There are some owners in the area that I know are angling to get this re-branded as the Arts District, which would certainly be fitting since many warehouses districts across the country, including this one, first started to rebound when artists and artisans began moving into what were, at the time, underutilized buildings to capitalize on cheaper rents. So “Arts District” would definitely work for me, too.
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It’d certainly help but its addition is lessened by the closing of Cabarrus as a result. Orulz makes a fair point about the train access supporting the site, but the area is already a pretty big cluster with the current density and uses and I think even the West extension and any offset from some future light rail or commuter rail is rapidly overwhelmed by there just being too much jammed into what is still a corner. Davie, and Harrington both will still dead end in here, West will only tie in at Martin and not again until Lenoir after the underpass. I think to balance the current office and retail, half this block is served best as residential, on the parking lots. And make it like Neo Industrial, like a fake old mill or something that keeps your mind thinking warehouse and railroad vibe. And Orulz, I am keen on saving the planet for sure, but think the bang for the buck at this point is not maxing out the little grid we have, but finding some way to battle the suburbs. Grid-wise, you can certainly overkill the grid too and I think that is what happens here. FWIW not tossing perfectly usable building materials in a C&D landfill is very much ‘saving the planet’. It mirrors the argument of what is better, reading the news on your phone or on recycled and recyclable news print? Like self driving and electric cars, 2019 isn’t getting it right every time. Cars are still cars and enable sprawl.
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Works for me. I almost embarrassed calling this a warehouse district when I bring in out of town friends since there really are no warehouses. I just got back from Boston and even they have giant, very old warehouses that define the area clearly to be such (around Trillium brewing area)
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Seems like an obvious problem eh? Its almost like nobody in this forum every actually walks this downtown. I do it daily (I take construction walks to satisfy the Civil engineering half of my brain) and try out different routes to make sure I know where the problems are when I inevitably start a conversation with the City over some obvious shortcoming. Having a PE after my name usually gets responses from up the ladder so I want to be fully informed before engaging.
Yeah, I cross this intersection on foot everyday to get to my office, and I agree that it is a real problem, but I think it’s a problem that could be fixed pretty easily. We desperately need 1. a stop sign for westbound traffic on Davie 2. a crosswalk to go along with that stop sign, and 3. a crosswalk to complement the existing stop sign for southbound traffic on Harrington.
My hope is that this development will help spur the city to make these needed changes, because the city really has done a poor job keeping up with the existing development in this area. Harrington and Davie don’t even have center lines in this part of town. And as long as we’re already in the neighborhood with cans of paint and stuff, the existing two-way crosswalk at the intersection of Harrington and Martin, really, really needs to be turned into a four-way crosswalk, and the existing crosswalks need to be made much more visible than they currently are.
I am also totally on board with requiring the owners to chip in to make the sorely needed West St. extension a reality. Also, the pop-up Cycle Track a few weekends ago ran right past this building, and it would be super cool if we could get a permanent bike lake on this street, which would also help calm traffic. Those last two things are obviously more intensive projects, but you could really fix a lot of the problems here with just stop signs and paint.
Changing a name for an area is easier said than done. Look at Chicago’s Pilsen. It got that name because it was a predominantly Czech community. After a generation or two, many of them moved out and it became a community mostly populated with Mexican immigrants. Obviously the Pilsen name hasn’t really fit for years. Personally, I like it that a neighborhood will hold on to it’s old name. It shows that the city is growing and changing.
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What about Innovation District, or Arts & Innovation District?
Wyekiki and have it Hawaii themed, have some developer make an artificial beach somewhere with wave machines. We really need some Hawaiian food in Raleigh anyways.
#brilliantlystupidideas
It will be our Whitewater Center
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I seem to remember there was this idea for a beach themed place on Hargett just west of the railroad. It was on the north side of the tracks behind the new Origin parking garage.
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Ehhh… Arts district doesn’t work that great to me, considering there isn’t a ton of art coming out of these underutilized warehouses…seems contrived. Considering it’s now home to some of the highest dollar restaurants and office space in DT, the inherent grit and DIY culture that Arts district brings to mind doesn’t exist there, especially once RUSBUS and this block are redeveloped. Innovation District or Rail District works better…? Or just keep facades and maintain warehouse district with homage to warehouses that no longer exist… tough topic.
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Durham already has the Innovation District, or the Durham ID for short. We don’t want to copy them now do we ; )
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How about: RUSBUSDIS ??
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OHHHHHH, we could cover all the side walks with sand, and replace the trees with palm trees!
I think it would be amazing to just close off Davie right at Harrington. If the new development takes away all that surface parking, they could get a great “front yard.” The city could, down the road, beautify this space with a plaza and/or bike/scooter parking and/or art and/or all kinds of things. It would add to the “interestingness” of downtown. It’s placemaking 101.
Now if the new developments need this road so that cars can access whatever parking deck they are sure to build well then that’s just a pity.
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Yeah, I agree. Innovation District seems really contrived to me too and would follow a nationwide trend that just screams “I don’t have an identity or a sense of place.” In Durham, it makes a little more sense since it’s a brand new district that is specifically targeted towards research facilities, whereas nothing of the sort other than the coworking spaces currently exists in the Warehouse District (at least as far as I’m aware). I like keeping Warehouse in the name in reference to the area’s history, and I hope it stays even as the built environment evolves.
Also, I’m super bummed about losing CAM. It’s one of our best buildings and the renovation would have such a short life if demolished. Maybe they could preserve and reuse the canopy!
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There are some other places…well lots of places downtown, where what I think of as basic stuff, like sidewalks, boom traffic signals, crosswalks etc, are not up to ‘downtown level’ standards. Thanks for articulating the stuff for this area so I can add it to my ongoing list of stuff I point out to them. As an aside, aesthetically I thought cobble stoning all of West Davie would be cool and act as a a very long speed bump…not that speed is the problem but it might emphasize the pedestrian nature/importance of the area too. Works for both warehouse district and arts district I think. Anywho…
I’ll second that, close it to cars at Harrington, turn the Right-of-Way into a 1/4 acre pocket park, and punch through a pedestrian connection to West Street extension heading northwest along the tracks. Maybe even bridge it over West Street.
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So…this is something that I actually work on up in NYC for their DOT. It’s not impossible, as long as Fire Access is there. Taking street ends like this, and creating meaningful urban space is a new phenomenon essentially, but most cities are now looking at it as the next phase of urban infrastructure.
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Why stop there? Look at all of The Depot surface parking that could be incorporated into something more public. Submerge an entrance to an underground garage at that Davie stub and make that entire surface lot a park with walking/biking infrastructure to connect the Warehouse District to Cabarrus St.
As a general rule, I think that all surface parking lots downtown should be scrutinized and evaluated for a better use.
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I was literally going to write a similar thing, John. Underground parking and make the surface space something like a nice activity area or a garden.
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