State of Downtown Raleigh

I can’t believe I didn’t put that together. Yes, this is very similar to what we have with Centennial, though I’m not sure the marketing is as strong. Maybe that’s a problem.

Yes, but as @Steve said, the marketing/branding isn’t great, and I’d add that Centennial Campus as it is now is more of an office park than it is a true “Innovation District.” It isn’t very urban, and has parking lots and decks all over the place. Perhaps in time it can become more of what we’re envisioning, but it’s also being developed according to a master plan that favors a more suburban style (just look at the Spring Hill site).

Made this master plan seems like forever ago. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JyxsUYxLDeCXRIsyqZ4gS70Xas0&usp=sharing

Still think this area can work as an innovation district with Kane’s Cabarrus development and a West St. tunnel connection. And extending to S. Saunders/ Lake Wheeler Rd. as well.

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I don’t know where else to put this, but I’m confused on whether the council got rid of height restrictions or is it just dreaming that never got around to happening?

It was deferred for final decision (I believe) and the new council will have the vote.

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There’s a thread on that topic here.

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There’s a poll on City-Data that asks which “City to take off in the 2020s”
Raleigh’s among the choices and is currently in 3rd place behind Philly and Detroit. There’s a ton of homerism on City-Data and there are a ton of rust belt participants who have these pipe dreams that the rainbow is right around the corner for downward spiraling cities like Detroit. Anyway, I thought that it was interesting that Raleigh’s currently in 3rd among the 12 cities offered as choices.
City-Data.com>Forums>General U.S.>City vs. City

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@John thanks for that. I do send waves of good toward cities like Cleveland to regain some of their former strengths. They use to make precision ball bearings, for example. America has relied too much on off-shoring of critical abilities. It would be great if we could bring back some of these skills.
The whole I-85 and I-95 textile corridors use to be major textile manufacturing areas. Automation and high tech machinery could produce materials in NC just as easy as in Asia. Maybe someday we can see more specialized manufacturing activities in the area.
At least NC is doing great with the soft skills from all the high tech businesses in the region.

Well, notwithstanding macro economic changes, the fortunes of downward spiraling metros just don’t suddenly reverse course and become cities that take off within a single decade. What the Triangle is reaping today was sowed starting in the 1950s with the creation of the Research Triangle Institute. Without that forward looking action, the Triangle could be more like Birmingham, Alabama than competitive with Silicon Valley, Boston, NJ, and the like.
That said, I do think that the 2020’s are going to be really big for Raleigh. Right off the bat, Smoky Hollow will make an impact next year with subsequent projects in the queue to deliver in succession.
Barring a recession like the last one, the Raleigh MSA alone should top 1.7 million by the end of the decade with the Raleigh-Durham CSA pushing 2.5M.

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I registered/voted. FWIW Raleigh is now tied with Detroit with 18 votes. Seems we could easily skew this poll with the members here. :grin:

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There. We’ve officially pulled ahead with 19. :grin:

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Thanks, but it’s weird that I still only see 17 votes.
Update: Even weirder, when I toggle from page 7 to page 8 in that thread, the total vote count changes.

I saw 19 votes on page 7 but 17 votes on page 8

Yeah, I saw the same. FWIW, it’s now 20 for Raleigh.

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I just finished Chuck Marohn’s book Strong Towns - I think it would be good if the entire city read it - including the incoming Mayor and City Council - and then have a book discussion at the Convention Center led by the author.

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The timeline from this post came from that preso. Figure I’d connect the bouncing balls here.

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The creators of Peas Street!

Sumit Vohra, Lonerider founder, dropping truth bombs about Raleigh. Raleigh’s been successful despite the city’s willful neglect of its city core. The city hasn’t found it’s soul yet because of its disjointed neighborhoods and poor stewardship of downtown as a city asset.

No one has yet made a better case for downtown to be its own municipal district as Vohra.

FYI, he’s opening a 3rd location in downtown Durham.

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City leadership is missing the first part of that word leadership. They are still in shock from last summer and have one foot nailed to the ground.

It really needs batter our reach to partner will all aspects of commercial business and smart planning to make a go of it, it’s seems very disjointed and when folks come before the council it is an us against them feeling instead of a partnership to make the city better for ALL citizens. The money will come from the commercial developer side of things, I think Durham does this much better.

Also, they have missed the boat and now all these outlying multi-use developments are stealing the thunder as these places could have all come downtown.

This is not a massive failure as it does spread out density and offer services across many areas. Also, spreads out the traffic.

The slowness in action and grandstanding over the last year and several years is going to end up with developers wanting to pass the downtown area by as it’s easier to have development approved out of downtown proper.

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