Sad to see Larimer Square looking like that. Denver struck me as the cooler place I should’ve moved to. For a long time. And honestly the luster has worn off. I’m digging Raleigh as my forever home. Even if I have to move to Chatham County eventually to escape the riffraff and get my mansion with greener pastures.
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Also to add there should be street vendors, and it should be culturally themed. That could make things better for Fayetteville Street I saw that Larimer Square and 16th street I could see some international flags.
We need to have a serious reinvestment among all dead zones in Downtown Raleigh.
Raleigh is the concert city, we can cite Dreamville, also our music venues. The city of arts is good as we have significant investment in that.
We were here (Larimer Sq in Denver) a few weeks ago midday on a Monday and it was hoppin’, for that time of day on a week day. I suspect moreso on the weekends.
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Wait. So you are saying a single photo doesn’t represent a place for all time? That doesn’t make sense to me.
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It’s possible the city knew we were coming and paid a bunch of actors/actresses to fill the street so I could come home and tell you guys it’s a very active space. Could be.
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Golf, gourmetttttttte food, luxury accommodations, even pickleball. Come be with your people, we are waiting……
Office workers from where? Most companies are not expanding so I’m not sure how that would be a plausible solution. I might be wrong though. Also, we’re building housing, the proposals for large scale developments are just coming in slowly.
I’m just saying it’s what is needed. It’s a major factor of what made Fayetteville St seem more alive and able to support more businesses pre-pandemic. Most companies are pushing for (or have already implemented) return to work policies. Expect that to continue, especially if the job market cools and becomes an employer’s market. And any recession or lack of hiring that may be upcoming will likely last a much shorter time than the timeframe for anything the city comes up with. Buildings take years, and city studies take a decade.
My point, I guess, is that I don’t think Fayetteville St is a lost cause. I’m hoping in 2 or 3 years time, we’ll see more workers and more residents there, driving more businesses and a better street experience. Any improvements that can be made in the meantime will only help that.
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That’s true, we could also try to lure life science companies to downtown but they seem to be too obsessed with RTP.
As someone who works in RTP for a life science company, I would absolutely love that. I think the issue is that most of those require a bunch of lab space, which makes the footprint larger and harder to afford in a premium downtown market. Lab space is also kind of a niche thing, with most office buildings not set up for it, and once it is set up like that, it’s very hard to undo. It doesn’t lend itself well to highrises. More anecdotally, almost no one I’ve worked with in 14 years living here ever goes to downtown Raleigh or Durham unless forced to. Not sure why. But being downtown would potentially be a negative, not a draw, for life science companies trying to recruit people.
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The City spent 10 million on Fayetteville Street, 12 mil. on Moore Square park, ~8 million on upgrades Moore square bus station. planning on 200 million on campus when half of staff don’t work in office. How much more? But we complain about affordable housing. You can’t raise taxes every year making it more expensive for working families to stay in Raleigh. Smokey Hollow was a great development. I think the PNC area will finally grow but the state of NC needs to let some land go private. Downtown South will make the southern entrance to Raleigh and that area take off. The City needs to get Lake Wheeler road improvements done to Tryon Road along with Dix Park. I wish the City would built a campus there. Thanks Leo for a great site with great ideas.
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My proposal to fix Fayetteville Street still stands; take two blocks of Fayetteville Street, close it to North South traffic, and give it to the business owners that operate the hispanic strip mall on South saunders and Tryon. Give them dedicated power for their food trucks, places for their grills, permits for their music speakers, permits for string lights, and watch the party happen every single night
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making F’ville street into a pedestrian mall thing was already tried (failed) and switched BACK to a street with cars and parking. I give it zero percent chance the city leadership switches any part of F’ville street BACK AGAIN a second time to a pedestrian anything. Just too inconsistent in terms of decision making… makes them look bad to take that risk. Like someone else said up thread…It’ll naturally come to life with more apartments nearby that seem to be in the works if not already under construction. Gonna take some time.
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Larimer isn’t dead. I was there a few months ago and it was slammed. Even early in the morning as the shops were opening there was a massive 200+ person silent disco style HIIT/yoga sort of class happening.
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Yep, and change over two “proposed” office towers (121 Faye and Edge) to residential. Adding these residents and visitors within a block would have the biggest impact.
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I still wish the city would convert the capitol end of the street parking into food truck parking (including power hook ups) and drop bollards on Morgan and Hargett every Thurs through Sunday night after 5p.
Create a calendar, allow trucks to sign up and use it as a way to create opportunity and excitement, essentially making the vibe of the street festival semi-permanent on a smaller scale. Sip, Stroll, StreetSnacks…
Couple that with an incubator program in a few of the empty storefronts…**Wasn’t there supposed to be a ghost kitchen or food hall kinda thing going into the massive spot on the corner of Exchange Square that used to be LaStella…?
Activation / vibrancy on this end would create community without tons of spend / reimagining while we continue to wait for the other end of the street to pop off (next decade?
) with construction on the lots between City Plaza and MMMPC.
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I think a lovely fountain (they ruined the one we had) and landscaping in front of Memorial Auditorium could make it a nice gathering space. Especially with the new residential nearby.
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IMO, the NEXUS block is the most important block to redevelop in all of downtown Raleigh.
I believe this because the blocks immediately around Nash square are some of the most activated blocks on the West side of Fay, and the blocks immediately West of Moore Square and Wilmingston st. particularly in this latitude are the most active blocks East of Fay.
NEXUS could be the connective tissue needed to naturally bridge people to and across Fay st. from these already active districts
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