Great pics! My cousin recently moved out there and loves it. I have some jokes about the missionary check-in, but I’ll keep those to myself 
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Texas had NC’s current population in 1970. I wouldn’t call their government fiscally responsible or urban-minded. Definitely not the latter. They’re just way bigger.
Corporations in Texas are more urban minded to some extent though. I think that is also true for other cities in the state where corporate culture embraces downtown and embraces contributing to the civic culture (Charlotte). It is a uniquely strong problem in Raleigh.
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I only meant fiscally responsible when it comes to keeping state departments close together and not scattered around Austin’s suburbs, which would be irresponsible. Then again I may be wrong and I apologize if I am.
I came for this same adolescent response but will just text you with it instead.
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We visited The Lenny, a newish rooftop restaurant in downtown Durham last night.
It has some nice views of downtown.
Including this other, overlooked section of newer residential buildings.
The Duke Chapel was also barely visible against the horizon.
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Was in Austin last weekend and as this city is strong competition for Raleigh (and Charlotte too) it is interesting to see what is going on. Austin by August will be home to the tallest building in Texas over 1000 feet the mixed used Waterline tower. https://waterlineaustin.com/ And while Austin has view corridors around the capitol they let the height rip everywhere else. They have 11 buildings completed over 500 feet tall and 4 more under construction. Tech is big employer here as most know with Facebook, Dell, Google, Apple, Samsung employing 1000s upon 1000s. They have 69,000 state government workers in Travis County alone home of Austin. Plus the flagship campus of University of Texas. Almost on every block downtown there is a high rise residential, hotel or office tower or all 3. Much as been made of Austin slowing down and it is within the city the limits but the metro area is still rapidly growing. Williamson County to the north home of 700k people is growing at a faster rate than any metro Raleigh county including Johnston. Office vacancy is a higher than Raleigh and the cost of housing is higher though rents are coming down due to overbuilding. The funky vibe of the restaurant and bar scene reminds me of Asheville so many good restaurants everywhere and most are locally owned. Even the Domain the large outside shopping center in the north suburbs reminds me of North Hills if they had more department stores. They are building light rail and bus rapid transit from their recent transit tax passed back in 2020. They do have commuter rail now. https://www.projectconnect.com/
I lived in San Antonio and always liked it better than Austin but I must say now I like Austin more with its skyline and growth better. Love the history of San Antonio but in terms of growth and downtown nothing can beat this city in Texas (except my other favorite Fort Worth) Some photos I took.
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few more of the Domain and from downtown Austin. and not every tall building is beautiful look at the ATX Tower (apartment tower with huge blank wall)
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Austin looks like the city I wanted Raleigh to become in terms of buildings when I moved here 16 years ago. I like many things about Raleigh but am still fairly bitter about that.
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I think Austin is a beautiful city but I’d prefer Raleigh have less glass towers than that and instead have countless mid-size mixed-use buildings instead like D.C. (with height variation).
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Well we have neither. I wanted tall buildings and an impressive skyline for a mid-sized city. If I wanted to live in DC I could’ve just done that. Austin was 3rd on my list of places to move, and Raleigh at #2 worked out so here I am. Never been to Austin. I do like it here.
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Let me give you a few negatives I saw in Austin. While I love their tall high rises and wished Raleigh had a few more, they have a serious homeless problem there. Plus graffiti is everywhere to the point it looks really bad. I was accosted on 6th St downtown for just having a Gatorade as it was in the mid 90s and high humidity. Raleigh is green and clean and has a far more subdued homeless population than Austin. Houston the 5th largest metro in the country has a done a great job getting the homeless off the streets as I saw NO one on the street there and I was downtown, Memorial City, East Downtown all over. You made the right choice of Raleigh over Austin but there a few things Raleigh can learn from Austin like branding of the city and letting high rises rise.
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I go to Arlington often for work, won’t go into all details here, but National Landing/Crystal City is a new urbanism utopia, and the area has really transformed over the last 5 years. I walk from the airport to my hotel or office. Can’t do that anywhere else in America (world?) and I love that aspect.
Crystal city has perfect cycle tracks, metro & VRE stations, lots of new apartments and retail, and many renovations/conversions of office and hotel space. But I want to share about their BRT today, the Metroway. Separated lanes, signal priority ofc, cool, open stations, and completely free. I like how the branding mimics Metro too, adding credibility. Buses were spotless. And the stops were convenient because Metro in the area leaves large gaps (like between Crystal City and Potomac Yard stations), so the above-ground service compliments the metro beautifully.
No matter what anyone says, there are enough examples of how to do BRT correctly that Raleigh should not be struggling like we are. I’d encourage everyone to hold a higher bar and not accept the excuses. BRT is just simple, I’m sorry, so it’s crazy we have nothing yet. Someone said “there are only X number of examples on the east coast” uhh…yeah good examples we should steal best practices from. We don’t need 100 cities to have it first. Crystal City nailed it and other cities have too.
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alt opinion warning: does a tallest edifice spot necessarily have to mean throw resources "here’…are there other metrics than the tallest mirrored building…by 70 80 90 feet?
A post was merged into an existing topic: Business Expansion in the Triangle
…this is just abysmal LMAO. I hope they just assume the lot next to it will eventually be developed and cover that blank wall but until that happens… IF that happens… this is atrocious.
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it is called ATX Tower a high rise rental tower. I agree it is ugly on the side.
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Maybe some led effects or neon…otherwise thats a bit harsh
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Durham St. in Baltimore. Raleigh fire department would never…
Also banned by Raleigh Fire because obviously everyone here is long gone, 7th & Lexington Place NE in Capitol Hill DC:
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