Is anyone in the loop with what is going on with the Person St. District?
• I thought I heard Person St. was going to be 2-way traffic with a new bike lane (and possibly a median) between the Peace intersection and where it turns into Wake Forest. Is this still happening? Did it get scaled back? Heard this is next on the list after the new capital/peace bridge is done.
• What is the status of the older buildings like ‘Marsh’s Woodwinds’ and the little strip of artist shops on the corner of Person and Franklin? Could there be some major development coming to those spots?
• What is Hobby properties planning on doing with the former “Retro Fitness/O2 Fitness” location? It’s been vacant for a while now and they aren’t even utilizing it for parking to their other property across the street. Why not?
• Is there a height limit in this district? Are you guys envisioning some mixed use coming to this area?
With all the development going on, I feel like there hasn’t been as much conversation about this area, which has a lot of untapped potential.
My understanding was that the Peace St streetscape and Oberlin Streetscape were next up (according to one of the project managers I talked to in a coffee line recently).
Hopefully the Marsh woodwind strip just gets functioning tenants in the spaces. Could apartments over retail be a better use of the space? Certainly. I have some minor affinity for the slightly gritty state of the existing buildings though.
Hobby is on my doodoo list for selling 709 Hillsborough st. Certainly this is a vastly underutilized space (O2 fitness space), and very very poor from an urban site design as-is. residential over retail would be ideal here with no building worth saving…clear it and start over.
The zoning informed people should weigh in on height stuff and instead of just blurting out “xyz-##” perhaps translate that for the rest of us…
I’m hardly zoning informed but from a look at iMaps it seems that the fitness building, as well as both sides of Person between Peace and Franklin, are zoned NX-3-SH (Neighborhood Mixed Use). I assume this means a 3-story limit. All other nearby properties are also zoned to 3 stories, excluding Peace College which is zoned to 4 stories.
For anyone who’s curious, X= “mixed use” and the number is always the height limit. This map (That @Christopher referenced) has a very detailed description of each type, just click on the area you want to study and it’ll bring up a nice explanation. http://maps.raleighnc.gov/remapping/
Does anyone have a link to the road conversion project. I thought I found it but it didn’t include making Person St. a 2-way street between Peace and Wake Forest.
I live on S Person Street and my understanding is:
-first phase happening soon with bicycle lane but one way traffic remains
-second phase down the road is two way traffic
Both are planned but two way conversion will take time.
The Peace Street phase I roadway project was initially going to happen last year…then it got pushed to this year…with the weather changing and resurfacing season coming to an end, it’ll more than likely be next year before we see anything happen…
That old O2 Fitness building leaves a lot to be desired in its current state. It’s so recessed away from the street as to almost be insivible. I could imagine it being torn down and something fronting the corner of Person St taking it’s place.
I’m also curious about the future of the Marsh Woodwinds building. I was amazed at how long he held on there after announcing that he was closing back in 2015.
Also hoping for something to fill the former Standard Food space soon.
Here’s a cool post about the “early days” of the district and how some neighbors banded together to clean up the blight. I am inspired by that kind of collaboration and bottom-up approach.
