In my mind, buildings of this scale will never again be built in downtown Raleigh. Any existing today are all that there will ever be. That alone warrants preservation, obviously within reason/weighing that against the benefit of increased density. Small buildings add texture, pedestrian scale, and diversity of ownership. Their absence is a huge part of what makes uptown Charlotte so unbearably bland imo, and I wouldn’t want us to follow in their footsteps.
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You sure about that? Every time the debate comes up, you are the first to chime in about how little you care for the old buildings.
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I’m just going to defer to your opinion on these matters from now on. I just get grumpy cat emojis everytime I comment.
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There’s very few buildings I’m actively wanting to get rid of. I’d prefer to start with the parking lots and random little ugly, 1 story brick buildings, and move on to generic old buildings once we run out of space…which will be decades at our current pace.
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I think you won’t be happy until every old building is wiped clean off the planet.
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Only if we can get rid of the bike lanes first, widen all the streets for more (fast-driving) cars, and bring in more chain restaurants downtown too.
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Fill under <nevergonnahappen.jpg> but would be nice if all the developers on this block worked together and created a system of pedestrian alleyways. Could even offer more retail spaces facing the alleys.
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Mike… why can’t you just be the City Planner???
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IMO this whole argument boils down to:
Have you been to Berkeley before? Y/N
Do you like authentic, grungy dive bars/restaurants? Y/N
Have you recently realized that all your favorite businesses are in renovated older buildings, not the fancy new ones? Y/N
My answer is yes to all 3
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Yeah, architectural conversation aside, this is a quantifiable cultural loss for DTR. A lot of us have seen some legendary shows there.
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Sounds like with escalating value of DTR land, we’ll need more deep pockets a la Goodnight (the younger) to save / keep these human scale buildings around…and we should all ponder… If Raleigh has a ‘next’ district, where small businesses end up ‘refreshing’ a former district to its former glory…where is that…?
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S saunders @ Park South could be the answer, But there may be too much development pressure already
Dupont circle @ new boulted
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We have Greg Hatem for that.
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JoCo? Not sure where in Raleigh except maybe east or far south of downtown would the prices work.
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I’m not far from 100 does that mean I will be preserved and displayed if I reach 100?
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You have to be pretty as well.
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oh will there goes my dream of having my own street corner! 
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Yeah, Saunders running from LW to Maywood, maybe.
Wilmington St southside?
Dupont Circle is gonna fill up in a snap following the Platform wrap.
I’ve wondered Atlantic from Whitaker to Hodges and over to Capital bumping back up to Iron Works could do it. Good things to think about.
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I think that we are going to see the most interesting restaurants and hangout spots along the edges of downtown. This means up West (north of Peace), pushing south into Dylanville (South St. corridor), up into Mordecai (frankly already happening), etc. If you are in the very core, you are in the bullseye.
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Hatem has been holding his cards for some time…