Downtown Raleigh retail updates

[RaleighRob]

Looks like Tyler's Taproom will be putting a fourth location soon at Raleigh's Seaboard Station: http://www.gogoraleigh.com/2008/04/29/tyle...ng-to-seaboard/

I've liked their Carrboro and Durham locations. (Was pretty surprised to hear about Apex...just seemed like an "odd fit" out there in the suburbs.) I think Seaboard will definitely be good location for them for Raleigh.

[ncwebguy]

I was wondering what would fill that space in Seaboard. I was hoping for non-food retail, since the area already has Sunflowers, Tookies, 18 Seaboard, Seaboard Cafe, the Capitol City Grocery's front porch, J. Betski's and (eventually) Peace Chinese.

I'd rather see Tyler's go into the old Greenshields space at City Market, the ground floor of Hue or West at North, F Street, or even 111 Seaboard, but there will be plenty of parking at Seaboard. The only people within walking distance (for now) are residents of the Cotton Mill, Capitol Park, the Village at Pilot Mill, and Peace College students. That might be enough, and the area does have a more laid back vibe than Glenwood.

Five Star and Duck and Dumpling seem to be more "bistro" or "American" Chinese, and Jade Garden is (sadly) a take out/delivery kitchen with an empty dining room.

[ERG]

I was wondering what would fill that space in Seaboard. I was hoping for non-food retail, since the area already has Sunflowers, Tookies, 18 Seaboard, Seaboard Cafe, the Capitol City Grocery's front porch, J. Betski's and (eventually) Peace Chinese.

actually, seaboard is walkable to everyone in oakwood/mordecai area--a lot more than you've listed. i walk there often. and of the places you've listed above, sunflowers/seaboard cafe are both closed at night, serve basically the same food, and no beer. (and sunflowers only takes cash?!?!)

18 seaboard and j betskis are both $$$. tookie's grill takes too long! i've walked to seaboard on a friday night and walked back home bc they dont have the kind of place i want: relatively cheap place with a good draft selection and a "funner" atmosphere.

[miamiblue]

actually, seaboard is walkable to everyone in oakwood/mordecai area--a lot more than you've listed. i walk there often. and of the places you've listed above, sunflowers/seaboard cafe are both closed at night, serve basically the same food, and no beer. (and sunflowers only takes cash?!?!)

18 seaboard and j betskis are both $$. tookie's grill takes too long! i've walked to seaboard on a friday night and walked back home bc they dont have the kind of place i want: relatively cheap place with a good draft selection and a "funner" atmosphere.

We tried to go to Tookie's the first Friday night in April after a group run and they were closed! We were shocked, and had a bunch of thirsty and hungry runners that were looking for some food and a beer. Tyler's would have been perfect in that case.

[RaleighRob]

Regarding Tylers--

Yeah, as much as the old Greenshield's would have been perfect for them from an urban-booster point-of-view, I can't blame them for preferring Seaboard for all it's parking and lack of much competition there for their niche. I'm just glad they're coming to downtown Raleigh. Even though it's not quite my thing personally...as Foxy mentioned, the surrounding areas would love to have it. (I hope they do like the Durham locale and make all the dining area nonsmoking.) I think in this upcoming economy they're a good fit since their prices are more reasonable than some others.

[ncwebguy]

actually, seaboard is walkable to everyone in oakwood/mordecai area--a lot more than you've listed.

It depends on your definition of "walkable" and "Oakwood/Mordecai area". *I* could walk from Side Street Cafe (Lane and Bloodworth) to Ace Hardware without thinking twice (over a mile each way), but a lot of other people won't. Bike? maybe. Walk? No. Peace College doesn't help, either, since you have to walk along Peace Street or up to Delway since Frakliln is gone between Halifax and Blount. The power transformers force walkers down to Franklin before geeting over to Seaboard.

I could see a neighborhood bar in Person Street Plaza, but nothing is going to happen there any time soon due to vehicle in and out issues.

