The future of downtown's historic neighborhoods

This is really cool but… it’s going to have a great view of the prison :neutral_face:

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New construction on the corner of Mordecai and Chestnut.

A lot of the new housing going in the neighborhood is great, and really well done, but this much blank white composite, on a very visually prominent corner, in the middle of one of Raleigh’s best stretches of historic houses, really really ain’t it.


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Is this a single home?

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Yup. Sold before broke ground

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Actually I believe it’s two houses. Some neighbors of mine from Pilot Mill is building one of them and I think I heard some friends of theirs were building the other.

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I think it may be 2 houses. The listing here looks like a half of what’s built. https://triangleparade.com/homes/1305-mordecai

Ahhh I see now. Per square foot sets new record for Mordacai.

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Better than a replica of a historic house, imo. I love these :man_shrugging:

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Stylistically, to each their own - I just wish the one on the right had been the corner. With so few windows or variation in material, the much more visually prominent left one looks like a shed for the more hidden house on the right imo.

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I’d disagree with you on a lot of levels, but Boylan Heights, Oakwood, Glenwood-Brooklyn and the core of Mordecai (plus Five Points because rich people) being persistently single family zoned shouldn’t be a big impediment to growth inside the beltline. They aren’t that big area-wise.

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Let me just go ahead and save you the trouble. None of that is going to happen nor should it. Raleigh needs to set itself apart and the fact that it has these historic neighborhoods sitting just outside the downtown core gives it a unique feel of having a true developed big city core, while still having a somewhat small city vibe. Razing these neighborhoods would kill that and would take another differentiator away from our city.

Density is happening in the core and I think the focus for growth should be that S. Saunders corridor (as it currently is) with DT South development being the southern anchor of that.

Here’s something no one wants to hear. The bigger Raleigh gets, the more popular it becomes, the more big businesses that choose the city, the more expensive it’s going to become. No razing of neighborhoods, or government intervention is going to stop that. Slow it? Maybe for a bit, but stop it?, nope.

If you wanted to live downtown locked in a somewhat affordable manner, you needed to see this coming 10 years ago before it was a popular place to be and you needed to take a risk and purchase property.

Once something is popular and the risk is gone, it’s over for affordability. So yes, the city and state should be vigilant on providing density when they can and providing assistance for affordable housing, but suggesting those who took the risk 10 years ago should have their houses knocked down is just sour grapes from someone who missed the boat or for whatever reason is late to the party.

I know many won’t like how that is said, because it’s maybe a little harsh, but it’s reality and it’s happened over and over again in every city that has seen growth like we’re seeing.

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I don’t know if it’s two pretty sizable houses or one compound, but the big project at 703 Jones St. is closing in on the finish line:

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Two houses. Owner of Raleigh Architecture is the left house and a friend of his is the back house. Guess who designed them? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Probably not Cline…???

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Preaching the truth is not a crime Loup!

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“toured” those a couple months back!

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Re-reading that reply, it was a little harsh though. I apologize to @carter_oliver98 for coming in hot like that. You. were just trying to voice an opinion. I just have some baggage on this issue I guess lol

I just have been around and listened to these arguments over and over about how to make Raleigh affordable. Or listening to people vilify single-family homes in the name of affordability. Or hold year-long brainstorming sessions on new ways or new laws to curb the rising in home prices/rent.

I think those conversations/arguments are needed and valuable, but only if everyone understands the context. Raleigh is not going to become more affordable for everyone. There are ways to grow smart, there are places where the government can assist, but again, it can help, but it’s not going to stop what is coming. As long as everyone knows that then we can be on the same page.

If we are all on the same page, we can stop vilifying those who own single-family homes in the city. They aren’t the enemy. In fact, a lot of these people are the ones who have been here for years, the ones who took the risk in areas that may or may not pay off in the future. They were here before there was anything downtown, doing everything they can to help make Raleigh what it seems to have become today. I think a lot of this forum fits into this group actually and I think that truth is lost on a lot of newcomers to the city.

These people vilifying downtown single family home owners as rich and somehow holding down others didn’t want these houses 10 years ago when you could get them for nothing. They didn’t want to live anywhere near downtown when crime rates were higher and there weren’t many jobs to be had. Now suddenly they want to be here, and those people who took the risk and took their lumps, are the problem?

*It’s obviously not lost on me that I am a single family home owner downtown, and I’m advocating for my own group here. But some of us aren’t rich. Some of us used every penny in our bank account to buy a dilapidated house that needed to be fixed up, back when the market wasn’t so bullish on Raleigh. Some risked a lot to be a part of this city’s rebirth, and to now be painted as the problem (to some), aggravates the heck out of me, as you can tell.

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Don’t sweat it. He’s a troll that already got banned…

Wake County is a high income county in NC and the costs of living are going to reflect that. Is the solution to the problem in the costs of housing or is it in the wages earned? We can either find ways to subsidize housing, or we can get more serious about raising living wages so that people can afford to live in the city. We also have to be honest that, in our capitalistic system, we cannot make the most expensive, high demand areas of the city affordable for all citizens without a significant and fundamentally different model. I am just not convinced that we live in a world that would make that happen.
I agree that tearing down our history in pursuit of affordability will not actually result in affordability.

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Really? Why? Seems like a very on topic response IMO