce towing outside of shared hours.
Then someone could convert the form and function into one of Raleighâs best restaurants! 
With a mid-century design, floor to ceiling windows that allow for a unique/beautiful view of five points and roof top bar!
There was a good description of the backstory from the developer of 1 Glenwood on Podcast Raleighâs newest episode.
