I think this site needs a NIMBY emoji.
I guess this guy thinks this part of town is the crown jewel of Raleigh currently.
Did we know the stadium was moving to Wilmington Street where “Raleigh Concrete” currently is? This is the first I’ve seen of that.
Previous renderings still had the Red Roof Inn in place as well, but I guess they’ve acquired that land now too?
@RobertSanderlin - It was a public meeting. People can say what they want without having to state their name & address.
@Francisco - Way too early to be worried about this. I agree that a great fan experience would need street level density to make it come alive. I think the Kane/Malik folks get that but it’s just too early in the process to have detailed renderings.
@Will, @Kanatenah - The idea of moving the stadium to the east side of section C was new. First I’ve seen that as well.
@mike - I believe sections A&B have been acquired in entirety. Section C is still in “assemblage phase”. I’m sure there are some purchase contingencies in place depending on rezoning approval. It was made clear that a rezoning applicant can submit for rezoning without having outright ownership of all land being considered for rezoning.
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is ref to back woods crowd from deliverance and people making this type statements.
“I will fight you tooth and nail over this because I don’t want to see southwest Raleigh trashed.”
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I think that’s an insult to the banjo. 
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Oh, wow. I would have loved to have been there for that presentation.
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From my experience of master-planning developments of this scale (and at this early stage), those buildings are just some intern plopping rectangles into a 3D model to give some suggestion of an urban district. There’s nothing intentional about them whatsoever, and they’re probably not reflective of what’s actually planned. “Big moves” for site strategies like site access, topography, and scope come first, then a finer grain of design intent like the street-level experience will follow. I agree with you that they should’ve done a better job with their building placeholders though lol
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Correct. Malik and Kane are clear owners of A&B.
Awesome post, super informative.
Most of the focus seems to be on area C, but did they mention anything about their thoughts/plans for areas A and B?
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I’m excited about this project, but my first reaction to having the stadium removed from the other parts of the development is negative.
For me, a big part of the draw of having an “urban” stadium is being able to go out and eat and drink before and after the game. Physical separation reduces that feel. Like @kanatenah says it doesn’t seem like an “anchor” should be removed.
I hope if this goes through it encourages adaptive reuse of the old water plant which is an amazing building.
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Seriously it’s just about a 500 feet walk across Walnut Creek to get to the stadium. I can’t imagine how that is a negative impact. If the stadium was downtown most people would still have to walk at least 500 feet to get to that also.
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I agree. I think it would be a great fit with a rehabed Bain Water Treatment facility right next door. Could be Raleigh’s version of the American Tobacco Campus.
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I enjoy walking, especially in an urban environment, but a lot of people don’t. I think that distance is more than 500 feet, and I honestly think that it would discourage a LOT of Triangle residents from taking advantage of the amenities in the project.
I would love to be wrong. I want this project to be a huge success, but I see how many people won’t walk a block out of their way to try a new place and how many repeatedly circle a parking lot to keep from walking an extra 100 feet, and I think that having the stadium the equivalent of a couple of blocks removed from the rest of the project will absolutely keep a lot of people from doing things before and after if this is the setup they go with.
And a bridge like that can be a psychological barrier. Maybe more people would walk the equivalent distance through an active city, but crossing a big open space can be more of a deterrent. Think of the classic tower in a park. It just feels further.
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Moving the stadium does get it closer to the Wilmington BRT route, which I think is a bonus.
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And yet 16,000 attend Carolina Hurricanes with zero amenities or urban character. UNC and NC State get pretty good attendance and people have to walk at least that far and many more than that. Concerts at the Walnut Creek amphitheater have to park and ride a far distance and they also have zero amenities and no urban character. This will clearly be a lot better than anything we currently have in this area and I just can’t imagine that people are going to look at a bridge and say “Nope. I am outta here”.
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Some area context overlaying the site concept onto larger google maps… also, no way theres going to be all those buildings with small footprints. They’ll be mostly large connected full block buildings like Smoky Hollow 1, 2 and 3.
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There was very little discussion of areas A&B, which was disappointing but not unexpected. They put up one graphic that showed a “planned greenway” from area B to A (among other greenway connections) but no detail on what that actually meant. Was it part of their plan, is it part of the city’s plan (would be news to me)?
They did say they envision area C as the area of greatest density. There was also a random pic of renderings of a soccer practice facility with multiple fields. So maybe that’s something that could go in B or A? Again, not much detail on these parcels.
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Think of the bridge more like the 11th St. Bridge Park being planned in DC. This was the example they discussed last night.
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Maybe they are on the same line of thought as you with the rails to trails bridge
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