www.visitdowntownsouth.com All the fancy photos are gone no Stadium renderings on the website😲. Something tells me this project is gonna get scaled down.
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They have over 100 acres of untapped, underdeveloped land. And they got it for a steal. There’s nowhere inside the beltline that comes close in terms of potential (without a lot of teardowns & neighborhood resistance).
It’s not getting scaled down…maybe redesigned a bit from the initial sales pitch visuals we all saw…which was for hype purposes only anyway.
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John Kane was on an episode of Podcast Raleigh earlier this year (linked earlier in this thread). At the time of the episode the amount of land being discussed for this project was in the 40-60 acre range and possibly growing. The Downtown South site you linked now lists the project as encompassing 160 acres. So it doesn’t seem like it’s being scaled down to me.
My guess is that they’re expanding the project and trying to shift the branding away from “The Downtown Stadium Project” towards something broader that may happen to include a stadium.
Website indicates next steps as rezoning process with plans to break ground in 2020.
I’ll also note that all of the land for this project that we know about - both the recent acquisitions and the Penny family parcels around Penmarc Drive - are entirely within the Southwest CAC. Articles about this project often talk about how it will impact Southeast Raleigh - and no doubt it will impact all adjacent areas and likely all of Raleigh - but the current project is in the Southwest CAC and that is the CAC that will be voting on any rezoning.
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And Southwest CAC votes carry ? weight. What we do know is that the current City Council is very bullish on this project being tranformative. If Kane scales down the transformative nature of this project, he risks losing some of that enthusiasm by Council. I actually don’t think the CAC vote will matter much for this project unless there’s substance that comes with the vote (legitimate concerns aside from traffic/shadows).
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I don’t think the SW CAC vote carries any more weight than any other CAC. I see CAC support of a project as a nice-to-have, but not a must have. I agree that Kane/Malik shouldn’t scale things down and I don’t think that’s what they’re doing.
My point is that the way the location of the project is often described (SE Raleigh) isn’t accurate.
Bonner Gaylord discussed the project at the last SW CAC meeting and people seemed generally supportive. Even some of the old guard. Of course they want to see more details on what’s proposed, which I think is reasonable.
I biked around the Penmarc area this weekend and it’s weird how desolate it feels despite being bordered by 3 major roads/highways. The fields almost look like quail/pheasant habitat, but then you look up and can see traffic zipping by on I-40 and S. Saunders.
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They read my comment about having a killer party street and now they have to redesign the whole project!
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OK, but there’s gotta be overhead strings of lights…
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Great set of emojis to tell the sarcastic story @OakCityDylan ! I second all of them.
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I third all of them.
New soccer and hockey stadium?
What does the Mayor know that we don’t or is that just wishful thinking?
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Interesting article! I like hearing the different perspectives of many people and how they look up to Raleigh as being a vibrant, world-class city accommodating everybody. I think I like MAB’s view the best 
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Octavia Rainey was a little grim, though.
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Shocking. Octavia is a piece of work
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Just wishful thinking, like the gondolas and the cure for schizophrenia.
Talking about building a “hockey stadium” is kind of nuts. Hockey teams play in multipurpose arenas that have the very useful virtue of being able to host a variety of other events like concerts and shows. But pitching it as just a “hockey stadium” is not that far removed from saying you’d like to take people’s hard-earned money and give it directly to Tom Dundon. 
I seriously doubt her statement meant a single use facility with no other purpose other than for the Canes. What city does that?
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But, one wonders where all of those autonomous cars are going to get parked and maintained whilst we all give up on private car ownership.
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There will be a lot of underutilized garage space.
Shouldn’t be too hard to covert to a micro-retail mall kind of thing?
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How you managed to spot / invent a rain cloud in that sunshine of a piece is impressive.
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“i believe there will be no black people in the city by 2040”
-Octavia Rainey
One of the most ridiculous things i’ve ever read from anyone, let alone someone in a leadership position.
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