Raleigh Wishlist

[Jones_]

Wishlist indeed. I hold back quite a bit myself but wander town all the time and think "this so and so would be great right there.."

Anyway, a never mentioned thought of mine sits squarely on you map...Wake Forest Road is four lanes and even at rush house, is nowhere near capacity. I propose putting in a planted median (nice like Glenwood from Peace to Five Points), bike lanes from Person to the wonky Atlantic connection at Circus Burger and a continuance of that bike lane out to Crabtree Greenway along Automotive Way and Crabtree Blvd. Also, since the BRT service is supposed to come nearby, have a park and ride in the flea market mall parking lot. Then you've A) made Wake Forest road much more pedestrian friendly and more neighborhood like...it is fronted by houses after all....and B) you've provided a good bike connection to a mass transit express pickup point. Lots of folks in the Mordecai/Oakwood/east downtown areas could utilize the BRT to RTP and get to the area on bike or by car. Greyhound is also conveniently located where the park and ride would be. You could even do roundabouts at Person/Wake Forest and Wake Forest/Atlantic/Brookside/Automotive. The Capital Blvd realignment/relocation could even play into that perhaps. 

Anyway...wishlist!

[orulz]

On 6/30/2016 at 1:49 PM, Green_man said:

IDEA:  Close the Norfolk Southern rail lines from Wake Forest Rd to Jones Street.  Relocate NS to share CSX right of way (adding parallel tracks as necessary).  Relocate NS railyard to public storage and urban ministries buildings area.  Turn existing NS line into separated bike / pedestrian path.  Section between Peace Street & North Street could be redeveloped into a 'High Line' type elevated park/path.

I know the railroad companies are notoriously difficult to deal with and this would require massive amounts of coordination / concessions from them.... but... its a wishlist right?

RaleighBikePathAndHighLine.pdf

 

I have had a similar thought but rather than use the CSX alignment, realign all rail traffic onto the proposed SE HSR alignment as a four-track corridor. The CSX line and yard south of Wade Avenue could be partly or mostly abandoned and redeveloped into whatever. The NS yard would mostly be sold as redevelopment. 

If you take the existing NS corridor plus all the properties between the NS line and West Street, that makes a ~ 150' wide corridor. The railroad would be built on a 100' wide viaduct spanning from North Street to Peace Street, built with retail space underneath.  That still leaves 50' left over in the corridor for a greenway. There would be enough space for a grade-separated, elevated bike path trail through Glenwood South, but I don't think it's necessary or even desirable really. A 50' wide ground level tree lined pedestrian-and-bicycle focused space next to retail under the viaduct would be the result.

Raleigh Rail Relocation - North

The CSX land would mostly be used to expand the street grid and the rest would be sold for development.

The NS yard could be moved where you suggest, or actually better yet, relocated as part of a similar rail consolidation project I suggest south of downtown, which would allow the NS line through Dix to be converted to an awesome rail-trail from the Carolina Pines neighborhood, over I-40, to Walnut Creek, through Dix Park, and on to Downtown.

Raleigh Rail Relocation - South

We have two rail corridors running nearly parallel north-south through Raleigh from approximately Whitaker Mill Road to Rush Street; the end result of these two suggestions would be to consolidate them into a single corridor.

[Jones_]

^^ Well shoot...there's the pedestrian connection of Dix to Downtown right there. Being up on the bridge over Western would be awesome indeed. Gotta find a way to elevate these ideas...(no pun intended...)

[Jones_]

Ok, screw it. I'm just going to free flow thoughts into this thread from now on. Next wishlist type thought....the City owned lots in front of Duke Energy/Memorial Auditorium (currently a parking lot) should be developed into a combo park and plaza, possibly with that gigantic fountain people mentioned a few years back. This space is about to have two hotels facing it. I personally like hotels facing greenspace. I also personally like the idea of a second widening of the corridor (in addition to City Plaza) for a larger gathering spot in front of a visitor attraction (the Memorial complex). The City had originally included these two lots in the RFP that resulted in the Charter Square and Residence Inn projects. Taking these off the development map will put pressure on future projects to go higher (what people want right?). It will also maintain a better view of the Auditorium complex from points north. The proposed realignment of Salisbury St (in the downtown plan) would provide ample replacement surface parking behind Memorial. 

