Isn’t the one to the left the new olive oil / vinegar shop?
ITB insider is reporting two vacant buildings in City Market facing East Martin St. will be completely renovated and potentially combined into one retail or restaurant space. As well as finishing off the roof for patio seating. I’m glad City Market is finally getting investment money thrown towards it. "The plan at the moment is to do a complete renovation of the interior, a gut rehab,” Hakan said. “No suite layouts have been finalized, but the plan includes the activation of both the basement, first and second floors, and the rooftop for “Assembly” type uses.”
Here is a picture of the buildings as they sit now:
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Mehhhhh, I’m actually disappointed to learn they’re combining 2 retail spaces into one giant one. Less diversity, less options for the market overall. These gigantic retail spaces are what Raleigh needs less of, as they cost wayyyyy more to lease and thus only attract corporate entities. We need smaller format spaces to encourage more local and small businesses to open up shop. I have been dreaming of what these spaces could become (I’d absolutely love to have a little shop in City Market, so it’s easy to daydream)… to know that these will become one space limits the possibilities, and basically guarantees this will be yet another expensive restaurant/bar, which I don’t think City Market really needs more of. Hell, that celebrity chef just opened one on the other end of the market. This sucks.
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They mentioned possibly being combined into one space, then goes to say no suite layouts have been finalized yet and says “Hakan said they would have a better idea of what’s going in the space by January. He noted that the process is “complex and challenging” due to the City’s Unified Development Ordinance and the location in one of Raleigh’s premier Historic Districts.”
Also I view High Horse as an awesome addition to City Market, we ate there last week and it was amazing food. Also considering the majority of the menu is under $10, I consider it reasonably priced. Also there are just as many afforable places as expensive in City Market. Woody’s, Big Eds, Vics are all very reasonable
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Simmer simmer down now. This is good news. No big box chain retail is going to city market
I’m not hating on High Horse at all, simply pointing out that we just had a big restaurant opening in city Market, so the addition of yet another new restaurant is just not exciting to me as, say, two new small format Retail stores or - dream with me- a nice small-scale art gallery.
I hope you end up right!
EDIT; But even so, I’m more just disappointed that we lose the possibility of two little shops there, which would add diversity and variety to CM. One giant space severely limits variety - unless they were to do something like Brewery Bhavana, with a restaurant, tap room, and small boutique retail all in one. Now THAT I could get excited for.
What if that big box was an Apple Store?
I don’t understand the obsession some have with wanting an Apple store downtown. Hugely corporate, nothing unique or interesting about it, and massively overpriced products - best keep that garbage at the mall.
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Apple Stores are destinations that drive foot traffic in urban areas. They stimulate other retailers to invest in an area because they know that Apple will drive foot traffic to their establishments as well. I’ve seen many Apple Stores in urban areas and I don’t think that any of them are a detriment to their neighborhoods.
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Or they could just sit there separate and empty for even longer.
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If the owners/property managers of City Market had any sense or vision, they would be more flexible with pricing to encourage small, local businesses to set up shop in both spaces. From what I’ve heard, that is a longshot.
unfortunately the primary owner of city market is an ‘absentee landlord’ whose daddy bought the building but he lives in San Francisco and has no real motivation to help Raleigh, apparently, (despite having been born here) and he has no motivation to sell either since it doesn’t cost him anything as it was given to him, which is what needs to occur.
Our right wing legislature removed the City’s ability to use eminent domain around 2010 so we are left to ‘hope’ that this guy will sell the property at some point.
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I remember when Epona and Oak left City Market. They were a local retail shop that sold goods by local artists. According to the owners, they closed up and left because the City Market landlord was very inflexible and drastically raised the rent for them out of nowhere. Thankfully, Unleashed was able to successfully fill that space, but other retail spaces have been revolving doors for years.
Same with Blake Street Galleries, which was a serious loss, in my opinion. City Market was quite the First Friday destination when they were there.
To me, the owners of City Market seem to have no creative vision for the property. For the area to have languished as it has this long takes a serious failure on the property management side. And the complaint about the UDO making things hard (cry me a damn river) because of the historic nature of the property is just so victim mentality I just can’t. It’s not like they had no idea they had a historic property on their hands when they acquired it.
Can you tell I have strong opinions on this? 
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This is exactly why the combining of those two spaces worries me - it signals to me that something with big money is coming in (and thus, likely not to be a local/small business). City Market will soon just be another bunch of restaurants. And hey, I like going out to eat… but I also like being able to wander around and peruse boutiques, art galleries, etc - which is exactly what City Market used to have plenty of.
I know the issues with city market and honestly anything going in that isn’t empty buildings is good news at this point. No offense but I feel like you’re disappointed with a lot of developments downtown because they don’t conform to your personal preferences and plan for the city. I feel like you’re setting yourself up for unhappiness. People are gonna build what they want. I’m just happy we have growth and change here, unlike many many places.
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On a side note, don’t forget this Sunday is the Christmas City Market. It’s like a European Christmas market without the snow and, well probably a lot of other stuff but hey, check it out!
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Nope. I’m actually pretty excited for about 90% of current developments. So when something seems less than stellar, it stands out to me a bit more.
Edit; that said, I will hope to be pleasantly surprised with this one. I am glad to see activity in City Market, even if it might mean less variety/diversity.