To make it a nicer mall?
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Malls are dying. This mall is/was dead. What in THEE hell would be the point in trying to make it a ânicer mallâ when the money could be spent making it more akin to North Hills - a shopping center with dense, tall buildings including housing, hotel, and services. This looks like maybe it includes one basic 5-over-1 apartment building. The rest look like giant big box dept store buildings that maybe are being broken up into more of a plaza type shopping center. Itâs almost like theyâve learned nothing.
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55 acres but only 72 units of housing. Itâs the opposite of density.
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Complete garbage. Iâd rather have a dead mall.
If only there were some of those out there. Iâll try to find you oneâŠ
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Holy crap that would be such a missed opportunity. I seem to remember a much more aggressive proposal a few years back for Northgate. Seemed like it called for much more density with several hundred housing units and a lot of lab/research space. Pretty sure that was pre-Covid though which Iâm sure killed it off.
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I would NIMBY all over this MFer. No way.
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Itâs cool arguing with the 70yos who bought into that neighborhood for 10k and are sitting pretty now, who opposed all higher density proposals in the neighborhood before this.
Really is bringing out my best character. Hope their grandkids never visit them.
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We always hear the narrative about Durhamâs urban credentials, but the cityâs density isnât all that.
Durham has a killer core 8-10 blocks and thatâs about the extent of it right now.
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Is that the gun violence zone? 
(Sorry, too soonâŠ)
The population density of Roanoke, Virginiaâs metro area is 2,300/sq mi, based on 2022 Census data. The city of Roanoke itself has a land area of 42.5 square miles. In 2020, Roanokeâs population was 100,011, making it the most populated city in Virginia west of Richmond. new cancer center, city symphony, sushi, bus transit, gourmet burgers and known chainsâŠhiking nearby. population almost flat for 30 years, growing slightly lately. depends I guess.
Durham has some cool neighborhoods scattered around outside of its downtown. Rockwood, Lakewood, West End, Broad St, and then the big one Ninth Stâwhich is the only part of the city getting vaguely urban infill outside of downtown. Outside of downtown the dense infill has been a slow drip, and NIMBYs are very protective of their neighborhoods (as they are in Raleigh).
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This is the result of too much process, public input, and community stakeholders. Utter trash.
Build apartments in the parking lots and renovate the old mall structure for live/work spaces and retail
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Iâve always equated 9th Streetâs relationship to downtown Durham to Hillsborough Streetâs relationship (the NC State campus part) to downtown Raleigh. They are both really close to downtown but not quite part of it.
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The lessons from Greenville, SC are clearly to integrate a river through your downtown. I think we should go for it.
Just kidding, the real lesson is that you can gain a lot from dense development that activates the streets well and height isnât required.
Also, I think this is a cause we could all get behind.
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Not another âcityâ perhaps- but I really love that we have a National Park within a 5 hour drive from Raleigh in Great Smoky Mountains. Not only that- but the North Carolina entrance is far superior, serene, and wild (the park is split in half by NC and TN, with the TN entrance literally right at the border of Gatlinburg, which is just a disgusting, tourist-trap hellhole - meanwhile the NC entrance has a nice buffer between it and Cherokee, and also is home to most of GSMâs wild elk population).
I drove in Friday, camped in Smokemont (the only campgrounds on the NC side of the park), then got up to hike ~20 miles before driving home that evening. The ~5 hour drive is really nothing when considering how wild and surrounded by nature you are in this park.
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Photo drop of Athens, Greece
The photo outside our room wasnât the most pleasant since we mainly just saw an empty lot. We were able to walk a block over to a grocery store Middle Photo).
Right: Walking back to the hotel.
Front of hotel
Left: I didnât find the city to be very friendly to those with disabilities. There werenât many ramps for pedestrians. The roads were narrow which did appear to keep vehicle speeds down. There was definitely a more awareness of those who were walking although I donât know what the pedestrian injury rate is in Athens. The sidewalks were very narrow in a lot of places.
One of the nicer streets near the Acropolis / touristy areas.
Left: Pedestrian access way
Right: Tunnel under busy road.
Left: Walking along busy road.
Our company got us a shuttle to get to an area where we were visiting.
Bottom: Biking near our resort.
My thoughts overall in Greece:
I didnât get to see much in Athens. I was on a company trip and was only there for a short period of time. The main time we spent was on a resort. I was able to make a quick morning walk of about 2 and a half miles which included another grocery stop at a Lidl. I wasnât impressed compared to other cities Iâve been to in Europe. Thatâs not to say I didnât enjoy it, itâs just some place I wouldnât see myself living. To add some perspective, there have been discussions about moving to Germany. I also have the disclaimer that I only got to experience a very small amount of Athens. I was disappointed in the lack of cycling infrastructure in a populated city. They do have a tram/metro, so thatâs a plus.
I did enjoy some of the pedestrian only areas, but also felt that the city should do more for pedestrians in general. There were a lot of sections where there were no ramps which would make it hard for those in wheelchairs. In crossing some of the busy streets, there were no types of crossing signals. I will admit that it wasnât particularly hard to cross the street in these sections. When you stepped out, cars did stop.
I took screenshots of two intersections in particular that I wanted to mention. The top photo had a very casual angle which would be considered a high speed angle. The narrow road did keep the exiting speed a bit low though.
On the bottom, we had to cross this section which was basically an on ramp type of area. We actually had no problems crossing here as the cars did stop as we were crossing. It was still a bit unnerving.
I didnât see too many cyclists. There didnât seem to be much biking infrastructure. This was a bit disappointing for me. I did see a lot of motorcycles and scooters (the slower motorcycle-like type). I only saw a small section of the city. There are some videos people have of cycling in Athens on Youtube. The quick look I took still didnât seem to show much biking infrastructure.
Outside of the discussion of Athens. I do find it a bit interesting, in a way, that the company did rent us some bikes for a quick ride near the resort. The ride was 7 miles one way. There was a shuttle that brought people back. It shows that biking is definitely an activity that tourists can enjoy. Although not everyone enjoyed the ride, I definitely enjoyed it. One of the main things I like about biking to work and using the greenway here is that it does give this relaxed vacation-like vibe. I tend to compare activities that I normally do on vacation and compare them to where I live. In a way, I strive to have the vacation like feel constantly. Except for a fancy pool or beach, I do tend to get the vacation-like feeling where I live. I talk a bit more about biking tourism in this thread (click here).
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FTFY 
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