Ignoring my terrible 'shopping skills. This could be a good option if all the stars aligned.
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no.
this is a bad idea.
please review the buildings currently there.
thanks.
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Those can all be moved. Shaw needs the money anyways.
There doesn’t appear to be enough room for an amphitheater of enough size to attract the same acts that RedHat does. The only place within downtown that appears big enough is the state employees sea of concrete bounded by Edenton/Jones/Wilm/Blount but that’s never going to happen because of the state and it’s too close to Oakwood. I think the best option would be the Peace St. soccer stadium but again that seems like a pipe dream.
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Oh one other spot that would be perfect is the Central Prison site but that aint happening either. 
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That 'shop picture didn’t change the size red hat amp relative to the area behind DEPCA. There’s enough space if Wilmington Street is realigned and DEPCA is renovated. Shaw buildings are moved a few hundred feet east somewhere on their main campus.
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Red Hat currently takes up an entire city block I just can’t believe that whole city block can fit behind the DEPCA from looking at the satellite imagery on Google Maps. Any moving of Wilmington to the east, I assume, means Shaw would have to relocate buildings on that side.
Way too much money to preserve a couple thousand seat outdoor music venue.
Incorporating it in to the City Gateway site across the seat would be better size wise but that’s prime real-estate too and no one is going to want to give up land for an amphitheater.
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Red Hat Amp city block is roughly 440 by 440 feet roughly, which is rough how much space is behind DEPCA and the highway. It would barely fit but it will fit. A redesigned amp can be designed to work with the space limitations. Again pipe dream.
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Awhile back I talked with some architects who had seen the renderings for the convention center expansion. Their description was that the expansion went over and around the amphitheater. Sounded intriguing and ambitious. Without having seen them myself, I’m still skeptical something like that could work.
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I actually was wondering about something like that but figured it was too silly and far fetched to even be considered. I’m searching around and maybe I’m not using the right search terms but I’m not finding many other “big” cities with an amphitheater of RedHat’s size smack dab in the center of downtown. Nashville and Charlotte have ones but they’re on the fringes of downtown (I refuse to call it uptown.)
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Boston and Baltimore have them, but they are typically incorporated into public space along a body of water that we alllllllll know Raleigh doesn’t have. So it goes!
I love Red Hat, with the caveats that it’s not great acoustically and not protected from the elements, but you can’t beat the location and the backdrop. Since we have no stadium/arena downtown, it’s really the only communal venue of it’s kind. That said, a convention center expansion is much more valuable usage of that land, so I’m all for giving it up in the name of progress. As for a replacement venue, it would need to be Dix, because downtown is boxed in by residential on all sides otherwise. The only exception I might be able to see happening is somewhere within Seaboard Station.
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What about putting a RedHat amphitheater 2.0 on the ROOF of the expanded convention center?? Same location, higher elevation, away from the street noise, still right in downtown, with all the highrises around it (crossing my fingers that some of the new buildings go up to the north and west and southwest, as well as a few in the Gateway area.) That would make it feel much more urban to be ringed by high buildings, and still stay close to all the parking and bars/restaurants right in DTR. And also right across the street from the Convention Center/RedHat Amphitheater light rail stop. It will never happen, but if we are dreaming here, why not? 
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Convention centers are all about that uninterrupted exhibition space, meaning no columns, meaning the roof wouldn’t support 5k people on top of it, let alone 5k people slam dancing (and the noise from the music). That’s my guess at least.
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Interesting interview with the new director of the Convention Center.
Talks of expansion and future of Red Hat theater.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/02/07/executive-voice-painter-brings-wealth-of.html?iana=hpmvp_trig_news_headline
“With a potential amphitheater at Dix Park, what should happen with the Red Hat Amphitheater property? I would love to find a way to marry the amphitheater with more convention space. … I am not yet ready to recommend any design or location, but am definitely a believer in the need for more convention space and a clear and easy connection between our downtown assets and the park. With that said, we also need a large, full-service convention hotel located as adjacent as possible to help us attract more citywide conventions.”
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When in the heck is that dual branded hotel supposed to be built on the block north of the Convention Center? if it’s not going to happen, get that developer out of the way so that a hotel that is more substantial can be built in support of the RCC.
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From the article today on the Nash Square hotel.
“Directly behind the proposed hotel is yet another property that could one day be home to lodging development. Winwood Hospitality Group bought the Firestone auto shop site for $6 million in November, with plans to build a hotel on the site. But after the sale, Winwood President Amit Patel told TBJ that his firm plans to delay building on the site to see how the lodging market develops in the neighborhood. While the firm waits, Patel plans to start work on a 12-story Courtyard by Marriott on another property the company owns one block to the southeast.”
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Would it make sense to incorporate a large (convention) hotel INTO the convention center expansion? (IE where Red Hat is now). That would free up the Enterprise block for something new (office tower(s) or maybe ever a few residential buildings). Whatever goes there needs to be significant (no more 20 story crap). That will be prime location for corporate signage from the “money shot”. And whatever goes on the N&O block will be just slightly higher in elevation and another opportunity for a corporate logo in the skyline above the Enterprise property development. Win win
(Clearly the early pollen is affecting my head today. I am never this optimistic about anything. lol)
I like the idea of incorporating a hotel into phase 2 of RCC. Whether it’s on the RedHat block or the triangle shaped block to its west, It’s always welcomed by conventions to be able connect directly to a hotel without having to go outside. A skybridge like the one that links the Nature Research Center to the science museum would be a good example of how to do it.
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I second this…
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Yeah I would say just take the lot RedHat is on and expand the convention center with a big time flagship hotel on top. 30+ stories. Similiar to the Koury Center in Greensboro
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