Also just saw this. (This is across Rigsbee St from Fullsteam, for reference.) Really interesting to see how they built AROUND MotorCo and Geer Street Garden instead of demolishing them.
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Interesting, did not know that!
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Really like this project, looks like thoughtful design, not just some copy & paste designâŚ
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Very thoughtful placemakingâŚ
Certainly something that would be nice to see more of here in RaleighwoodâŚ
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Durham city would love for you to only associate the park with them. They conveniently have their city in a county by the same name and that works for their narrative.
When Apple was announced as Raleigh (itâs on the Wake County side of RTP), there were voices out there that immediately asserted that it was in Durham. So, in a way, their narrative works.
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I love Durham - like the love for a little brotherâŚand if you think about it, itâs easy to see the âwhyâsâ in the the âcommunity biasâ for the hubs of our Triangle exist, depending on where you live.
Raleighâs always had âgovernment town and Ag/Life collegeâ as itâs tags and as the heart of the massive collective of Wake county municipalities - it has worn the yoke of âSprawleighâ, often deservedly. Durham has always had a âgritty, join us if you dare and youâre welcome if you doâ feel and Chapel Hill has always had the âsheen of genteel academia at just the right size with the friction of university idealism pit against the âwall us off from outsidersâ folks who are able to afford to LIVE thereâ. Thereâs a laughable BS in all those narratives and has been for a long time and Iâm a firm believer that thereâs good and bad worthy of calling out in all of them knowing that the push-pull of the realities on the ground in each place makes us all better when you sum up all the partsâŚ
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Yup, Iâve posted this here several times before as an example of better 5-over-1s. They recently updated the renderings and itâs getting a little clunkier, but theyâve retained most of the nice qualities of the original design. I wish they were able to stagger the edges more so it wasnât such a harsh façade on either side of Geer St. Garden.
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Thereâs also Southpoint, which is planned to become a mixed-use destination. There are two phases of development in the works.
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Wow had no clue about this! I donât frequent malls but southpoint is probably my favorite to go to. I didnât mention it because right now itâs just a typical suburban mall on steroids but this would make it a destination.
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To be fair, if that had been built in Cary, the folks in Durham would have turned their noses up at as an example of the very worst of bland suburban development.
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One by one, the surviving malls are all being re-interpreted in one way or another. North Hills used to be a mall; in fact it was the first enclosed mall between DC and Atlanta when it was built. Itâs the grand daddy and alpha dog of redevelopment and re-imagining.
Albeit happening more slowly, Crabtree is slowly upping their game too.
Cary Towne Centre is completely transforming into a different animal altogether while its âreinventionâ is hopping across the street at Fenton.
It makes sense that Southpoint moves that direction as well, and the Triangle needs to find even more of these opportunities to grow without sprawling outward.
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Well thatâs neat! I had no idea!
Iâm one of the âfolks in Durhamâ and yeah, I definitely will be turning my nose up at this regardless of where itâs built lol. Didnât say it was great development, just that itâs another node of relative density/a center of activity. Northgate is also being redeveloped (with a bit more density) and the sneak peak weâve seen of current designs are complete shit.
Also, for what itâs worth, I actually genuinely enjoy going to Southpoint. Itâs just done so damn well⌠probably the only suburban mall that Iâve ever actually found charming.
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ooof - that rendering wasnât very inspiring! You did warn.
Right? Even just as a site plan though, itâs horrible. It borders historic neighborhoods with a gridded street network but completely turns its back on them. I wish there had been some attempt to start to stitch into that. At the very least, they couldâve maintained some porosity for pedestrians along the south to connect to the surrounding areas. Instead, it opens up to the east in a way that implies visitors are meant to arrive only by car. Iâm also disappointed that it looks like theyâre preserving surface parking in an area that should be used to create an urban presence along W Club Boulevard. The scale of the plaza in the middle probably wonât feel intimate or active enough to save this from being a glorified strip mall. So many missed opportunities.
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Thatâs one up on me. I donât enjoy going to any of them anymore. There was a time that I did like going, but every bit of it lost its appeal to me years ago. The only time I go into a mall is when I have no other reasonable choice to get something that I need to get immediately. An example of such a trip would be to go to an Apple Store. I donât think that Iâve been inside an enclosed mall since 2018 or so. But, hey, I get that they still have an appeal for many people, and Iâm not here to pull their world out from under them. Thatâs why I am happy to see these mall locations become more fiscally productive so that they generate the tax revenues to pay for the infrastructure that they demand.
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Itâs literally just Fenton plopped into Durham. These places are supposed to feel organic like theyâve been there forever, but now theyâre becoming just as bland and cookie-cutter as the indoor suburban malls they are replacing.
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This Bloomberg article features an intriguing proposal by the creative architecture firm ODA. If we implement this in Raleigh, maybe it could nudge new downtown developments to feel more human-scale and less like clusters of boring concrete blocks?
The idea is to get developers in existing city blocks to activate their inner courtyard by adding mixed-use spaces and public access paths. This just might help transform New York Cityâs Flower District, which is currently just a slab of apartments and stores surrounding an alleyway, into a hideout of restaurants and storefrontsâŚ
âŚwhich could look like this, when peered through one of the grid streets:
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While we probably wonât have the next tallest building for a long time, Richmond, Virginia looks to be losing their biggest tower to redevelopment at half the height.
This and the failed arena project. Rough on RVA.
Though the Monroe Building isnât exactly pretty so maybe glass half full in the long run.
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