Agree. Removing Lincoln would just be a blunder for the arts scene. Develop around it and write a grant for Lincoln to renovate the facade.
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Is there a way to âspanâ over the Lincoln? Redevelop the entire block, leave the Lincoln alone, but âbridgeâ over it and continue going vertical? I drove through NYC twice this weekend. If they can build a 20 story apartment building over I-95, we can span the Lincoln and keep going up.
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Technically Iâm sure this is possible, but the problem is they might have to close the Lincoln for a period of time, and the owners probably canât afford the lost revenue. Originally they were going to do this with Clyde Cooperâs but the lost revenue from being closed would have put them out of business.
My guess is this block will look like the Red Hat block just north of this, with a 12-20 story building on Wilmington and 4-7 stories on the Blount St Side. With so much surface parking in DTR, itâs hard for me to imagine anyone wants to do something quite so complex?
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Oh ok - are we only recognizing opportunity cost to the developers? At what point to we recognize the cost to us and our environment because IMO the loss of these buildings is high price to pay.
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I havenât been to the theater since the smoking ban went into effect. That said, I did refresh my memory with online photos. That sort of venue experience is not difficult to replicate and improve elsewhere.
Considering there hasnât been a single notable development pitched on this block, I think we can quit speculating about the removal or preservation of Lincoln Theater.
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Well at least for me the argument is more or less on the merits of preservation in general. And considering recent history, itâs not too far fetched to speculate on the destruction of any historic buildings sitting on prime real estate.
Itâs the Pope House which is the last remaining original structure of the old Fourth Ward. And, itâs on the National Register of Historic Places. I remember reading somewhere, but Iâve forgotten now where, that the houseâs historicity also includes itâs location. Moving it somehow would undo that association.
https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/124popehouse/
http://goodnightraleigh.com/2011/06/the-pope-house-museum-and-community-challenge/
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The 4th Ward is over where Boulted Bread is.The original city grid had 3 wards. The 4th was because it was new grid added later.
Get rid of the 521 Wilmington parking south of the Pope house, replace the lot in front of the house, and do something with the gravel behind the Lincoln.
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You overlooked the Debnam Clinic at 524 South Blount which you included in that parking lot. His daughters might not part with that very easily. (But, I canât speak from any direct knowledge.)
Maybe not, but how long will a squat brick building stay up in dt Raleigh a block from our Main Street? Forever with our city council
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That little 0.34 acre parcelâs tax value is now, $1.3M., up from $55K at itâs last sale.
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WTF!!! The DevBot just pulled an ASR for McDonalds at 101 E South Street. Just what we need, replace the existing 1 story McDonalds, with a⌠1 story McDonalds!! This is (NOT) a huge win for downtown Raleigh.
Where is the âaffordable housingâ? 
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Itâs not affordable housing; itâs affordable eating. 
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Neither of the âdowntownâ McDonalds locations feel particularly urban to me. As I give my business to both of these McDonalds on occasion and it is almost always using the drive thru, I would hate to see the drive thru go away. If they were to build the new one similarly as the Peace St McDonalds, I would be okay with that.
No. The Peace McDonalds is awful. I canât believe the city let a site plan like that with driveways on all four sides go through. Having a drive through is one thing but at least make the building hold the corner, not the driveway.
In this case, the UDO and the -UL frontage has a provision prohibiting any vehicular surface area between the building and any street, so hopefully the form will be better than the one on Peace, but even so it will be worse in a way, because instead of being on the periphery, it is one block from Fayetteville Street and directly across the street from a city-owned lot zoned for 40 stories that will probably host a prominent skyscraper at some point. Having a nasty drive through McDonalds here will certainly diminish the value of the cityâs parcel. You can be certain that when McDonalds builds a brand new atrocity here they will let it depreciate fully over 30 or 40 years before even thinking about redevelopment. And if we donât force them to do better, they will build another drive through then too.
I think there are enough people living and working downtown that the city needs to stop letting developers build stuff that cater to people just driving through.
McDonalds should be looking at developing a 12 story building here with a McDâs on the ground floor, not something indestinguishable from something off of I-95 in rural low country South Carolina.
I donât consider it an affront to anybodyâs dignity to force them to go out to Western Boulevard or New Bern if they want a McDâs (or any restaurant really) that has a drive through.
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âawfulâ âworseâ ânastyâ âatrocityâ âforce themâ âI donât consider it an affront to anybodyâs dignity to force themâ⌠Tell us what you you think. I mean seriously itâs just a McDonaldâs. I personally donât care how they rebuild it one way or the other. I think the one on Peace street is perfectly fine as I said before. There is not one structure on that block that has any real urbanism. But that is just my opinion.
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Well, weâve got to start somewhere, right? 
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