So...wishlist!

[Reverie39]

This is mostly from an aesthetic standpoint. But I would really like to see a push to expand the taller buildings away from the 3ish block corridor surrounding Fayetteville St. I think an important part of what makes a city feel big is a continuation of large buildings away from the center area/Main Street portion. I'm not talking about skyscrapers. But mid-rise and 10-20 story buildings in the Warehouse District and the portion East of downtown (I understand there are many houses here, though) would really make Raleigh feel like a growing city of 500,000 people. Anytime I bring people into Raleigh they comment that it seems very small, and it's true that the truly "downtown" portion of downtown ends rather abruptly. As you can imagine, I'm excited about the Dillon and hope several more like it follow. If anyone has taken I-93 into Boston and looked around, it's what I'm talking about on a larger scale. 

PS if there are any large developments like the Dillon in these areas, please let me know! I'm out of touch.

[Green_man]

As far as any potential height coming to the east side of downtown, I think the block directly east of Moore Square is the last hope.  The developer of the Lincon has bought the Killo building (small .21 acre plot) and will likely try to buy the surrounding land owned by the City.  So probably another 6 story apt building along Martin St.  But I kinda hope for another Skyhouse building at the Salvation Army site that the City is planning to sell.  Seems to me like it would be a good transition down for the skyline.  And the leasing for Skyhouse has been exceptional indicating strong demand! (Cities with multiple Skyhouses:  Charlotte 2, Atlanta 4, Houston 3, Dallas 2.)  Just a thought...

[Jones_]

The city has indicated more than once that height east of Moore Square isn't happening. The neighborhood (of which I am a part) ain't having any of it either. There are multiple sets of townhouses filling in some gaps over there, that will represent the densest it'll ever be in that direction...which I think is fine. 

But having said all of that, there are quite a few 10-20 buildings discussed in other threads that are off the Fayetteville St spine. One Glenwood, Smokey Hollow, 301 Hillsborough (two buildings supposedly), a rumor something at 404 could happen, The N&O site is seeking approval for up to 40, Hilton Garden is still planned across from the L....I think that covers the 10-20 range off the spine. 

[Green_man]

Yea I guess I could see another Skyhouse (260 ft) as being too much height there.  Ok, let me revise... what I'd really like to see would be for someone to do a re-creation of a historic residential or hotel building on the block east of Moore Square.  Something like the "Professional Building" on Nash Sq (8 floors, ~100 ft) or the "Odd Fellows Building" at Salisbury & Hargett (10 floors, ~130 ft).  Or have something like both of them facing the park and then 6-story mid rise facing Lincoln & parking deck at the interior of the block shared.

[Jones_]

^ Hell yeah that'd be awesome. Along those lines some part of me is hoping the N&O site gets a recreated Park Hotel, which in my opinion, is our greatest architectural loss

[Reverie39]

I would love that. I think someone was mentioning earlier that they'd like more focus on preserving historic areas. I agree that other cities do a great job of this while Raleigh (and many Triangle towns, oddly) don't. Here in Cary, most people you ask won't be able to tell you anything about the history of our region. A recreation of a historic building sounds like a fantastic idea that could help with that while giving the city a little more character. 

On a similar note, this is pretty out there, but a large monument would be super cool. Something that could truly stick out as a landmark and be visible from a decent distance. Not sure what it would be for lol, but lots of cities have grand monuments to things and it'd be cool to have one, perhaps around the Moore Square area. Again, would help with the city's character and generate interest in our history.