City Market has plenty of parking near Person, and will have even more when the Edison deck comes online. City Market does have Woody's already, which is close to Tyler's beer-wise, but a step down in quality of food.

I was hoping Tookies would be faster after they had been open for a while, but it seems they've packed it in instead, staying open fewer hours.

[ChiefJoJo]

I'd rather see Tyler's go into the old Greenshields space at City Market, the ground floor of Hue or West at North, F Street, or even 111 Seaboard, but there will be plenty of parking at Seaboard.

Totally agree with you there. Damn. Can't someone see the potential of that old city market Greenshields space? It's such a unique old building, and the location is getting better and better... Moore Square seems to be coming back with activity, in part due to city events like DT Live. Think of the potential once RBC opens 1.5 blks away, and then in a few years we will have the Woodpile/Gordon Smith 2 blk to the east and Edison office/hotel/condo block to the west right next door. Maybe the timing isn't right, or maybe the owner won't pay for much upfit. I thought I'd heard that the owner had plans to subdivide the larger space (10k sf?) into two smaller spaces.

[reed]

Newraleigh is reporting that Revolver Boutique is moving from Five Points to Glenwood South. It will be above the bridal shop at the corner of Jones St.

Good to see more retail in the neighborhood.

http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive...glenwood-south/

[dmccall]

Sidetrack is having to change its name. New name: Boylan Bridge Brewpub.

[Jones_]

Sidetrack is having to change its name. New name: Boylan Bridge Brewpub.

And of course we were going to offer so much competition that the place in Chicago would go right out of business. Lawyers always trying to justify their existence it seems. No apologizes to any on this board.

[dmccall]

I guess we could flood some site like this one with bad reviews of the place "that time I was in Chicago". Talk about how filthy the bathrooms were, how rude the help was, and how dirty the glasses were. They don't have food so we can't cover that.

[miamiblue]

After doing a very quick web search of "sidetrack" it seems that there are plenty of other businesses that are using that besides the place in Chicago. I wonder if they have received cease and desist orders as well. Absolutely ridiculous.

I'm still not sure I really understand how the word "sidetrack" could have gotten patented/trademarked to begin with.

[ChiefJoJo]

Man, that's ridiculous. I don't think "Boylan Bridge Brewpub" sounds quite as good. Oh well. I can understand a small woodworking shop and small business startup not wanting to enter into a massive legal battle over something so trivial.

I noticed yesterday that there is some work being done at the future "Siti" (rumored Neomonde spin-off) location at Heilig-Levine. First sign of progress in a while. I can't wait!

Can't recall if this has been posted, but 101 Cafe is open at Palladium Plaza.

[RaleighRob]

Man, that's ridiculous. I don't think "Boylan Bridge Brewpub" sounds quite as good. Oh well.

I'd just drop the "bridge" part. Boylan Brewpub will be less wordy yet still gets to the point.

[DPK]

I'm still not sure I really understand how the word "sidetrack" could have gotten patented/trademarked to begin with.

Easy, the US Patent/Trademark Office is broken and unable to appropriately handle the amount of stuff that comes into it on a daily basis.

[dmccall]

They are apparently busier during basketball season. (Billy Packer is always talking about this player's "patented move" and that team's "patented defense")

[ncwebguy]

In Saturday's N&O, the Taking Stock column reported that Roly Poly is moving into Marbles. I guess they will be back by the IMAX theater, but hope they could squeeze into their Corner Store gift shop.

Also, shifting discussion from the RBC Plaza topic, I was wondering if anyone heard what could be moving into the new street level spaces in various buildings open/coming on line this year:

- Palladium Plaza - Cafe 101 opened in the Davie/Blount corner, but what is going into the Cabarrus/Blount space?

- Carlton Place - rents are lower than the CBD, but there have been complaints that it is too high for the area, even though there are no comparables.

- RBC Plaza - RBC bank branch, two other spaces

- Edison/RBC parking deck - space on Wilmington, space on Blount

- 222 Glenwood - Dunkin Donuts, two Italian restaurants (is there space for anything else?)

