Ha! Very true… maybe another 50 years or so?!
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I seldom go to malls but I found myself at WRAL Soccer Park for one of my kid’s soccer games one Saturday afternoon last year. After the game we had time to kill. We decided to go to TTC for the food court for lunch. Hearing all the bad press about TTC I didn’t know what to expect - but when we stepped inside it was absolutely popping with people, of all ages and races. Were there a couple vacant stores? Sure- but it felt literally the furthest thing from desolate.
I wound up getting some Pho from a vietnamese place at the food court, it was quite yummy. We wound up sticking around for a couple hours and doing some shopping and overall had a great time. Next time I am up at WRAL, I will definitely make it a point to go back.
I can’t help but wonder if all the doomsday stories about malls, and TTC specifically, fall along the same lines as the Fox News blowhards’ diatribes about Chicago as “CHIRAQ”. Does Chicago have some rough areas? Yes. Always has. But it’s a fantastically vibrant city with tons to do, and it’s super affordable compared to places like Boston, NY, or DC.
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Basically I think some of the fears about safety at TTC are coming from people who see highly racially mixed demographics like this and think “OMG dangerous area better stay away.”
Has TTC seen a few incidents over the years? You bet. But what mall hasn’t? Is it even any worse than at Crabtree? I don’t know for sure but just googling for incidents shows a comparable record over the last 10 or so years. I suspect the dangerous reputation is broadly undeserved.
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Other than the desolate outside area in the back, TTC has pretty low vacancy. I do wonder though how much they are generating from rent. If you notice, there is not even a Starbucks in the mall anymore. No major chain restaurants really other than chick fil a. Same goes for most of the retail. Hopefully when they redo the outside area where the old Champs was that will help the vibes.
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I admit that I haven’t been in years, since it’s just so far away. It was recording mediocre (not dire, but definitely not great) sales per square foot numbers back when CBL owned it. It was then sold to a vulture landlord, which has a record of not paying its bills.
Macy’s has seven locations in NC; compared to Crabtree, Southpoint, Friendly, Cross Creek, and SouthPark, the two that stand out are Triangle Town and Northlake. (I doubt they’ll close 30% in each state, though; e.g., NJ has 25 Macy’s locations for 1.5M fewer residents than NC.)
But obviously someone’s still shopping there; was somewhat surprised to see Nordstrom Rack chose a TTC-adjacent stripmall for their first store in Wake County.
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I live over there like behind TTC, nothing is bad over here are there some vagabonds? Yes. But most of the disruptions are done by mostly white people. This area has a lot of unhoused folks living in the forest, most of them walk with grocery store carts and do drugs but nothing dangerous they just have their tents. They also go find a place to shower, then return.
There was a circus outside for a few weeks, but inside the mall is mostly small businesses, they have Chick-fil-A, Cinnabon everything else is locally owned probably. But it’s mostly a mall for the lower class.
It wasn’t busy at Brahmin Raleigh’s first luxury store, but I’m reminded when I visited Orlando’s mall there luxury side was pretty empty. I wonder when there busy.
TTC never shook its reputation from the riot. That’s the long and short of it.
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this is pretty much spot on. sucks cause it’s really no different than the average mall, I never feel unsafe at TTC. sure it doesn’t have the best selection of stores, but it definitely gets the job done if you’re in the area.
also, I think it’s understated just how many people (like my mom/family for example that live an hour north of here) typically go there instead of Crabtree because it’s much more accessible. they can just get in and out and head back home on US-1 instead of having to navigate through “city” traffic by having to go to Crabtree. I barely ever went to Crabtree growing up because of this reason alone.
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So my question is, does this include the second office building with the cool skybridge? That’s the only part of this project I’m yet to care about, and also seems the least likely to happen.
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The ‘Lifetime’ up FoN near the 540 interchange is MASSIVE and its large (surface) parking lot is consistently full at all times of day and roiling with people once ‘pool weather’ shows up - so, while there’s no sky bridge, this will likely make things ‘work out’ quite nicely for DeWitt…
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That was a long time ago I think I hadn’t heard that till 2021. Now I know they said at 6pm on nights kids have to be accompanied by a parent but it thought it was for a fight my mom told me not a riot.
Won’t fit your Gucci lifestyle.
That’s nice and they fidna have a helicopter also that’s gonna be a new type of version like Austin’s The Domain.
I mean it became a self-sustaining thing. The location was always less than ideal, and it simply became easier to look elsewhere. Crabtree remained the default mall, Brier Creek became the choice for the 540 crowd.
you really have no sense of situational awareness and it bugs the hell outta me. we all have our inner thoughts/prejudices about our own races (and others) but this isn’t the place to just say every damn thing that comes to your mind. certain shit you just should know to not say on an online forum, regardless of whether you think it’s true or not. Please do us a favor and stop mentioning race on here unless you plan on doing it with some couth.
TTC doesn’t “cater” to black businesses btw. They’re pretty much signing any leases they can get atp, and alot the tenants just so happen to be black because it’s probably a lot more affordable/less competitive than getting a similar spot in Crabtree.
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My intentions were not to be racial, I’m just going by what I see with my eyes. Remember I live there. I also have a business mindset and I think it would be smart to cater to blacks since you mentioned their black tenants. I should’ve expanded on that what I meant to say is TTC could become an attraction if they market themselves to blacks, like hosting festivals, entertainment shows among other amenities catered to them. I’m suggesting It could be it’s own district, I should’ve and expanded on what mean’t I’m sorry if you took it that way.
I’ll cross post this here.
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