"Midtown" Raleigh

[Tayfromcarolina]

In next weeks Triangle Business Journal the old Cappers Resturant at North Hills is changing it's name to 115 Midtown. This may be the beginning of something as it has been long debated as to whether Highwoods, North Hills, or Crabtree would evenutally take the midtown title. I agree that Midtown belongs to the North Hills area.

In other news Antwan Harris who played on 3 Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots and who is on the Blewveland Browns currently is opening a club Downtown Raleigh called "Zydeco Downtown" It will feature live bnads with jazz and blues. The lounge will open around for and capture the evening afterwork crowd. It will occupy a 6,000 square foot space in City Market. It will be the largest bar in Raleigh and feature a sunken fish tank. Valet Parking may be in the works.

[DigitalSky]

I think it'd make the most sense North Hills would be "Midtown," i think it can retain its North Hills identity and still be considered the midtown of Raleigh

Also, if you haven't seen it, my pics of North Hills in February: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...wtopic=8682&hl=

[Jones_]

To me this qualifies as the third New Orleans themed spot downtown to open over a short timeframe, with the one in the old Hardees clearly on its way and the one in the Hudson I am less sure of. I hope they actually play some Zydeco once in awhile!

[paletexan]

I think it'd make the most sense North Hills would be "Midtown," i think it can retain its North Hills identity and still be considered the midtown of Raleigh

I do not want to steer off topic, but what elements does North Hills have that make it a candidate for a midtown?

My only knowledge of this naming convension is in Atlanta, which has a clear midtown district just north of downtown, and Charlotte where they had a failed mall named Midtown Place (I think it's a Home Depot now Expo now).

[JunktionFET]

Charlotte's "midtown" has been named that for a long time--since my stepdad was a child at least (50+ years ago). It is generally located in a southeastern direction from Uptown, divided by I-277. It is the zone between the Elizabeth neighborhood and Uptown. CPCC and Presbyterian Hospital are in "midtown", and the area has a miniature skyline. Yes, there's also a dead shopping center on the southern edge--once called "Charlotte Town Mall" or something like that, later named Midtown Square or Plaza (I forget).

I don't like the idea of renaming North Hills or any other area as "midtown". It's far too cheesy and "me-too"... and I think it sort of bleaches the identity of the area. North Hills is an appropriate name (literally speaking) and it has some historical significance, albeit recent history. Crabtree Valley also has significance. Highwoods is named after the company that actually owns all of that land.

If Raleigh acquires a "midtown", it needs to be some place adjacent to downtown and not a slice or urban development in a sea of suburban mess. If memory serves, Raleigh historically had an area that was unofficially called "midtown" a long time ago. I believe it was on the northern end of what we call "downtown" today.

[Justin6882]

In other news Antwan Harris who played on 3 Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots and who is on the Blewveland Browns currently is opening a club Downtown Raleigh called "Zydeco Downtown" It will feature live bnads with jazz and blues. The lounge will open around for and capture the evening afterwork crowd. It will occupy a 6,000 square foot space in City Market. It will be the largest bar in Raleigh and feature a sunken fish tank. Valet Parking may be in the works.

Looks like its in the former "diBella" space, but isn't there a jazz club there already? Jayzz or something? This is great news, I only live two blocks from there!

[ncwebguy]

Midtown would be a good way to "rebrand" the areas along Capital Blvd. from the north end of downtown to the beltline, and maybe incorporate the Wake Forest Road artery as a western edge north of Capital and eastern edge south of Capital, headed into Mordecai.

The warehouses at the Capital/Wake Forest Road junction were recently purchased and proposed to be turned into a mixed use area.

As far as the upcoming "Cajun" flavor for downtown, I think Raleigh in some ways is like a New Orleans (without the party reputation) It used to be a north/south and east/west crossroads, leading to

establishing it as the state capital. Also, there always seems to be a good mix of the old and new that kind of feeds off each other.

the restaurant going into the old Hardee's Fayetville street mall location has been taking it's sweet time, but hopefully will be open soon (and won't wait for the street to open).

There has been a lineage of jazz downtown, with Yancey's originally in the place currently occupied by Woody's City Market. Also, if the banner posted there is to be belived, Yancey's at the warehouse will be taking over the old Coca-cola bottling plant/Button South/Warehouse building, a prime real estate "fill in the gap" between the new convention center and TTA station/Depot/Warehouse district

Not to mention Shaw University (with the underappreciated jazz radio station WSHA), which has shown signs of wanting to contribute to the downtown rennisance. Also, many jazz musicians and singers live in the Triangle, though mostly in Duhram (including Branford Marsallis)

I think DiBella and Jayzz (sp?) were owned/operated by the same person/group, and both closed down about a month or so ago, as reported in the N&O, and personal obsesrvations that they never seemed to be open since July or so. Combining those two spaces into one could really shore up City Market/Moore Square as an artistic and festive area, with ArtSpace, the galleries, Pour House, Lincoln Theater, Tir Na Nog, Duck and Dumpling, Cafe Luna, Rum Runners, and Exploris/the IMAX theater all near by.

It would be nice to see something happen with the old Greenshields site -- hopefully this will attract something there.

[Damien]

The North Hills area must have been planned to be "midtown" since beginning its reno. This website says that North Hills wil be Raleigh's "midtown." On a similar note, has anyone noticed Wake Med from the beltline between Capital and New Bern Ave.? It almost looks like a mini skyline.

[dmccall]

I will put a detailed plan on my Raleighing.com site, but I'd love to see the whole stretch from North Hills down to Atlantic Ave redeveloped with an urban feel. The boundry streets are St. Albans, Atlantic Ave, and Six Forks. Incorporating this area with the TTA rail line would make it really go well.

