To summarize - The state moved the DMV to Rocky Mount due to cost of mitigating asbestos and safety concerns. The City of Raleigh has hinted at buying the property and developers have shown interest as well. The City as well as local neighborhood leaders would like to see the property developed into housing/services/etc. for the neighbors of the local community, so that they have access to businesses that currently require them to drive. Huge focus on trying to preserve the neighborhood and the residents that currently live in the area.
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Don’t see this going to a developer for high-end units in this location. Hopefully it can be filled with very dense affordable housing plus neighborhood amenities. Anything less is a missed opportunity.
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If the State sells to the ‘highest bidder’ with no conditions you can guarantee that it will be market rate…& ‘higher end’. IF the City gets their nose in it and starts complaining about ‘affordable this & that’…it all depends on whether A) The State will listen & care (keep in mind the GOP controls the legislature). or B) whether the State takes the position that it has a fiduciary responsibility to all taxpayers to get the highest possible return…which will mean no affordable anything conditions.
Personally, my vote is to sell it to the highest bidder and let it improve that crappy section of New Bern…quickly.
The last thing I want is the City buying it because it will take forever for anything to be built because they will have to pander to the constituents who just complain about gentrification for eternity
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I think the city blew its load on DIX park, I don’t anticipate them being involved financially. But I do anticipate the city finding a way to handcuff the development forcing conditions on the sale, maybe I’m wrong.
There is plenty of room here to piece-meal the property into sections to achieve a little of everything. But that would take the initiative from the State to envision that opportunity, so I’m not holding my breath.
Also I will try and get a picture after work, but the two condo projects on New Bern have really taken off, with the Oak City Overlook being sold out expect 1 unit, THAT IS CRAZY!
908 New Bern Ave has also broken ground. Same configuration across the street, 3 story condos with rooftop deck. New Bern is really coming online as one of the more dense residential corridors just in time for the BRT.
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I’m scratching my head about the whole discussion with the DMV site. Is it supposed to continue as an employment center? Is the area supposed to simply be a bedroom community that we’re supposed to think that the residents are going to BRT back and forth? Or, could this be massed as a mixed use transit-oriented urban node?
I loved the wide-eyed, pie-in-the-sky, armchair urban planners ticking off their wish list in the recent News & Observer piece.
https://amp.newsobserver.com/news/local/article251949093.html
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Affordable housing with green spaces would be nice in that area. I’d love to see more retail in that area too.
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That area is definitely more price appropriate for AH given the less expensive land value and forthcoming BRT. Makes total sense!
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I mean that’s what we do here lol!
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True enough. I still think that there has been a piecemeal approach to the New Bern Ave corridor which might be better suited to a planned form. Like the urban spines which we have seen both with Fayetteville and Hillsborough streets, New Bern itself should probably be taller and compact with a mix of uses along its length being fed by the BRT arterial. This would encourage local use as opposed to it just being a run-through. The height and density would then probably taper down along it’s width.
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It should be ultra high density, low-income, transit oriented, affordable housing. If people want green space, they can go to the park. What a perfect opportunity for the city to put their money where their mouth is. It probably won’t happen though.
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Unfortunately, the failures of the highrise low income housing projects of the past have scared away most cities from pursuing high density projects. The lower density projects have worked better for them and I doubt Raleigh will deviate from that model.
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Cabrini Green did not turn out well…….spread low income throughout the city . Keep it maintained.
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Who said anything about creating a Chicago style welfare state?
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It sounds like you’re describing Chicago public housing
off topic, but does anyone know what the deal is with the video gaming casino places that are popping up everywhere? I first noticed this on New Bern but have seen them scattered throughout the city recently. It is unfortunate how much of a dump New Bern is once you pass Bojangles.
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That ‘dump’ is also where people live, and by the looks of the thread a lot longer than a lot of the people even moving to Raleigh.
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New bern isn’t even bad compared to the low income areas of almost every other city. Just because an area is older and majority black doesn’t mean it’s a dump.
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Relevant update from the BRT thread:
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Here is a video of a feedback session they just gathered. I am sad I missed this, need to go through and watch it, but probably to busy till Friday. https://youtu.be/I3SN9rtJUGc
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For the record, I live here. I drive, run, or bike in this area daily. Not all of New Bern is a dump but the stretch from Bojangles to Raleigh Blvd is, imo. I’m not comparing it to low income areas in other cities.