The mall has no choice. There’s too much value there now, the location is too good, and they have to get bigger to retain relevance.
I think climate change is only going to make the flooding situation worse with bigger events and more frequency. I hope they account for future environmental conditions when they’re investing this much money.
I have heard that Amazon is good for a lot of things, but I personally try not to put everything in one basket so to speak. I go to the mall occasionally, Ace Hardware/Town & Country, and nice little bistro establishments downtown. So, I would say that not one place has everything or can give me the personal experiences that I enjoy. Plus, I have always enjoy going outside, via, bike, walking, car, other, and mingling kind of like I am doing now. Expanding my horizons by communicating with you and the other wonderful Friends of DTR! 
I noticed there’s really only one shiny rendering of the proposed development, and that’s of the 30-story tower.
What about other places? Specifically, will anything be done to the creek? I feel like that could be made into a really nice streetside water feature/landscaping that could double as anti-flood measures.
When I am in Canada to visit the in-laws I noticed that nearly all the malls - big and small - have a grocery story attached. Its darn convenient!!
Revised slightly to include more bridges for connectivity across Glenwood (including one pedestrian bridge) and a pedestrian route from Ridge Road to the mall and the greenway.
You would think by now a flood wall would’ve been built.
The same in Europe and Asia
Crabtree was before it’s time. There used to be a Big Star (I think that’s what it was) where Best Buy is.
There are/or were sort of a flood walls, in that all the lower level door and other openings have/had 4ft high slots in them where could insert thick plywood panels to keep water out. I have not been there for a number of years so not sure if still in place. Maybe someone can drop by and check to see if they still have them.
and they built all those damns upstream - at least 2 if I am remembering right. One of my first memories of Raleigh is Crabtree flooding not long after it opened. I remember because our apartment flooded. As a second grader it left an impression. They actually let the 5th graders go home early to help their parents. That building grouping is now a gravel lot -the old Palms grouping on the right as you head up Horton off Lake Boone.
Rather than flood walls, the effort focused on controlling the flow in the mall basin: damns, greenways, run off rules.
Looking North: (1950s?, possibly earlier)
Floodplain that became Crabtree on left…Glenwood ave (under construction)…Creedmoor interchange in top left corner (under construction)… Leesville rd on the right (current day Lead Mine; was the main road to Durham at the time)…Ridge rd at the bottom (Followed the alignment of Arrow drive before the beltline was built)
1971 Aerial:
mall under construction…“Big Star” grocery store on the right…notice the ramps at the old interchange with Creedmoor (top of pic)
Converting the quarry just upstream to stormwater retention would have a sizeable impact on flooding. Quarries have enormous capacity because they are so deep. It could reduce the peak levels of Crabtree Creek to less damaging levels during major floods. Not big enough to eliminate flooding entirely though.
Its proximity to the mall.helps a lot, since only one major tributary, Hare Snipe Creek, joins Crabtree downstream of the quarry and upstream of the mall. If anyone has the appetite for a heavy engineering project, a bored tunnel from there to the quarry could divert excess flood waters from Hare Snipe Creek. Probably not worth it, but if potentially billions of dollars in development could be headed that way in the long run, then maybe?
Crabtree Quarry and Whitewater Center. A new water feature and tourist mecca for Raleigh. (only when it storms). Nice!
I believe that there were supposed to be 10 or 12 lakes up stream to control the flooding. They did not build the last one which was supposed to make the valley nearly flood proof. The county did not want to spend the money. Some examples of the lakes are Lynn, Shelly, Crabtree, the one by the airport, etc.
Would be interested to see that plan, and learn where that 12th missing lake would have gone. (Wonder if the quarry could take its place?) Also would be interesting to see if their calculations (likely 1960s era?) were correct, and if it really would have prevented flooding during some of the monster storms since then (like Fran).
Think would be really hard to prevent flooding from a storm that drops 3ft of water.
I lived in Richmond (which has floodwalls downtown) during TROPICAL STORM (not hurricane) Gaston. The floodwalls actually kept the water in the city to a point where Shockoe Bottom bore the brunt of the flooding. I think we got like 13 inches of rain in 11 hours (this number may be off…). The walls were designed to keep the James River out of the city, however the one time I saw them in use, they kept the urban flooding IN the city.
Edit: The video below is from Bottom’s Up Pizza (I highly recommend this place!!) located directly across the street from the Floodwall. There is now a “high water mark” on the wall as you come in the front door.
TLDR… Nature (water) is ALWAYS going to win over what humans try to control. We need to live in harmony with the occasional flooding, or else we will just make the problem worse.
Yep the Chinese have been trying to control the Yangtze River for 2000 years and still has major flooding ever few years.
