The City of Raleigh has zero vision for the city. There really needs to be a shake up across the board.
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I live 600 feet from Union Special Downtown and I haven’t been there once - I bike to Gateway Plaza instead. It just feels way less invested in vs. Gateway Plaza and much more of a “lunch spot” than a bakery, which downtown doesn’t really need any more of right now.
I think they would have a lot more success if they shifted their hours around to be open a little earlier and open Saturdays and focused more on the bakery niche - pull people who don’t want to wait in the super long lines for Boulted or Yellow Dog.
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I like Andrew, he originally came from AC restaurants, but no one around him wants to tell him the obvious…
He needs to stop with the social media justice warrior crap. Regardless of your politics or if you agree with everything he posts (and I know many people who do agree with all of it). The majority of people who bring up Union special, reference this aspect and decided to shop else wear. It divisiveness that becomes irrelevant when considering what sandwich to eat.
And yes, the hours aren’t the smartest decision when running a downtown restaurant that doesn’t have the lunch traffic anymore. He should try adapting before expecting the city to pull some rabbit out their ass
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Fayetteville Street needs trendy things. If M Sushi opened on Fayetteville street there will be crowds no issue.
Element at City Plaza does pretty good too.
If we had an entertainment complex or a downtown alamo draft house. Literally anything other than offices and government buildings.
We also need a better ‘third place’ other than City Plaza.
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I feel like the weird hours and clear focus on the (really good and thriving) Gateway location come well ahead of politics in why the Fayetteville location isn’t doing very well.
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Element isn’t thrilled with Fayetteville St and probably won’t be there for long.
Tried it out when they first opened and the food wasn’t good IMO. Haven’t been back since, so hopefully it’s improved since then.
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Well hopefully what feels like a wave of imminent closings will spur a broad reimagining, because we can all see that it’s pretty dead as-is. Which is sad for our “main” street.
I do not disagree. If you are counting on the lunch only crowd that time has passed. Fayetteville street will probably not capture the evening crowd either. Expensive , a little snooty in there. They would have better success where there is more residential on all sides such as Glenwood South.
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Last time in Charlotte I stopped this place and it was real fun. I think things like this that can bring foot traffic would be the best for Fayetteville street.
7 takeaways from my first time at Puttery, Charlotte’s cool new mini-golf bar - Axios Charlotte
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6 posts were merged into an existing topic: Fayetteville Street Developments and Vitality
You’d think that but it just seems to be getting worse the last 5-7 years which makes me think it’ll continue. Not all of this is popular, but my solutions would involve 5 things:
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Much more nearby dense residential, specifically 2-5 blocks to the east in all those crappy SFHs/vacant lots/“historic” districts. This creates a natural customer base that is close by and people who have the money to spend.
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Turning Sir Walter back into a fancy, luxury hotel with a signature high-end restaurant. Creates foot traffic, etc. Also removes its [insert PC adjective] residents from the street, who aren’t exactly making an inviting atmosphere.
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Police presence actually enforcing loitering, littering, vagrancy, noise, harassment, etc. ordinances to create a safer impression. Impressions do matter, even if not based solely on facts.
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Have the city work to subsidize ground floor retail rents or work with the owners to lower them. Every single GFR space should have something in it, and they need to be open every day for normal hours (looking at you former CVS).
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Have the city and civic groups plan routine small-scale events that people can count on. Farmers market, movies, live music, whatever. This shouldn’t be a few events here and there.
If all of this happened, I think Fayetteville St would be a completely different place. But I don’t think anyone has the political will or organizational power to actually accomplish this all at once over the next year or two.
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Had a tour of the Sir Walter not long ago. Yes it’s affordable senior living, but what a travesty to this building. Any word on anything moving into the guttedrenovated spaces?
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I’ve walked by the building a few times. Haven’t seen any changes/work being done to those spaces in months.
After all the smack talk yesterday, felt like they needed a little love. Trying to get some good juju back for the dtr community.
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That’s very sweet hahaha - what’d you get?
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Haha a loaf of sourdough and some cookies. Didnt disagree that though delicious, the sandwiches are pricey.
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Big recommendation to Madre. We had a birthday to celebrate last night and decided to check it out. Much has been shared about how great the interior design is, but the food is well worth the visit as well. Good flavors and the portion sizes / price point is solid for a tapas restaurant. I imagine they will continue getting a lot of praise for awhile, hopefully it helps up the ambiance of future restaurants.
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Yep I was there this morning too. So crowded. We really need a new facility some day in the future.
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