Triangle photo of the day

[InitialD]

I don't think Fayetteville Street is very boring. Raleigh has been able to keep a lot more historic buildings that Charlotte has.

[Jones_]

3 hours ago, InitialD said:

I don't think Fayetteville Street is very boring. Raleigh has been able to keep a lot more historic buildings that Charlotte has.

That's a sad situation for Charlotte, because I estimate Raleigh has less than 5% of the commercial buildings that were standing in 1914....there are online maps, with that being the latest version, that make the counting easy. Convenient, because that is about when cars started to influence development patterns 

[RiverwoodCLT]

Most of the old uptown building were small and of wood.   Ivey's store is still there and a lot of 4 fourth  was before 1900.  These old buildings  could not meet today's building  codes.

What dives the office towers in uptown is for office space.  Also for high rise apartments for workers to live.

I have see pictures of old downtown Charlotte and there were a lot of small shops.     Also malls pull retail out of uptown.   Charlotte has been under a downtown plan since the 1960s .

The August 1965 report was the first glimpse Charlotteans got at an ambitious new plan for revitalizing uptown, then still known as downtown. The Odell Plan, as it would come to be known, was formally adopted in 1966, and it made audacious predictions: Downtown would have a sports stadium, a zoo, an underground street, hotels, museums, high-rise apartments, parks, a convention center and many more office towers.

The plan might have looked like a fantasy when city leaders conceived it 50 years ago. But there was an urgency to be bold. Downtown was starting to decay fast, with businesses moving out and real estate values dropping. Suburban shopping centers and new housing developments pulled people away from downtown, and empty storefronts and blight were creeping in.

In 1960 Charlotte's population was  201,564 people.

I lived in Raleigh in 1965 and downtown Raleigh was not at the same state as Charlotte.  It had Belks , places to eat and  movie theaters

 

 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article73384557.html

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by RiverwoodCLT

[DanRNC]

20 hours ago, RiverwoodCLT said:

The August 1965 report was the first glimpse Charlotteans got at an ambitious new plan for revitalizing uptown, then still known as downtown.

Raleigh never had ambitions for anything except being a sleepy hollow, meanwhile Charlotte's ambitions were quasi-racialist with the re-branding from "downtown" to "uptown". Nothing like some good ol' fashioned whitewashing with that sweet tea. 

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, DanRNC said:

Raleigh never had ambitions for anything except being a sleepy hollow, meanwhile Charlotte's ambitions were quasi-racialist with the re-branding from "downtown" to "uptown". Nothing like some good ol' fashioned whitewashing with that sweet tea. 

wow is all I can say about that above.  Uptown/downtown Charlotte was rebranded for several reasons as in the 1970s retail and tenants were leaving in droves and uptown is more uplifting and the fact the uptown core along Tryon Street is on a ridgeline that makes it up from any direction.  When was the last time you were in either Raleigh or Charlotte?  The 'sleepy hollow' of Raleigh is one of the top 5 fastest growing cities in the country and downtown Raleigh is going through a building boom right now.   Come on down for a visit sometime we can have some sweet tea atop the Dillon's skydeck or at numerous rooftop bars in Charlotte.  My treat! 

Edited July 24, 2018 by KJHburg

[Jones_]

On 7/22/2018 at 8:03 PM, RiverwoodCLT said:

Most of the old uptown building were small and of wood.   Ivey's store is still there and a lot of 4 fourth  was before 1900.  These old buildings  could not meet today's building  codes.

What dives the office towers in uptown is for office space.  Also for high rise apartments for workers to live.

I have see pictures of old downtown Charlotte and there were a lot of small shops.     Also malls pull retail out of uptown.   Charlotte has been under a downtown plan since the 1960s .

The August 1965 report was the first glimpse Charlotteans got at an ambitious new plan for revitalizing uptown, then still known as downtown. The Odell Plan, as it would come to be known, was formally adopted in 1966, and it made audacious predictions: Downtown would have a sports stadium, a zoo, an underground street, hotels, museums, high-rise apartments, parks, a convention center and many more office towers.

