Two words: Virtue Signaling.
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Wow. You ignored all of the issues and resorted to this? I think that speaks volumes to the strength of the argument. We don’t really need to resort to Joe Rogan catch phrases when trying to sell the idea.
My wife and I spent a couple nights in Staypineapple Boston a few weeks ago. It was longer, but only wide enough for rooms on one side of the hall. Boutique hotels like this appeal to a particular audience. They don’t necessarily have to be large; they just need a unique feel to them. I see what you’re saying though.
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A bit bigger, but I enjoyed a stay at the Hotel Indigo in Midtown Atlanta
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Not weighing in on the displacement/should we or shouldn’t we issue here, but just in terms of size/feasibility… I also just returned from a similarly small hotel, The Quirk Hotel in Richmond. 73 rooms on 7 levels (there’s a glassy penthouse addition not visible in this image). It’s a fantastic place.
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The lighting on the outside and inside looks great.
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IMO, those words fit the scenario.
One can hardly suggest here wanting our ONLY opportunity to have a historic and namesake hotel for our city without it immediately being retorted that we want to throw people on the streets. IMO, that’s virtue signaling. Nobody has suggested or inferred that at all. I, for one, would demand that local (and better) housing be provided in the event of a hotel restoration, and I doubt that I am the only supporter of restoring the hotel that feels that way.
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The Sir Walter was an actual hotel…and there’s a rich history there. That’s where most all of NC’s public policy & legislation was 'drafted" back in the day at the restaurant & bar. I think the restaurant even had some nickname as the 4th branch of NC government or something to that effect.
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My posts aren’t all about the logistics of where the people will go. To say it’s just virtue signaling is reductionist and how you lose support for an idea like this. People calling its current use an utter waste (multiple times) is also not how you go about winning support. Like I said, I can see the top of it all day long, so I’d love for them to pull it off in a mutually beneficial way.
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The Quirk is amazeballs…
It’s virtue signalling to say that supporters of a restored hotel want to toss folks on the street.
It’s insensitive for people to call its current use an utter waste.
Both have been said many, many, many times.
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People can bring up the issue without being ‘virtue signalers’. I’d like to know whom I’m supposedly signaling to? Are you saying my concern for those that live there isn’t genuine and I’m only bringing it up so I can score some invisible points here? Doesn’t make sense.
I don’t think anyone on this thread has said there’s no way it will work, just bringing up issues with pulling it off, which are legit and cannot be politically wished away. Let’s see some actual plans and then we can haggle over those. Cheers 
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My initial post about virtue signaling was not targeting you. It wasn’t replying to anyone in particular.
First off, we’ve had this discussion multiple times over the years. It is implied that no person will be throw into the streets if the hotel was restored and used as an upscale hotel. Why is it implied? Because the odds of not relocating the residents in this situation is almost zero. To keep bringing up the residents being tossed into the street is in fact virtue signaling.
The “waste” that I referred to deals with not making use of a historical structure that would improve the charm of downtown and draw more visitors to downtown. For this discussion, it doesn’t matter if the current structure is a low income apartment, or if it is used as an office building, or as a department store, or if it was abandoned. The point is that Raleigh has the makings of a downtown hotel treasure, like many other cities have, and it is not being used for that purpose.
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Yeah I’ve stayed there, and it is awesome. Even if I can’t justify the price of a room, I still always try to have a meal there when I’m in Richmond.
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Didn’t know the history, and I don’t really feel strongly one way or the other on the subject of the Sir Walter (as long as affordable housing continues to be made available to current residents, I’m content on that front). All I’m saying is that, in the event that the Sir Walter can’t be altered, there are other historic buildings in downtown Raleigh that could be converted to a hotel. I don’t think the Sir Walter is our only shot at a hotel in a historic building.
Yeah, it’s definitely on my list! There’s one in Charlottesville too.
Guys, I have the solution. Build an extra 136 affordable senior apartments when rebuilding Heritage Park, and relocate Sir Walter residents there.
Literally all of our problems can be solved by redeveloping Heritage Park with an enormous number of housing units of all kinds.
Seriously though. Even something like this would be a tough sell. Nevermind the history of the building; nevermind that Raleigh badly needs more hotel rooms close to the convention center. Somebody would decide that moving low income seniors out of a building in a prominent location on Raleigh’s main street, even if the destination is a brand new building a couple blocks away, in a still-awesome location, on the doorstep of Dix Park - is somehow a social justice issue… and then that would be that.
For this reason, I’m afraid that the Sir Walter is probably just politically untouchable.
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Wasn’t someone saying on this or another thread that the new ‘housing justice “coalition”’ was calling the densification of Heritage Park, “genocide”? That’s too far. They’re not helping their case, whatever that may be.
The increased units at Heritage are to help RHA tackle some of the long waiting list, so you’d have to juice it even more to get units for the Sir Walter folks and the people on the waiting list. If it’s possible, I’m for it. Agreed that it’s a decent location.
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In 2017 an Ohio based developer purchased the Sir Walter with intentions of renovating it back to a hotel and not renewing the HUD funding contract that would end in 2020.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/06/20/investor-who-wants-to-buy-historic-sir-walter.html
That company has previous success with renovating and repurposing old structures, like this old warehouse in Cleveland they converted into an aquarium:
Anyways, less than 2 years later, for financial reasons outside of the Sir Walter, they sold the property to a New York based company, with an agreement from the City they would reinstate the HUD funding in 2020, keep the property as affordable housing, and receive a $3 Million grant from the City because of it. Without those two conditions falling into place, this sale wouldn’t happen. I don’t agree with the city’s decision, but I understand why they went the easy route here. They don’t need to search for a new location and all the political crap the comes along with it, they don’t need to build a new building, they get to keep 150+ units for probably 20+ years.
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It absolutely has the impression of moving the “undesirables” out of sight from the main visitor hub of the city, regardless of the merits. I think you hit the nail on the head here.
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