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Brookside/Glascock St.


livinDT

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As to the EIFS, it's not a bad product, it was poor installation practices. Just like PEX had problems with bad fittings. PEX is not bad, just how they originally choose to connect it together. I don't understand construction fully, and I do find the corner brick work weird and the windows in the round part of the convience store odd, but in general the place looks okay for the neighborhood. It's easy to stand back and slam how slow it's going, but when it opens I bet you will visit the spaces, probably walk there and not care about EIFS and such.

You're right, EIFS is not a bad product, but it is an INFERIOR one to many others including the brick that you see on the Brookside development. SUPERIOR products include Zinc Panels, Stone, and Precast Concrete Panels. These are superior because they perform better against the elements over a sustained period of time. They will also improve in appearance whereas the synthetic, petroleum-based plastics in EIFS will weather poorly as ultraviolet radiation breaks down the chemical composition of the product. In the end, EIFS's appearace will worsen with age.

We should always demand the best out our enviroment because we have to live with it for years to come! As I stated in my previous post, its always an issue of balance. We make conscious choices in this building economy when we use inferior products. The choice we make is to save money now but to be forced to raze and/or rebuild in 25 to 50 years (those are the standard lifecycles used in construction budgeting in the U.S. today).

I never understand that when we travel to Williamsburg, Charleston, or Savannah, or points further way like Rome, Paris or London we marvel at the beauty of the historic buildings or 'the charm' or the town. And yet we never make the connection they had to be built well enough to last as long as they have.

Will I visit the spaces once its open?: of course. Will I ENJOY the time I spend there?: not as much as I could. And that's because I DO understand construction and DO care about my enviroment and DO understand the possibilities that have been lost because of a lack of care and skill.

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The future teenants of the grocery/deli store are holding an open house, for their abc permit request. The meeting as it stands, according to the flyer in my mailbox today, is Tuesday June 26th at 7PM. This is not what I envisioned when the N&O printed an article about this project one year ago. I am not against alcohol by any means and would love to one day be able to walk to a store and grab a beer in this historic neighborhood. But, I do not think this is the right time.

I hope that many of my neighbors agree and will come out in support of the neighborhood on June 26th.

I attened the meeting and thought it was interesting to see the spectrum of opinion. I also noted that the demographic of the neighborhood is distinctly of two major groups: older, retired, long-term residents and younger, professional, 30-somethings (some with young families). The neighborhood is definitely experiencing an upswing/resurgence! I was energized and plan on attending more of my CAC meetings to learn more about my neighbors and the issues of importance, as well.

It was unfortunate to see how seemingly arguementative the future grocery owner was with the neighbors. My hunch is that he's a good person, but he's human and his strength was clearly not in public speaking. He may have hurt his cause more than he helped.

The gentleman who related alcohol consumption and rape seemed a bit extremist and suburban in his outlook. We don't need any fearmongering!

But the hero of the night was the older woman (was her name Vaughn?). She spoke eloquently and specifically to the duties of being a responsible community...one that is responsible for its own health and safety. Its hard in this day and age for folks to come together and maintain a safe neighborhood, but that's what it takes. Bless her for being so well spoken.

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I attended a meeting with Steve Fitzpatrick (the contractor and property manager for this sight) and the community on Tuesday, July 24th. At this meeting Steve assured the community that the project was ongoing and running as smoothly as the City, his sub-contractors, and the weather would permit. The the setbacks he had endured were labor challenges and City red tape.

He felt confident the grocery store would be up and running "very soon, a few weeks at most". He just had a few more details to install and a couple more inspections to complete. Then the store owners would be able to move in and get going making a living- something they've been attempting to do for the last year.

Towards the end of the meeting, the representative of the Raleigh Inspections department, who had attended the meeting, asked to step outside with Steve for a moment. After a few minutes he stepped back in with Steve and asked to speak with those present. He had offered Steve an opportunity earlier in the meeting to share with the community the current status of his contractor's license. Steve had not accepted the opportunity. So, without further delay, the inspections representative shared with us that Steve's license had been suspended last November 2006! He did not know the reason for the suspension because he had not asked. Steve gave us an explanation that I now know was another fabrication.

Needless to say, we were stunned.

The project can continue with sub-contractors doing their work and getting their permits approved. However, until a new general contractor is designated for the project, no certificate of occupancy will be issued.

My guess is Steve was hoping to bluff his way through the project and prayed no one would figure out the truth. Unfortunately, when we notified the City that we wanted a representative from inspections to attend the meeting, the City did a background check on the project and discovered this little tidbit of information.

There is to be a write-up in the N&O, hopefully tomorrow, about the project and the current situation. Since I did not speak personally to the licensing board, I will not address what I was told was the reason for the suspension. Why the license wasn't out and out revoked, based on what I was told, I honestly don't know. A quick web search of Steve Fitzpatrick brought up more disturbing information about fraud.

__________________________

I just discovered this site while researching info about Fitzpatrick. One issue that I've seen noted a number of times is the location of parking. I participated in the community discussions about this project and the parking issue. We debated long and hard about parking, well aware that the "proper" location was behind the building. However, we had also been dealing with drugs and prostitution at this site before it burned down and had serious concerns about the safety of residents in the condos and neighbor's ability to see what was going on, should the police need to be called. We'll never know if our choice was the best or not. However, it WAS thought out and discussed rather thoroughly before the project was even designed. Hopefully the large amount of sidewalk in front of the parking area AND in front of the shops will encourage pedestrians. This is a very dog oriented neighborhood with the dog park so close.

Now we see that there

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I guessed something other than "city red tape" was holding the project up. Getting caught for forgery is a little more than red tape, unless you are the forger.

The sputtering construction -- short bursts of a lot of work/improvment with long droughts of little to no activity -- also make sense now given the past history of the devleoper/contractor.

There isn't a problem in that area like there used to be. Prostitution, drugs, and other illicit business could have been conducted in the Oakwood Park area after the fire, but it didn't. Oakwood Park's Brookside parking lot has a swing arm to close it at night, but has been left open for years now. The redevelopment of Halifax Court eliminated the criminal activity in that area.

Closing stores early and having a parking lot out front doesn't help deter loitering. Ask the stores in the 700 block of East Martin Street. There are always people hanging out there, day or night. They don't care if people can see them in the parking lot, as long as they buy a soda or a pack of cigarettes, they are customers. The police can ask them to move, but as soon as the officer is out of sight, it is business as usual. The open air market is so established there, I doubt it will move back to Brookside. Prostitution moved from there to the Oakwood/Jones/Idlewild area for a while, and police operations there have cleaned that area up as well.

Having nothing on the Brookside/Glascock corner for seven years, combined with the redevelopment of Halifax Court and the nearby neighborhoods, will have a greater affect on people hanging out, drugs, and prositution than the placement of the parking. The developer probably used those fears to get what he wanted -- plenty of parking visisble from the road. The backside parking lot will allow prostitution, etc. to be conducted out of the view of passing cars and pedestrians.

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  • 11 months later...
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  • 2 years later...

wow, after nearly three years of no activity, I noticed subcontractor vehicles parked outside today, and a new sign up in front soliciting residents for the housing part of the project. wonder if it is finally under new ownership. As far as I can tell, the entire development is completely vacant.

One positive thing is that I have noticed no graffiti or vandalism visible from the front...remarkable given how long this project has stood abandoned...

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