If anything, I bet it’s a similar situation to San Quentin in California, where the lawyers like having an easy commute to talk to their clients, even if it’s a really dumb place for a modern prison.
I don’t hate it, would much prefer to look from the park and train than the prison, but the farmers market has a wholesale component that likes being on the highway, note all the semi-trailers parked along the northern/northeast corner of the site in the picture above.
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I swear Dundon need to learn that the state will not sacrifice any of their property for it.
I don’t think Dundon has indicated whatsoever that he’s looking at state properties lmao. This is all just our armchair developers in here saying these things.
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That seems to be exactly what Dundon is doing at Lenovo Center. My hunch is given all that investment he’s planning on Wade Avenue, he’ll prioritize any MLB stadium there to add more “activation” for the growing sports as people around here like to say. In fact his organization has already labeled what they’re building there as the “Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District” in the N&O.
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So, essentially another effort to hollow out the city center of its activation. Like North Hills, this district will not be a public space like downtown is, rather a Disneyesque version of a downtown where its owners can fully control who’s there and at what times.
That said, I know that a lot of people like this sort of thing. It’s just not for me.
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Yep the state will never sacrifice any land they’ll find it but never sacrifice any land for MLB.
In order to “hollow out” the city center, it needs to first be full. Given that downtown Raleigh is FAR FROM being full (hello empty parking lots!?), nothing is hollowing out anything as much as the Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District will be COMPETING WITH downtown Raleigh…the way it is right now. which admittedly is not that active downtown.
Dundon has the land development rights already, so if it was MY INVESTMENT I’d probably try to maximize my return on investment already made before attempting to assemble a completely DIFFERENT set of land somewhere else (downtown, prison, Cary, etc.). That just seems like common sense.
There’s lots to dislike about Disney as a company, but their placemaking and creativity and immersive experiential design is superb, it’s just not everyone’s taste, hence people perhaps intending “Disneyesque” as a pejorative for their facilities.
There’s a very real possibility that post-COVID, the era of having to have a critical mass of people in dense proximity to one another in the city center may not be needed or even as likely… before so many people shifted to WFH. There’s a very good chance Raleigh downtown will never resemble anything close to Charlotte’s “uptown” highrises compared to Raleigh’s future before COVID. My understanding is Raleigh is 2nd to last in terms of largish cities with downtown’s coming back to life post-COVID (right above San Francisco if I remember the chart here on the site somewhere).
Downtown needs a reason for people to come drive there, visit there, ride the bus there, or need to live there. Once upon a time proximity to employment and offices was a reason, but that’s debatable now, and certainly less a reason than it used to be.
As you said previously, since an MLB stadium is not used every day, it may not make sense to put it somewhere downtown compared to something that WOULD be used and see activity every day.
I like the idea of a downtown stadium, don’t get me wrong, but given who is championing the MLB expansion here, and what he’s doing on Wade Avenue, I do wonder if downtown is part of his vision for a location. I would not be surprised if his answer is No.
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I don’t think ill be downtown either most cities have their stadium outside downtown so yeah maybe not around the PNC site, but on Wade Avenue or Blue Ridge.
Folks… 
They will not ever build a baseball stadium in the place where they hold the state fair.
They will not ever build it next to Dix Park where there’s a maximum-security state prison there.*
They will not ever build it at the Farmer’s Market where lots of people like to shop.
These are all ideas that everyone really needs to drop.
So if they won’t ever build it there, or there, or there … will they ever build one anywhere?
Maybe, maybe, just maybe someone might build a baseball stadium near Raleigh someday
But if they do, I freaking promise you they’ll put it next to an interchange alongside the highway.
At an exit off the freeway, that’s where all the other MLB stadiums (except Wrigley) are
Because most people going to see a ballgame like to get there in a car.
So it won’t be in downtown Raleigh, and Dundon’s people have already foreseen a
Central location in the Triangle alongside I-40, just like where they put the arena.
The End. 
*even if you raze the prison, there’s still the massive problem of having only one point of ingress/egress, on Western Blvd., which is difficult to rhyme but still makes a stadium completely infeasible.
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I DO NOT LIKE THEM IN A HOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A MOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE.
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Okay, we can close this thread now. David has spoken.
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(****At an exit off the freeway, that’s where all the other MLB stadiums (except Wrigley) are)
And the Orioles’ Camden Yards which is, in my humble opinion, by far the best baseball stadium and location of all and one to be emulated.
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I-395 spur goes there, connects directly to I-95
.
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It’s also walkable downtown and the fans spill out to downtown bars and restaurants on foot. People who live in the city walk to the games.
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Best of both worlds, and that is really ideal. Though I didnt find the area parricularly friendy to walkers with the sea of parking on two sides, there was a great resturant across the lots.
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And it’s 1.9 miles off of 95 with a leg of 395 that feeds the stadium and downtown Baltimore. It’s is a downtown stadium without question.
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Yes, no doubt. With freeway acess, and that was the point.
And, they have a light rail stop at the warehouse.
I still doubt MLB will come here, I’m honestly going to be skeptical, but I’ll believe it when I see it. They say they’re surveying and studying sites right now but honestly, that could take years. We don’t have corporate support and I need to get this out of my system. I don’t think we’ll get it.
Plus we don’t know when expansion will happen it could be years from now. Don’t think I’ll be next year, though you never know.