Z-5-22 Semart, north of Peace Street between Capital Boulevard and Halifax Street, being Wake County PIN 1704625657.
Current zoning: Downtown Mixed Use-7 stories-Urban General (DX-7-UG)
Requested zoning: Downtown Mixed Use-20 stories-Conditional Use (DX-20-CU)
Approximately 2.92 acres are requested by 707 Semart Drive Property LLC to be rezoned. Proposed zoning conditions limit uses, provide for additional sidewalks, pedestrian connections, a public plaza, and specific standards for parking deck screening. Zoning conditions also provide several options to preserve, repurpose or document the existing structure on site.
The request is consistent with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.
The request is consistent with the Future Land Use Map.
The Planning Commission recommends approval (7-0).
Iâm betting on a series of pointless motions to delay so that Council doesnât look like theyâre eagerly letting someone destroy this amazing piece of history 99% of residents donât even know exists. Any takers?
Itâs so close to multiple areas that are historically protected that I imagine most of the people who are against it are residents in close proximity. Historic preservation is high on the list for a lot of people that live in Oakwood and surrounding areas.
Compared with the historic train stations dating from the Golden era of railroading (or before), in eg Salisbury, Burlington, High Point, Greensboro, etc⌠Raleighâs seaboard station just isnât substantial. Built in 1942, itâs not really any more special or distinctive than the old Southern station on West Cabarrus that was built in 1950 and was torn down a few years ago. Both of these stations are sort of emblematic of the pending and accelerating decline of railroads in the middle of the 20th century. Which, donât get me wrong, is historically important, but do we want to commemorate decline this way by preserving its mediocre architecture forever?
Letâs not forget that this was only used as a passenger station for about 40 years, with passenger counts declining pretty much the whole time. Then, the railroad it was built to serve closed as a through route when the S-line tracks got ripped up through southern Virginia in the 1980s. So youâd be hard pressed to call it a âsuccessâ as a train station by any metric. Itâs been occupied by Loganâs since 1991, and letâs say Logans moves out next year - that makes 32 years as a garden center/cafe. A neat concept and a creative reuse, yes - but ⌠does this make it historic? Meh.
If anything, the reviled station in Charlotte, built in 1962, while RRs were in full decline, is more significant. It represents a foray into modern/brutalist architecture, somewhat rare for stations built by private railroads, given how short that era was before Amtrak took over, and how the industry-wide decline was so significant. But again, its status as a curiosity doesnât really override its ignominious origin as an artifact of decline, and I doubt there will be many calls for its preservation either.
The movement to preserve this station is in my estimation, threefold:
NIMBYs who have found a wedge issue that appeals to folks, and are somewhat disingenuously exploiting it in an attempt to stop development here
People who misunderstand/overestimate the significance of this building
People who are sad to see Loganâs go and want to preserve the memory of the business by preserving the building.
Itâs cute, it makes you stop and think about all that rail history if youâre so inclined, itâs actually made out of brick, which is nice in a development that is going to have a LOT of the pasted-on veneer stuff, and itâs the thing the whole neighborhood is named after. But it shouldnât block the construction of the much more useful new buildings.
Yeah I think this is my viewpoint as well, even though the building is pretty mediocre - the neighborhood is âseaboard stationâ, a development on the station should at least incorporate the history. Preserving the facade or moving the building seems like possibility, but as we discussed here when the plans were first announced, preserving the platform canopy is probably the best way to get density + character.
For a small railroad serving a tiny city, at a time of severe shortages.
FWIW, I do dimly remember that a station at this location was proposed in the earlier âregional railâ proposals that served North Raleigh via the Seaboard line.
Much like how I was more upset to lose the folded slab roof on the arcade outside the old NC State Student store, I am more sad to lose the canopy at the platform (much like @Samuel ) than I am about the building.
If we must lose the existing platform and canopy, Iâd love to see the new building reference it with activated replacement architecture, a la al fresco dining, and for train viewing from it.
My hometown, near Fayetteville, had a train station that was like stepping into a âWesternâ. I rode the train to my grandparents in Benson (early 1960s), on Atlantic Coast Line RR. My mom would leave us (yes) with the conductor who would watch us & make sure we saw our Grandparents waiting by the rails at our destination. Soldiers who were loud & talked funny would board in Fayetteville. You entered my small town station (1/2 passenger, 1/2 freight) into the main (white) waiting room. The other smaller room was not talked about or questioned - not to my 10 year old ears. In the middle of the main waiting room was a depot (pot belly) stove. It heated the waiting room first, the managers office, second, and the other room last. I was raised with the phrase âitâs hotter than a depot stoveâ. The manager had a telegraph for communicating with stations up & down the line. Everything in that station was original.
In Benson, the town was a buzz about the new highway that was coming, I-95âŚâŚ.
Hereâs the website for one of the apartment complexes coming into Seaboard Station. I assume this is the one thatâs been under construction for some time.
WRAL is reporting it as the replacement for the station, which I have to assume is complete baloney.
Thereâs a Suggest A Correction button at the bottom of the article which I availed myself of. Maybe if a few of us do the same, theyâll actually figure out what theyâre talking about.
