As long as they get that Blue Ridge/Fairgrounds commuter train station built and the ticket prices are reasonable.
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Convention Center Phase II: have no idea what is taking so long for Phase II with a large signature hotel (letās not talk funding at all, hotel and motel tax can stay art project, letās just talk about planning and getting planning finished, should have started working and completing Phase II planning and renderings once Phase I was built over 10 years ago, 10 years wasted moving so slowly when there has been demand for more space (at least another 1M sq ft or more space and there is a need for 1000ās more hotel rooms)).
We have known for years that Raleigh is being considered for larger events, but does not get them due to a lack of a larger facility and more hotel rooms.
Build it, what is the delay, so much new revenue lost.
Does anyone know, if at a minimum m, city has designed Phase II?
And where are the renderings?
They need to move on this ASAP, stop wasting valuable time.
Maybe I am a bit partial here, but I really love Red Hat and would really hate to see it go. I know it was/is ātemporaryā but it has really grown on me over the years. It took a severely underused lot downtown and brought lots of people and events to that space for relatively low cost to the city.
On the other hand, I rarely go to the Convention Center, so I am completely biased here. But please, if you must do away with Red Hat, build us another awesome venue (in Dix Park maybe?) before it is bulldozed for the Convention Center expansion.
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Red Hat moving to Dix is one of my dream projects, I envision a combo live theater and music venue (Shakespeare in the Park meets the Boston Hatchshell). I can just see myself in 15 years, sitting out in the park enjoying the cool September evening, with the skyline in the distance, watching Much Ado About Nothing with my family.
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Nickster,
I like Redhat, but I think it will be even better at Dix Park, as long as long as the is a direct connector to Downtiwn Raleigh where you do not have to get back in your car, this is key (want to have easy access to DTR and Dix by foot, or people mover.
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How about āTheatre in the Oaksā as a potential name? LOL
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I ā¦ kind of love that name.
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If there were to be a new soccer stadium that would have to host any of the events/concerts that were held at Red Hat in order to be viable. (The stadium is still a crazy long shot and has issues of its own with the proposed location.)
Dix isnāt ready to host big events as itās still hard to get a lot of people in and out of and doesnāt have a ton of parking. I live directly across the street so itās fairly easy for me, I guess you could to a shuttle but people love their cars. It will be interesting to see how JColeās Dreamville Festival handles the crowd; unfortunately Iāll be out of town that weekend, so I wonāt get to witness the crowds and traffic to see how it goes.
Red Hat moving to Dix BEFORE they trash the old one is a great idea for so many reasons!
I hate for downtown to lose Red Hat. Itās been so nice to have a music venue walkable to downtown living and restaurants. Itās so nice for the bluegrass festival and hopscotch to have the outdoor venue right there where you can meander back and forth. The amphitheater and the shimmer wall seem to be Raleigh icons at this point and I think downtown will lose some of its vibe when the venue leaves and is replaced by the convention center addition. I was hoping they would make it permanent and make it nicer but always new it was supposed to be temporary.
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Itās been more than 10 years since Phase I opened, if they are not done with Phase II plans something is seriously wrong with leadership and people responsible for expanding convention center, it was to small to begin with, maybe we will start building big from the start.
There is no stopping Raleigh growth, start building iconic, extra space from the beginning!!
Look at Dillion, that shouks have been 35-40 stories, no one can tell me it would not have filled up in 3-6 months.
Where are Phase II plans and renderings, answer, no one has done anything in 12 years.
How sad, have thrown millions of dollars away.
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My issue with the convention centerā¦ What is on the upper floors??? EVERY single thing I have been to there has been in the basement. You go in on Salisbury street, then go down a floorā¦ Then you go down the lobby area, and go down again to the basement. I feel like I am in a cave (which as a geologist isnāt the worst thing the world 
) But they only tend to use a portion of the total space. Plus what is on those upper floors (plural). What is the point of expansion if every event is in the basement. Welcome to the Raleigh bomb shelter. HAHA
I would rather keep Red Hat intact. We can build a bigger fallout shelter somewhere else. Why not the PNC arena area? If you are underground regardless, does the location really even matter 
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Iāve talked with people who have seen the renderings for convention center Phase 2 expansion. Iām afraid Iām hesitant to repeat it because I didnāt quite understand the descriptions and it sounds like a very creative solution.
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The upper floors consist of larger hotel convention style rooms.
The county transportation bond presentation was held there.
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DOWNTOWN! DOWNTOWN! DOWNTOWN!
And yes, it matters! Thank you! 
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Everything should be downtown. Who was the genius that put NC Museum on blue ridge, that was idiotic.
I was there throughout process and in meetings to support downtown arena, Fetzer and his lap dogs (Coble and Briggs), were the stumbling blocks to our arena going downtown.
New PNC belongs in downtown, PERIOD. Lease is up in 2026, if they do not plan, design and break ground for new downtown arena, city and county will lose millions of dollars and that building will lose a tenant and start collecting dust.
Hey Raleigh, sit around doing nothing to prepare for 2026 and you will regret it.
Hey Raleigh, get proactive, buy the land, plan and build a Class A, best-in-class PNC Center (not Arena) NOW in downtown for our teams.
Also, for NC State students to have to trek out to that cow field is sad.
They should be able to walk to games, downtown is perfect for students.
A couple of years ago, I spoke with Larry Wheeler (director of the NCMA) whom explained that he would have preferred it to be downtown as well. However, it was politics and those people got what they wanted, where they wantedā¦and downtown Raleigh will be forever saddled with that decision. Even though it not totally now me, thank goodness for CAM! 
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If they rebuilt red hat in its current location with actual topographic slope so itās not just a flat wasteland of concrete with seats in it, that would be cool. However, designing one around the nature and giant oaks in Dix with plenty of planning ahead of time regarding parking and transit would be better IMO. I love an actual lawn seating option, which red hat just doesnāt have.
FYI in the latest master siteplan for Dix there is an amphitheatre and 2k parking spots. Comments were submitted to design team and they are revisiting the plan, possibly adding more parking and expanding amphitheater (I hope)
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Nothing I love more in a public park than parking. 
āThey paved paradise and put up a parking lotā¦ā
We (as a society) really need to start thinking outside of the personal automobileā¦ Just sayinā
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I agree, and for perspective there are currently roughly 2k spots in Dix campus scattered among all the various buildings. They are proposing to consolidate the existing parking, and design/build parking in a much more ecofriendly manner. I canāt find a picture from their presentation, but they have some really cool examples of parking lots in parks that look more like parks than parking lots.