It would’ve been great if they had wider sidewalks and one or two painted crosswalks. Other than that I really like the new density added to that area.
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Given the relatively light amount of traffic there the walking environment didn’t feel awful, even with pretty meager pedestrian infrastructure.
The sidewalk stops pretty much as soon as you reach the end of this development at the bottom of the hill though. I would love to see it extended, even with no sidewalks there were quite a few people out walking in the neighborhood further down the road.
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This is my neighborhood - I appreciate the new sidewalks… but have NO CLUE wtf is up with those two small stretches of … raised, cheap wooden walkways that break up the sidewalk on the North side of Grant Ave (circled in red)… and honestly, I’ve tried staying on them on a run and felt like my damn feet were going to blast through them and hit the grass(? dirt?) underneath. They just don’t feel very solid… SUPER weird decision there. Also don’t understand what’s going on with that, like… 10 foot stretch of sod where the sidewalk just… ends, then starts again on the other side of the street entrance to the South side of the development (circled in blue). Some really weird choices with the sidewalks, here.
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On the flip; my FAVORITE aspect of this development is that they created a new street that connects to a previously dead-end private street for the townhome/condos on the South side of this development (between Grant and Wade) thus creating more GRID! Does nothing for me, personally, as I’ll never need to use the new street - but for the people living in those condos on the former dead-end street, only really previously being able to enter their street from one direction, and leave going one direction - this is probably a massive improvement!
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I was confused by those wooden walkways when I was there, they don’t appear to be going up above anything so I suppose it’s just aesthetic?? Pretty odd. Im glad they’re extending that street as well, I would hate needing to turn onto Wade to go anywhere.
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They look like they coincide with the street trees. Maybe it’s an attempt to allow the tree roots to grow without destroying the sidewalk.
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Due to illegal dumping the convenience center at Jaycee Park is closing July 1:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsoWn5yM-1E/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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Great news! Jaycee Park is a jewel. I was always amazed(& dishearten) at the amount of garbage blowing around the park. Not a great location for a ‘convenience center’ anyway
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I tend to agree. And while the “convenience center” (read: giant dumpsters with shit thrown all around them) may have been useful for some, as you said it really just ended up being a trash heap. The only downside is that they’re simply just going to remove them and add more unnecessary parking spots - the current parking spots are never full, so I wish they’d consider ripping out the blacktop and just adding more green space or planting some more trees instead.
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According to WRAL, Cafe Carolina is moving into the old Soca space on September 1.
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Hmmm… wonder what that means for the current Cafe Carolina building…a new 1-story bank branch perhaps??? 
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Some wine bar is going into the space called Postino WineCafe.
Cafe Carolina Is Moving to Former so•ca Location in August (raleighmag.com)
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That’s disappointing. Would’ve loved a good dinner replacement for Soca there, not a bakery type of place - especially one which I’ve never been to in 19 years of living here.
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Honestly, I agree. Soca closing was a big loss for me, and I was hoping something just as interesting would take its place. Or that they would magically reopen.
That being said, the article makes it sound like they’re upgrading their whole presence, so maybe it’ll be worth checking out. And the wine bar restaurant seems like it could be decent too. I’ll try to be cautiously optimistic.
Side note, I know they’re trying to be fun or hip or something, but the writing in that article made me cringe.
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Hopefully they do well in the old SoCa spot. Seems SoCa had a long run on that side of the building. For some reason the other corner seems cursed and no restaurant has a long stay there. Off the top of my head I remember a Brixx, some diner place, and now a ramen restaurant giving it a go there 
I actually really like Cafe Carolina’s sandwiches. I am not sure that folks shopping in the village will remember it’s there after the move. Out of sight usually means out of mind for lunch type places when folks are shopping.
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…maybe it was an off day but that Ramen place sets a really low bar for a ramen restaurant. Perfectly edible is about as much as I can say for it, but the worst Ramen I have had at a restaurant. They were even out of mushrooms when I was there which seems like an easy enough fix when you are across the street from a grocery store
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