JeffC

There are two projects going on right now along Lake Wheeler. The Kane one is at bottom of hill where Lake Wheeler hits S.Saunders. But at top of hill, they have cleared a large area that used to be tiny houses. I assume that will be some kind of higher density housing...

Has any retail other than the Publix actually opened its doors anywhere in Smoky Hollow? Gotta say, I'm a little disappointed with the street level retail everywhere North of Morgan Street...empty spaces everywhere...

Yes. One of the two buildings (the old Art Deco one) was constructed as the Durham LIfe Insurance Building....see http://goodnightraleigh.com/2012/05/insurance-building-raleigh-n-c/

Doesn't thewalkable Midtown plan i( https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR22/MidtownStAlbansTheBigPicture.pdf ) include proposals for new interconnectivity across the Beltline?

and to answer the question about raising the bridge, considering it is 15-20 feet above grade going south from there, it would probably be cheaper to lower Glenwood Avenue going under the bridge. But I wouldn't favor them doing ANYTHING to encourage truck traffic other than local deliveries on Peace west of the RR tracks. If those guys need to get from downtown to Cameron Village, they need to do the Capital to Wade to Daniels or Oberlin loop. NOT cutting through an incipient pedestrian area like W. Peace Street.

Is it common in commercial real estate in this area to cash out like that halfway through construction? Is this just a financial risk spreading measure?

If the developer has the deep pockets to pull this off, hopefully the City Council has the cajones to require them to build a new interchange on 440. St. Aban's is a quick shortcut from North HIlls to the W.F. Road corridor now. I'd hate to see it become a traffic choked nightmare due to failure to impose adequate transportation facilities like the big cluster that is Glenwood Avenue and Brier Creek Parkway

does this project include the parcel on the other side of the railroad tracks (reachable by a bridge where Kinsey Street crosses the tracks)? For our history folks was this area part of the poor areas that occupied the bottomlands along Walnut Creek from here southward, and the NCAE and Chamber buildings were built as part of 1960's slum clearance? I noticed the other day that there are some very old and large trees on the NCAE property that appear to far predate the building itself...

does this mean the old turntable will be demolished? Knowing Raleigh, the answer is probably yes, because this company clearly doesn't have the imagination to actually incorporate interesting site features into its building...

THat row of white rectangles along West Street...Please tell me those are going to eventually be the glass windows of the Publix!! Surely they wouldn't make the grocery store a dark windowless cubbyhole...

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article239498378.html Like Baldwin's comments about the design. The rather blah Marriott was a huge missed opportunity. Downtown continues to lack a signature hotel, and it is a major drawback. Don't think this smallish parcel is going to be the answer, though...

more on the Millbrook milldam (does someone on this site work for ABC11?) https://abc11.com/5189028/?fbclid=IwAR3Z6FmslRvIYXKpFgqyl1wMZWM9FX3vdBGcp15P4iGxFB7ftqbpmLeX2H0

I guess this explains why noone wants to build condos anymore? Redevelopment well nigh impossible because someone always wants to be the holdout?

IF this is the site just across the extension of Johnson Street, they have cleared the land. Things slope upward from Peace Street, so it will start off about a story higher than Phase 1. Given the drab one story 1960s institutional stuff that was there before, it certainly is an upgrade even if it eventually ends up shorter than 40 stories. I think something that high will never be built, because I don't see how the financials work on that given how many vacant parcels there are downtown. (i.e. unlike Manhattan, for example, land is cheap and plentiful in downtown Raleigh)

here is the n&O article on the Days Inn replacement: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article224297220.html