Smoky Hollow Phases 1, 2, and 3

Old Finch’s was awesome, would love to see that family make a comeback in sleepy hollow.

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I have to roll my eyes at the 'everything should be equal" comments and that “the industrial worker and the CEO” should live together in harmony. The naivety around this statement from someone who manages the City Museum is a bit baffling. Find anyone who thinks SE Raleigh was nice or safe…in any way 5 years ago that isn’t trying to spin job some story as if Martin Luther King slept in a house there, I’ll eat my words. You’ll find plenty of renters who want to yell from the mountaintop that their rent should stay $400/month and they should be allowed to stay there forever, as if its some sort of birthright…citing a bunch of nonsense about ‘history’. The reality is Smokey Hollow just like SE Raleigh was a poverty stricken area with all the negatives that come along with poverty. We live in a capitalistic society, not a socialist society. If not for the opportunity to better the properties (yes, and make a buck) investment would never come. It’s not like I"m some sort of heartless person who doesn’t care about people being displaced from their homes as areas gentrify HOWEVER to try and argue that SE Raleigh or Smokey Hollow had some sort of valuable character to the City is a bunch of nonsense. Just because poor people can’t live there any longer doesn’t mean it once had ‘value’ that’s being trampled upon.

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Yeah its more that a lot of these areas were kept intentionally poor and many of the residents were prevented from living elsewhere through either restrictive covenants and or redlining. The inability to buy a house also leads to the inability build personal equity while other areas of the city prosper and eventually swoop in and displace older residents when that neighborhood becomes the new cool spot.

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I agree with almost everything that you said except this quote:

I think, like it or not we are becoming more of a combination society with a Capitalist core but with Socialist branches…(maybe my statement belongs in the political folder?)

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If you truly believe the way things are now is the end of history… and there is nothing better after this, that’s a pretty bleak outlook for the human race isn’t it?

OMG
What are you talking about? Who said anything about the end of history? :rofl::joy:

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Time for an updated picture. Most notably, most of Rollins cleaners is now gone (zoom in)

. The Peace is up to about the 8th floor. Parking deck making progress.

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It certainly is a massive building. It’s also really nice to see a concrete building being built.

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Agreed. Isn’t this only going to be 9 or 10 levels? Almost peaked?

Actually, I believe this is a 12-story development.

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Rollins etc, were being torn down today when I walked by.

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I think zoned for 12 but he’s only going 11. Not sure if parking under Publix counts as a level or not.

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Hmm, you’re right. From the N&O:

In addition, the building will be 11 stories, rather than the 12 previously announced.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article200955759.html#storylink=cpy

I wonder what changed?

Maybe zoning counts parking and Kane doesn’t? I’ll keep you posted when I see them Cap out.

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For a building of this size, It’s not very impressive from the Captial Blvd bridge driving by. If you don’t count the stories, It looks like one of the billion 5 story office buildings around the triangle area. I was thinking with it so close that it would really have some visual appeal as you head into DTR from the north. Like a very clear, “you are entering downtown Raleigh” point. We’ll see how impressive it is when it caps out.

And this is off topic but FNB building isn’t going to be very impressive either, at least for skyline view. If the crane is at it’s max height now, then it will be visible but is really just going to blend in between Charter Square and City Plaza. (I do realize this one will have a big affect on the street experience though.)

Oh shit, they finally tore down Rollins? Man I feel so out of the loop but I was hoping those would be gone soon and we can finally just look forward to the building up in that area. It looks so bad right now but with so much happening to improve it as well. Very excited for this area.

But yes, FNB is so underwhelming in terms of height and impact. I understand the reasons and am happy to finally fill in the last chunk of Fayetteville St but wish we had something going up that made a real impact.

One has to remember that, with the bridge over Peace, Capital is significantly elevated and provides a vantage point for a driver that lands somewhere in the middle of the Peace building. Peace also stands at one of the lowest elevations downtown as well.
As far as I’m concerned, the entire Peace/Smokey Hollow project is going to add some thickness/density to the NW corner of downtown and I don’t have any problem with that whatsoever.
As for FNB, I never thought that it was going to be terribly visually impactful vis-a-vis its immediate neighbors.
In the end, and as I’ve said in the past, street level experience matters to me more than everything else downtown. The massive 3 phase Kane project is going to deliver street level experiences in spades. Thumbs up from me.

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The City once had two lots for sale, that are now the Duke Energy Center parking lot, as part of the larger auction of property down that way. I think there were 7 parcels total…three are now Convention Center/Red Hat/Overlfow parking. Charter Square 1 and 2 and the two that would flank an extended Fayetteville St (historically it was there of course) were the other 2. Anyway, I imagine the city will eventually put those out to bid again but who knows when.

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I agree. To me it looks like a proper City off to the west when coming in on Capital.

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The last chunks of Fayetteville St. are those lots by the performing arts center that the city is holding onto for a marquee type project.

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