Disregard: I see this was posted above------I thought the campus had already been rezoned?
Also, likely the Administration sees what’s happened to St. Augustine and trying to be proactive with financial assets before they can’t dig out. Not a bad idea to leverage an asset to gain and improve the core of the campus for future generations.
Are these folks affiliated with Shaw whatsoever? staff, students, alumni, etc?
Or just random folks virtue signaling.
Yeah so Shaw was already rezoned. It’s done. It happened. Years ago, now.
Are these people STUPID??? (rhetorical) LMAO
EDIT: Someone inexplicably shared a 3 year old photo… disregard everything, as none of this is relevant today.
That picture is from 2023:
…you know what, so was the Livable Raleigh “article” - why are we doing this, folks? @Cory come on big dawg lol
I will add that I only ever mentioned that this was something historically done. I didn’t frame it as if it was happening today.
-Shaw needs to first build new residence halls combined with dining and demo the old ones, especially the towers without heating and working fire alarms.
-Some of the historic buildings could probably be moved closer to MLK to make room for redevelopment, which should be as close to Fayetteville St. as possible.
-The mosque is inside one of the academic buildings. They could probably get donations/funding to build a new, stand-alone one.
I suspect that this is where the rub is. You can’t do the things that need to be done first without the money to do it.
Shaw could likely build new dorms, but I think the bigger issue is what happens with the existing ones. It’s my understanding that some of the dorms are barely being used, if at all, because of their condition, and that students have been placed in temporary housing instead. If that’s not accurate, I’d be interested in hearing from someone with firsthand knowledge.
What concerns me is that this feels similar to the path we’ve watched unfold at St. Augustine’s. Both schools have faced the difficult balance between preserving historic buildings and investing in facilities that meet the needs of today’s students. Preserving history is important, but there comes a point where the cost of dealing with asbestos, lead, outdated infrastructure, and years of deferred maintenance makes renovation far less practical than replacing a building altogether.
The problem is that demolition or major redevelopment on an HBCU campus is understandably controversial. Alumni, preservation advocates, and the community often want to save every historic structure. That desire comes from a good place, but when it results in years of inaction, the buildings continue to deteriorate, maintenance costs keep climbing, and students are left with fewer quality housing options.
I also think there’s a broader conversation about whether institutions should be more willing to leverage high-value land or partner with the city and private developers to generate the capital needed to reinvest in their campuses. Those are difficult discussions, but avoiding them can create the same cycle we’ve seen elsewhere: deteriorating facilities make it harder to attract students, enrollment declines, revenue shrinks, deferred maintenance grows, and the institution falls even further behind.
I don’t think anyone wants to see Shaw end up facing the same challenges that have plagued St. Augustine’s. Hopefully, the university can find a way to preserve its history while also making the tough decisions needed to ensure it’s financially sustainable and competitive for the next generation of students.
I agree these don’t meet what I would consider ‘historic’ either. However, any changes proposed has come with resistance. Luckily, the rezoning was already approved, but getting anything done will take extreme circumstances.
FINE. don’t rezone & when Shaw goes bankrupt…just like St. Aug is going to do, developers with real money can by the assets.
Shaw as NO MONEY…just like SA…& they have no path out..just a little bit longer runway than SA.
North Carolina has multiple HBCUs that are healthy…not to mention the other universities that accept african american students as well(meaning all of them).
TBH its very obvious which buildings are historic and which ones are not.
Just a thought, but would potential developers be concerned about what would happen if the school financially imploded (like St. Aug) and the stability of their investment after spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a new building. I am sure lawyers would try their best to address that upfront in any type of land lease with a hundred clauses to address such an issue. Also if the school folds and the property becomes derelict (like St. Aug) how does that reflect on an expensive development across the street? Does the campus continue to fall into disrepair, are ALL of the non-historically significant buildings torn down? If I were putting up tons of money, I would think long and hard about investing in a property adjacent to a struggling school vs another property in a more prosperous part of town. There is also the issue of attracting tenants into said new building. Do potential tenants want shiny plazas with thriving blocks of civic activity around them, or walking past chain link fencing keeping people out of a boarded up school should it potentially fail? That would be a hard sell to attract businesses/residents IMO.
Honestly, I REALLY want Shaw to succeed. I have said for YEARS that Shaw and St. Augs should share infrastructure (campus, housing, etc) at the Shaw campus. If two hotels can function in a single budling with shared back of house operations, surely two small colleges can share dorms, dining halls, classrooms, and administrative buildings, right? IMHO, rather than the two joining forces and working together, their respective pride is holding them back. I hate it for St. Aug, but Shaw has to be paying attention, or we may see a repeat in the not distant future.
I’m not one to speculate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Shaw left downtown entirely. They used the rezoning playbook we’ve all seen. Make a bunch of pretty mock-ups, get the rezoning. Third step is sell the property.
Honestly, wouldn’t be shocked if they thought their best step forward was to cash out on the downtown property and use that to build up the campus somewhere more affordable. Because you’re absolutely not wrong about developers being concerned about instability.
They’d be smart to do this. I’d say preserve the very few historical/ architecturally significant buildings as a downtown hub or graduate program office space incorporated into a larger development if possible and to have a presence in the City. Then I would relocate to a more suitable modern site to recreate the trajectory.
If you think the alumni and community are mad about rezoning, wait till the Uni announces its moving out of its original and historical site as a real estate play!!! 
Still, this is not unprecedented. Meredith moved from its location between Union and Burke Squares (Old Capitol and Executive Mansion) in 1924. That was driven purely by the lack of space.
Heck - WF University moved to en entirely different city 2 hours away at some point. Not sure why, but I bet 
had something to do with it.
Reynolds money - largely - so you are correct sir. The Reynolds family wanted W-S to seen as a real city, and a university was one of those markers, like a performing arts center (nee Opera House) a museum, etc. They donated the land and a lot of money for the new campus. Buck Duke did the same for Durham when he brought what I believe was Presbyterian College from south of High Point by building them a new campus.
Oh, they will absolutely be in shambles. I’d totally get it too. I went to Apex High, and that thing got knocked down for a new modern facility. Feels weird driving by it. Has the same name and mascot, but it’s not the school I went to.
