While the new building will obviously look nicer and more modern than what it’s replacing… I’m also like, yay, another bank branch over there.
Edit: Jake said it better 
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Emotional whiplash. Started out the day excited about a potential new development in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village District that we weren’t yet aware of ……. to extreme disappointment with what it will be. This will join ANOTHER NEW BANK BRANCH being built down the street that is replacing a former 2-story brick office building…… in addition to the new 1-story/single-use Chase branch that replaced the old McDonalds recently.
You’d think BANKS would understand there’s better (not to mention more profitable) uses of space in a hot area of a fast-growing city than this….? Like hey why not finance a basic 5 story apartment building with retail space you can put your bank branch in??? Rake in that rent money AND have your branch. Am I crazy???
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It’s like the Village District is being surrounded by a moat of stand alone banks. I don’t know that I’ve seen so many bank branches in one area anywhere. It baffles me to no end since so much banking happens online now. I think that I maybe go into an actual branch like once or twice a year now.
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Market demand. Can pay the cost. Land prices too high for anything cool.
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Same reason a lot of the coolest shopping streets in the country are turning into bank branch alleys. They’re worth more to the banks as billboards than to retailers and developers as interesting uses.
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agreed. i rarely set foot in a bank
If the new branch has a zero setback and a front door that opens to the street, it might not be the worst thing in the world. Hopefully some ancillary office uses, too? Trying to think of a silver lining here lol
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As much as I think that the Village District is a fine urban neighborhood example in Raleigh to praise/encourage, I can’t imagine this bank being the sort of building that you envision. 401 Oberlin and the Berkshire buildings are the sort of buildings that we need to see more of in the district, but this site is not substantial enough to make an urban footprint impact.
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I guess the prospective buyers of these don’t mind the green as I looked on the website for this development and they’ve already sold a lot of them.
Looks like 6 of the 31 are sold?
Wonder what the prices are because these are actually some pretty good floorplans and a good area.
Yeah their diagram of what’s available is confusing. When you click on the bedroom type it shows they’ve sold lots of each vs the graphics at the bottom.
@CTT When I clicked on the ‘download PDF’ button it had the prices in there.
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Yeah I think you’re with right with six and I have no clue. Hopefully for these buyers it doesn’t become a ‘Lynde’ situation
Now these ones, I recognize! I see this every day at the gym (Crunch) - I will often marvel on the treadmill when looking out the windows across the ChikFilA drive through, that one day in that view will be a 7-story hotel, with this massive apartment block to the left. The Village could end up being quite dense… no thanks to the moat of single story bank branches that will completely surround it.
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Has anyone run the numbers on how many people now live in the village district? The growth in residential there has been incredible the last 10 years
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Are there any updates on The Lansing, the ugly green and grey condo building, or proposed hotel? 