Fortunately, the legislature (& mainly Gov. Cooper) shut down that redneck legislator from Sampson County who tried to move DHHS to Granville County…we can probably thanks COVID as well for this…
With everything going on, I didn’t realize they had dropped the idiotic idea of moving DHHS to Granville County. That’s great.
The location on Blue Ridge Road seems like a good place for the new facility. There are some big projects happening around there (Bandwidth, UNC Rex Expansion, NC Ag building). Too bad it is mostly still so suburban in character. The bike/pedestrian improvements will be a nice step.
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Glad they nixed that bonehead idea.
I honestly think this is a huge waste of prime real estate. More government facilities that shut down at 5 and bring no life to the Blue Ridge Corridor. This area is the first thing people see when they come into Raleigh from the west and it’s a ghost town of wasted space from Rex Hospital to well beyond Western Blvd. The NCMA is an incredible property that attracts hundreds of thousands visitors a year. If the city were smart they would piggy back off it’s success and put more similar experiences in the area. Selling that land to private development would be the best use for the BRC, not more government buildings that look like crap after a few years. The city wasted millions of dollars studying this area and now they’re going against everything the studies suggested. SMH!
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There’s room for both government office space and mixed-use buildings.
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Ding! Ding! Ding! No more calls ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner! 
Never a fan of the Halifax complex in downtown. It’s everything wrong with mid-century architecture. I hope one day that entire property is tastefully redesigned and the majority of gov jobs are concentrated there. Maybe then a real mass transit solution would be a no brainer instead of people complaining about every street having traffic. Gov jobs are to us what banker jobs are to Charlotte.
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I hear what you are saying, and a big mixed use project that could interact with NCMA would be cool. There is some precedent for the state selling some of that land. The state is selling Bandwidth the land for their new HQ, and i think the Wade development used to be state owned land a well.
Some land on BRC is privately owned and undeveloped, like the corner of blue ridge and Harden immediately north of NCMA.
I personally still think the area immediately surrounding PNC and Carter Finley is the most attractive for denser development.
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I think that this land has the potential to be something like Downtown South, but its context isn’t ever going to make the corridor holistically urban. It can be a self contained experience that’s better (like Midtown) but the nature of Blue Ridge road would have to fundamentally change (in the way that Hillsborough St. did at NC State) in order for there to be any hope of a different overall experience.
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It doesn’t have to be though that’s the thing, Raleigh can set itself apart there is no reason at all that this can’t be a live,work play project hell even throw in some work place housing it’s not like those employee’s make alot $$$ but at the same time they have stable employment decent benefits, they could be a boone to that area a new strong middle class lead by a stable Government job base in short it doesn’t have to be a normal 9am to 5pm job or area it’s what we and State and local leaders make it.
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This would actually be pretty awesome if state government sent out an RFP for a private developer to design and build their office complex with a certain percentage of housing and retail included. Seems that any security needed for government services could be addressed in the elevator, by putting certain government areas on restricted floors.
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Another step to moving the NC DHHS to Blue Ridge Road. The state is expected to file a rezoning soon (to 12 stories), and construction may start as soon as this fall.
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I’m less interested in what DHHS builds out on Blue Ridge Road, and much more interested to see what will happen to the property on Wade Avenue/St. Mary’s Street.
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…with construction expected to be complete (for the 1st phase of this relocation) in 2025, which is also when one of HHS’ 2 leases at Dix Park ends. At least one more phase will happen when the other lease ends in 2040. That’s also interesting for the context of the Dix Park upgrades, too.
Wrong thread. Maybe you were looking for the Cameron Village or Five Points thread, or you’d like to make one yourself?
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This will cut off any attempt to make a park corridor between Umstead Park and the Art Museum Park? Such a shame they’re not asking for public input on the design.
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I’m very interested in DHHS vacating their occupancy of Dix Park!
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I’m very interested in them ending their second lease there in 2040. I was hoping to have my 60th birthday party there shortly after…
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My only interest in them moving to Blue Ridge is that it opens up opportunity for Dix Park.
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Yes, and at least it keeps DHHS staff in Raleigh (unlike NCDOT which moved to Rocky Mount)
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