Could also be a place for a basketball arena just for State. Something the size of John Paul Jones Arena for UVA. Still room for parking decks, residential towers, and plazas/retail/entertainment district.
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Raleigh did a small area plan recently:
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According to the CAMPO presentation slides shared over in the Intercity Passenger Rail thread, it’s been pushed back to 2028 now:
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Unfortunate. At least it’s not been axed yet.
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Kinda surprised the NC State master plan doesn’t show too much for all the potential of the land along Western Blvd with the BRT. Like ~50 acres around the McKimmon Center site that could be dense and transit-oriented rather than acting as the ‘back-facing’ / leftover area of campus.
Plenty of room for tons of residential instead of surface parking. Could even fit a small hockey arena (for the eventual club level to D-1 varsity transition) that could even function as an extension of the McKimmon Center for large events.
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Is a D1 hockey team for State something that’s actually being considered? I’d be thrilled if it was. Would love to see State, UNC, and Duke start D1 hockey programs.
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I suspect that the university looks at its development pipeline through the lens of the Wolfline that they already operate fare free.
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I’m surprised that I don’t see a hotel or two mentioned on either map. With all the new housing planned there will definitely be a need for another hotel for tourists and visiting parents.
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That Mission Valley redevelopment concerns me a little. Y’all better leave my Sammy’s alone!
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Here’s the link for other people to comb over btw. There’s a lot in there.
I have to say I like your plan much better. NCSU is being smoothbrained as usual with their priorities. And there’s more of it…
Western/Avant doesn’t even get a pedestrian grade separation for BRT… I can’t express how dumb this is. Come on! I don’t care if it costs more do it.
Kind of looks like Western Boulevard is an afterthought and they’re much more interested in Central Campus improvements. I don’t think anyone will miss Sullivan or Lee Halls so fine… whatever.
So here’s some good news: quite ambitious plans for density around Dix, which actually makes sense.
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Okay one more thing…
You know research professionals are humans and sometimes like to interact with other humans. Why are we putting this here? Maybe there is an underutilized part of campus next to a new transit line that could…
Oh… more parking there? Oh… okay…
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Well RTP is the centerpiece of the region, so maybe they’re just getting the researchers ready for a career of shuttling between isolated campuses and suburban cul-de-sacs 
You have to think though, the NCSU master plan is for NCSU students, staff, and faculty. How would development on the opposite end of Western benefit that group? You would have to cross Western to get to classes and amenities. These master plans are for ~10 year look ahead. The existing master plan is already pretty ambitious and in locations of campus that are much more advantageous to the NCSU community.
It could be that this area is explored in the next master planning exercise, but it’s really not surprising to me that it’s not included in this one.
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You have to cross Western to get to Centennial Campus, along with all the dorms already on that side.
Lots of students already do this every day and it sucks. That’s why I insist they need a grade separation for pedestrians at Avant Ferry. There isn’t one, and their development pattern seems to treat the BRT system like it’s lava. Spoilers… that system WILL fail unless we build stuff on Western to utilize it.
That is a huge amount of wasted space in a prime location that NCSU should sell off if they’re not gonna use.
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I’m not saying they aren’t going to use it, I just don’t think they are going to use it in the next 10 years when their focus is clearly on improving the campus cores. I would also be surprised if NCSU sells any land that they own because as you mentioned, it’s in a prime space. And if crossing Western already sucks, why would you want to build more that would increase the number of students who have to cross Western? This intersection was actually noted multiple times as a safety concern by students in the master plan during feedback sessions, so it would be a little tone deaf of the university to build student housing that increases the usage of that crossing without first having a better crossing situation.
It’s also important to realize that NCSU is a state agency, so funding for projects largely comes from the legislature. NCSU can ask for funding all they want, but if it’s not in the budget bill it isn’t happening. Certain groups are receipts based, and so they are only going to do projects that are financially beneficial to them, similar to developers.
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They already are building more student housing and research buildings on Centennial. The eastern end of Centennial is very remote. I would rather live on the wrong side of Western and have better access to central campus if I were a student.
It’s important to realize there are also a lot of employees at NCSU and that unused land on Western could go towards housing them, for instance. The apartments on Avant Ferry near there are popular for employees and fill up. Also note all those people have to deal with crossing Western as well.
It’s a safety issue for the many kids using that intersection, hence should be a priority.
Some fun pictures from Skysite Images of the new Integrated Science Center in the middle of campus
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxGPIhPrHZ5/?img_index=1
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