The plan might have looked like a fantasy when city leaders conceived it 50 years ago. But there was an urgency to be bold. Downtown was starting to decay fast, with businesses moving out and real estate values dropping. Suburban shopping centers and new housing developments pulled people away from downtown, and empty storefronts and blight were creeping in.

In 1960 Charlotte's population was  201,564 people.

I lived in Raleigh in 1965 and downtown Raleigh was not at the same state as Charlotte.  It had Belks , places to eat and  movie theaters

 

 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article73384557.html

 

Raleigh's plan was also an Odell plan and more or less did the same thing with State government being the catalyst. But, whether inadvertently or overtly, these plans were always tinged with racism. First white flight was catalyzed with block busting, and convenient interstate systems into and out of downtowns, lacking sidewalks or buses to the outlying areas. Then, of course, entire minority areas were leveled for both the new developments and their parking requirements, and for the road networks that allowed white office workers to be whisked away back home before the sun set. I mean, this is old news. But all this urgency to be bold is must be taken in full context....lots and lots of people lived in these downtowns...they were just not the people with the money that led to tall skylines and pretty postcards. And it's a stain on each and eery city that dozed it's way through wit such plans.  Charlotte's plan was enabled by private dollars and took hold more fully. Raleigh's, luckily, was partly thwarted by a tight fisted legislature, though I'd guess something close to 50% of that plan was realized, but most of the eviction of minorities still took place from the rear downs right off the bat. 

Edit: Good god my typos...never respond on mobile...

Edited July 29, 2018 by Jones_

[Crucial_Infra]

On 7/23/2018 at 10:31 PM, Jones_ said:

Raleigh's plan was also an Odell plan and more or less did the same thing with State government being the catalyst. But, whether inadvertently or overtly, these plans were always tinged with racism. First white flight was catalyzed with block busting, and convenient interstate systems into and out of downtowns, lacking sidewalks or buses to the outlying areas. Then, of course, entire minority areas were leveled for both the new developments and their parking requirements, and for the road networks that allowed white office workers to be whisked away back home before the sun set. I mean, this is old news. But all this urgency to be bold is must be taken in full context....lots and lots of people lived in these downtowns...they were just not the people with the money that led to tall skylines and pretty postcards. And it's a stain on each and eery city that dozed it's way through wit such plans.  Charlotte's plan was enabled by private dollars and took hold more fully. Raleigh's, luckily, was partly thwarted by a tight fisted legislature, though I'd guess something close to 50% of that plan was realized, but most of the eviction of minorities still took place from the rear downs right off the bat. 

Agree with this.  Race was obviously a big component and a stain on urban renewal across all of urban America.  I think @KJHburg's defense was more specifically aimed at the branding aspect of the term "Uptown" and perhaps at what appeared [to me] to be a singling out of Charlotte for the sins of an era that saw such destruction in Chicago, NYC, OKC, Norfolk, Durham, Raleigh, Detroit, Lubbock, Pittsburgh, Portland, etc, etc... No doubt it was unfair and wrong-- and in many cases absolutely on purpose.  It's very important to acknowledge this.

[ctl]

White flight in the North and white flight in the South differ in timing. In the South it didn't kick in until the late 1960s, when the remnants of de jure desegregation finally fell apart (redlining continued for a while thereafter). Prior to the late 1960s, racial boundaries in Raleigh and other Southern cities had been set in stone for decades.  Many white people believed that housing would remain segregated indefinitely, and sadly many of those believed that it should. 

But construction of subdivisions outside Raleigh's core had begun in the 1950s, as it did almost everywhere in the nation. The historic map of Raleigh annexations shows that sprawl had filled what's now ITB by the 1960s and had already lept north of the US 1 Bypass that opened in 1963. Racial barriers were still in place at that time. 

