If you just add some !!! You don’t have to do 20 characters.
Midtownt to Downtown Express Shuttle under consideration:
"Transportation staff have reviewed City Council’s request to provide an express transit service from Midtown to Downtown. The proposed route would provide stops at the Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) and the Museum of History and Museum of Natural Sciences. It would then operate non-stop to Wake Forest Road and St Albans Drive near Duke Raleigh Hospital and where multiple hotels provide accommodations for RCC visitors. The service would then proceed to Midtown where additional hotels would be served. This service would require two buses to operate with a frequency of every 30 minutes. The service would have a starting time of 7 AM and operate until 9 PM - 7 days per week, this service would cost approximately $735,000 annually. There is no funding currently programmed for this pilot service.
For a pilot project, GoRaleigh could utilize their contingency fleet of buses. This fleet consists of vehicles beyond their 12-year life cycle and retained in service ready status to be utilized for special events and emergency needs. If this pilot program was successful and Council wanted the service to continue, two additional buses would need to be procured. The cost of a new 30’ to 40’ heavy-duty transit bus would depend on the availability of federal funding and would require a lead time of 12-14 months for delivery. Due to the general-public nature of this service, it is likely that federal funds could be leveraged to fund a portion of the bus expense.
The Wake Transit Plan will fund direct service from downtown to midtown (although not express service) beginning in 2025. This service would be a high frequency network service operating every 15 minutes. GoRaleigh services currently exist along Wake Forest Road, Route 2 Falls of the Neuse, and to Midtown on the Route 8, Six Forks Road. Both services operate at a 30-minute frequency.
A new MIS (major investment study) is underway to explore options for the northern Wake Bus Rapid Transit corridor. The study area for this initiative includes Six Forks Road and Capital Boulevard to I-540. It is anticipated that this study will be completed by the end of FY2023."
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I wonder why the push from City Council on that route. I’d say lose that and start implementing the new #8 bus route that will run along East Six Forks Rd/Atlantic. There’s more people who could potentially benefit from that route.
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My guess, service the hotels to get better connectivity to the convention center.
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I think it’s because this sudden proposal is just a pilot study; a steady flow of limited money doesn’t need to be diverted for a temporary experiment like this. The 8 bus expansion, on the other hand, is locally-funded but isn’t budgeted to start until FY2026. What’s the harm in trying something new while we wait?
Besides, Raleigh doesn’t have limited-stop buses that stays within its own city’s boundary (and the closest non-GoTriangle bus like that is Chapel Hill’s FCX, which is one of its most popular routes). Like the summary Francisco copy-pasted from implies, this could also give useful data to argue for even more frequent buses when the 8 bus upgrades come and/or strengthen the study for extending BRT to Midtown.
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I wonder if this is planned to use the lodging tax like the R-Line does? That may be why it’s specifically referencing the hotels and convention center/museums. Anyone know?
Saw this earlier and wanted to share. Looks like the Fenton grabbed four more retailers and is 90% leased out. The article mentions eventually a grocer will go in, but they haven’t announced anything new yet.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article255330766.html#storylink=mainstage_card5
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I think we’ll see phase 2 announced here pretty soon. That’s incredible to be that leased up these days before opening.
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I’m aware of another tenant there that hasn’t been announced yet for some reason, so the development is probably in reality closer to 100% leased out.
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Yeah I’m personally excited to see how this turns out. They got some strong food options (Dram, Crawford, M Sushi, etc.) going in there. I didn’t realize that sports bar (Sports & Social) would be the largest in the Triangle they have going in either. I’m sure that thing will be packed on game days.
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The one outside the Braves stadium is massive. If it’s anything like that it’ll definitely be the place to be.
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“Southern Tide…the lifestyle brand is well-known for its preppy southern styles and sailing-inspired designs.”
Lol can’t wait for that. Just my style… 
In all seriousness, I’m very excited for the Fenton project, given how close it is to my house. The 2 biggest disappointments for me are:
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Wegmans dropping out and then nothing being announced for so long. I feel like getting a Publix or Harris Teeter doesn’t need this 8+ month negotiation/big reveal. Secretly hoping it winds up being something much cooler and more unique.
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The original plan called for extending Trinity Rd. to connect it to 54. They haven’t even started removing trees yet, and when I reached out they said it would happen “at some later stage.” This connection, to me, is vital for integrating Fenton into the area, instead of just being a highway exit. I’m hoping this doesn’t get dropped like Wegmans.
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Yeah can’t wait to get my preppy style on…
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IMO honestly I’d be surprised if a Harris Teeter goes in there. There’s one literally at Cary Town Blvd/Maynard so you’d think that would be too close to (what I’m assuming) what would be a super-size HT? However they have an large HT at Tryon/Kildaire and another one at Tryon/Walnut so who knows. Publix would be interesting shout for that spot. I think I read Hines is Texas-based and some people here mentioned a Texas-based grocer there potentially?
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Yeah you’d think that would be a no brainer. Anyone attending any sort of event at WakeMed soccer park would have a plethora of post-event activities (aka spend more money in Cary). WakeMed, for how much crap we give it, does host some pretty noteworthy events. Top of my head I can think of ACC Soccer tournament, NCFC/Courage, National High School Soccer Showcase tournaments (I played there back in the day), and large cross country tournaments just to name a few.
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Well, maybe the way to get over the loss of Wegman’s is to pry HEB out of Texas for this development.
That’d make a statement…
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I would drive out there for an HEB Central Market and not think twice.
I was going to ask if HEB had the same level of Texas-pride as a Buc-ee’s but @oakcityyimby might have answered that for me 
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The Trinity Rd. extension also involves a grade separation for the Chatham and Trinity intersection (to get Trinity over the RR tracks), so they’re probably waiting for that to shake out. Would help commuter rail, too.
EDIT: Checking out the retail mix they just announced, these are pretty “exclusive” brands. Archer Paper has only four other locations, and they’re all in pretty notable areas like Ponce City Market in ATL and Deep Ellum in Dallas. Southern Tide doesn’t exactly open stores everywhere, either.
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Hope Southern Tide has a better go of it than they did at North Hills.
Up the khaki % to TTL, tamp down those pesky pastels over in Caryland… 
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Hines is Texas-based, but Columbia Development is leading the retail portion; they’re from Columbia SC (duh) with a secondary office in Atlanta. Hence, probably, the number of Atlanta names.
The various transport improvements are scheduled in phases. See pages 48-onward of this document:
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