- West at North - a fair amount of space, but nothing anounced yet

- Marriot Central City hotel - early renderings showed a Starbucks-like logo on the F Street side, but there have been no official announcements I think.

And other structures under construction:

- Hue - a year from opening, but the steel is up and it could be a good warehouse district to F Street link.

- The L - 18+ months from the building/retail opening, but it is close to the convention center.

Plus the rennovations of existing spaces -- the old F Street Hallmark store, Mahler building, the former Downtown Events Center, One Hannover's Wilmington and F Street spaces, the old Gandolfo's space in the Hudson, the Depot, etc.

There is a lot of space to fill, and I hope it isn't filled by weak efforts (like the Depot's bars) that fail and trigger the "downtown is dead" alarm.

[ChiefJoJo]

^ A good summary of many of the available spaces downtown... don't forget about the Carolina Trust Bldg and old Hollys Hallmark on F St. The old Hollys spot looks closer to finishing up.

In "taking stock," she notes that Boylan Bridge Brewpub is supposed to open within about 2 months. I've believe it when I see it. Been waiting on this thing for 3 years.

Also, forgot to mention that Champa is open at Martin/Salisbury. Doesn't look like they changed the space too much, which is fine by me. The hours are 11-6 M-F IIRC. I was hoping for a nice Thai dinner option, but it looks like that's out for now. Maybe they'll stay open later once they see the weekend traffic pickup. It's a bit of a tough location sort of out on an 'island', but it could benefit from the Pizza place opening at 14 W Martin, which is also very close to opening.

[dmccall]

Why would you bother opening beyond 3pm if you're not going to go ahead and do dinner right? Am I crazy? (although I rarely ever leave the office to eat before 7pm)

[cthayes75]

Looks like Obama is moving his headquarters to empty storefront on the corner of Hargett and Wilmington (surrounded on both sides by the Brass Grill).

Temporary tenancy, but tenants nonetheless.

On a different note, has anyone heard anything on retail updates at Oberlin Court? Construction seems to be moving along and yet we hear nothing announced regarding restaurants or shops.

[tjoad]

Looks like Obama is moving his headquarters to empty storefront on the corner of Hargett and Wilmington (surrounded on both sides by the Brass Grill).

Temporary tenancy, but tenants nonetheless.

On a different note, has anyone heard anything on retail updates at Oberlin Court? Construction seems to be moving along and yet we hear nothing announced regarding restaurants or shops.

From the N&O this last Saturday:

In Raleigh, Rita's Water Ice will open this fall in the Shoppes at Oberlin Court, at 1028 Oberlin Road.

[soccer1guy_99]

Looks like Obama is moving his headquarters to empty storefront on the corner of Hargett and Wilmington (surrounded on both sides by the Brass Grill).

Temporary tenancy, but tenants nonetheless.

That is actually a temporary, touring art exhibit http://gotellmama.org/. It is not run by the campaign.

[Jones_]

The obama-rama finished up Sunday.

I too was wondering why stay open to 6 (Champa). Either do dinner or do lunch, but why waste teh money staying open for the dead hours in between....

[ncwebguy]

Doesn't Cooper's Barbecue stay open till 6? I think they do it to sell take out to office workers not wanting to cook or go out to eat. What are Mecca's hours? Is the Martin Street pizza place part of a chain? Affiliated with Lilly's or Moonlight? Champa/pizza/Port City and Mecca on Martin, with Big Easy, the Mint, Yancey's, and Soma on F Street, may make for a somewhat lively area around the RBC Plaza when the office workers (day) and condo residents (night) move in.

I meant to add the mention of the 'bridge, but had to get back to work on something while posting.

I hate I missed the Obama installation, but I've seen a couple of the "basketball" posters around downtown. I bet it would have had a much bigger audience if it was open a week earlier for First Friday!

[cthayes75]

nm

Edited May 13, 2008 by cthayes75