So if it wasn't white flight, what was the motivation for a white family of the 1950s to leave Raleigh's core and move to a then-new subdivision on the edge of civilization? Lifestyle, a perceived lack of attractive housing in the core, more square footage for Baby Boom children, movement of jobs out of the core (classic example prior to RTP is the 1950's ITT Kellogg factory at 2912 Wake Forest Road), intense marketing of the private automobile, availability of VA and FHA loans... and encouragement from developers who saw the huge profits to be made from sprawl.

Edited July 29, 2018 by ctl

[nicholas]

Hardly ever play this game, but here's something new to get back on-topic.

 

[Jones_]

Following up with a lazy shot from a similar spot, and another, that I promise is from somewhere in DTR. Any guesses as to approximate area? Hints are that I try to get inside things I am fairly certain are coming down but that this one is still standing. 

Edited October 2, 2018 by Jones_

[ctl]

After years of frequent change, I think the configuration of the trackage west of the Boylan St bridge is likely to remain as-is for a while. 

[KJHburg]

In Raleigh and downtown today.  The skies were beautiful today for photos.  Downtown Raleigh looks great.  Quick stop at one of my favorites Krispy Kreme on the edge of downtown.  Lunch at the Morgan St Food Hall was great and it was really crowded.  Caution photo overload but I only get up here every couple of months. 

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous photos of downtown Raleigh today.  

The Sir Walter apartments were advertising for new apartment tenants.  I know Chick-fil-a closed but is that building going to be restored or kept as is?  

[Jones_]

This is one of several questionable art panels leading from the RDU parking deck to terminal 1. It's a swine farm and lagoon. Others include a single wide trailer in a field, a tree dead from acid rain and an illegally harvested ginseng plant. The artist cleverly hid these jaded items in otherwise, pretty, artistic panels. So you know, welcome to North Carolina y'all!

[DanRNC]

7 hours ago, Jones_ said:

This is one of several questionable art panels leading from the RDU parking deck to terminal 1. It's a swine farm and lagoon. Others include a single wide trailer in a field, a tree dead from acid rain and an illegally harvested ginseng plant. The artist cleverly hid these jaded items in otherwise, pretty, artistic panels. So you know, welcome to North Carolina y'all!

That's great! Hopefully the artist worked in bathroom bans and voter suppression themes as well. 

[Jones_]

1 hour ago, DanRNC said:

That's great! Hopefully the artist worked in bathroom bans and voter suppression themes as well. 

My guess was liberal artist with a sense of humor.... and sense of political duty to tell it like it is

[KJHburg]

Merry Christmas Triangle area!  couple of trees from my recent visit 2 weeks ago. 

Photos 1, 2, 3 State Capitol   4. Patriotic tree at the NC History Museum 5.6. other trees at the History Museum  7. Lobby at PNC Plaza 8. tree in front of Memorial Auditorium 

 

[Merthecat]

Merry Christmas from the FNB Tower!

[KJHburg]

Miscellaneous  Triangle area photos today from Durham to Raleigh to a historical site the Yates Mill south of Raleigh.  Lunch at the Ninth St Bakery downtown Durham which was really good. 

 

[SydneyCarton]

The Durham project that I most look forward to is the replacement for the South Building.

[nicholas]

On 8/9/2019 at 11:23 AM, SydneyCarton said:

The Durham project that I most look forward to is the replacement for the South Building.

That's going to be a game changer.  Doesn't the company that developed City Center also own that lot?

[SydneyCarton]

Chapel Hill: The Athens of the Carolinas!

Edited September 1, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Chapel Hill: The Charlottesville/Madison of North Carolina.

[SydneyCarton]

10 hours ago, DCMetroRaleigh said:

Chapel Hill: The Charlottesville/Madison of North Carolina.

I was referring to Athens, Greece — not Athens, Ga.

Anyway, neither Charlottesville, nor Madison, are on par with the Hill.   That a great university like UNC and an utter powerhouse like Duke are merely a few miles apart makes Chapel Hill/Durham very unique. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[SydneyCarton]

UNC and Franklin St