(of course, I'd love to see a light rail line from the planned TTA stop behind Duke/Raleigh Hospital to North Hills, Crabtree (along the beltline), down Edwards Mill to the RBC Center, and joining the TTA line again at the Fairgrounds. This would really make the TTA line come alive and make people REALLY think about driving vs. riding)

[NCpride]

Has anyone heard anything about a new magazine coming out that will focus on the North Hills/Crabtree part of Raleigh that is now being dubbed Midtown? The publication could have a different name.

[Gard]

Interesting. Its nice to see publications like this start up because I think they add to the "urban feel," being the focus on one part of town as opposed to the city as a whole. It will help make Crabtree/Northhills feel more like a district with its own flavor by having its own publication.

[RaleighRob]

What's funny is that five years ago, if you asked me to define Raleigh's "midtown", I would've said Five Points.

[reed]

What's funny is that five years ago, if you asked me to define Raleigh's "midtown", I would've said Five Points.

I still think it's lame to call the North Hills area "Midtown." I mean, it is outside the beltline.... does that make everything inside the beltline "Downtown?" Some diehards still call Glenwood South "Midtown."

[amed1824]

Interesting. Its nice to see publications like this start up because I think they add to the "urban feel," being the focus on one part of town as opposed to the city as a whole. It will help make Crabtree/Northhills feel more like a district with its own flavor by having its own publication.

I agree. If you asked the general Raleigh population, I'm sure very few would be able to identify Midtown. A publication highlighting this area would help that I suppose. I think Kane (N. Hills developer) decided it was in his best interest financially to give the area more of a geographic identity. Although, if this is the case why didn't he just name the shopping center North Hills at Midtown or Midtown Hills, etc.

[citiboi27610]

Main Entry: mid

[dmccall]

Interesting point.

When I think of Down/Mid/Uptowns, I think of Manhattan. The way it is laid out, it makes sense to use this linear trio of terms. However in Raleigh, the circular terms Down/ITB/OTB/O540 make more sense.

Frankly I've never seen a city using "Downtown" and "Midtown" terminology that has sprawl existing between the two sections. That's what makes this so idiotic.

But hey! We can't even figure out what nomenclature to use for each side of 440's median. How are we supposed to get this midtown thing right?

[Gard]

Well as for me, I consider anything inside the beltline as downtown, so calling North Hills, midtown, makes perfect sense to me.

[amed1824]

Well as for me, I consider anything inside the beltline as downtown, so calling North Hills, midtown, makes perfect sense to me.

Well, I live inside the beltline. Tomorrow I'm going to Logan's to buy a load of vegatables to plant in my backyard garden. Does that sound like something a "downtown" resident would do? Give Raleigh 20 years at its current growth rate and maybe the Midtown name will fit North Hills. Kinda scary though.

[Jones_]

Well as for me, I consider anything inside the beltline as downtown, so calling North Hills, midtown, makes perfect sense to me.

...and people who live ITB laugh at that. Downtown is the gridded area roughly bounded by Peace, MLK, St Marys and East (or farther east). I am with Rob on 5-points being Midtown with maybe inclusion of Cameron village in a little arc...sort of defined by Wade and Fairview.....I give the Crabtree, North Hills arc the Uptown designation...

[reed]

...and people who live ITB laugh at that. Downtown is the gridded area roughly bounded by Peace, MLK, St Marys and East (or farther east). I am with Rob on 5-points being Midtown with maybe inclusion of Cameron village in a little arc...sort of defined by Wade and Fairview.....I give the Crabtree, North Hills arc the Uptown designation...

Agree 100%.

[ncwebguy]

It is unfortuate that these "arcs" -- cameron village to five points and RBC to crabtree to north hills all start around Hillsborough Street and end at Capitol Blvd.

They do make sense in a down/mid/up town way though, since they are somewhat connected.

This excludes more than half of the area ITB, but I don't know if they care. The part of SW Raleigh not near NC State feels more connected to Cary (or Garner from Lake Wheeler Road east) than Raleigh. Southeast Raleigh doesn't feel like anywhere, a lot of houses, a few grocery stores, and not much else.

What does this make the 540 corridor and beyond? Norther Raleigh? Outatown? Exurbia? Wake Forest?

[Jones_]

What does this make the 540 corridor and beyond? Norther Raleigh? Outatown? Exurbia? Wake Forest?

"north Raleigh" really needs to be thought of as NW and NE Raleigh, with NW revolving around Crabtree and being a suburb of 'uptown'. NE....hmm...sorta revolves around TTC as far as shopping goes...middle classish....very new....I am at a loss for tags.

[dmccall]

I don't know if this is the right topic or not, but there is a big chasm that runs through SW Raleigh. It begins around the rock quarry on Duraleigh Road and extends to the fairgrounds, through NCSU, Central Prison, and through Dorothea Dix. This is almost a straight line institutional purposes. There's a quarry, two hospitals (Rex, Dix), art museum, formerly 2 prisons, a football stadium, 3 arenas, and two colleges (Meredith, NCSU).

map it

The swath acts as a giant social river. People rarely want to cross it, and it takes a considerable amount of time to do so. I imagine the Wake Co. School System has discussed this at length. Rarely in history have they taken make students across the swath.

Any thoughts?

[RaleighRob]

^I'm not really sure of that. I cross it almost daily (if such a "swath" exists).

I mean, in a way, Blue Ridge Road, from Rex on down, doesn't have much residential or retail commercial at all, and it there probably are a lot of people who don't go much further west than that...but many others do quite regularly, as evidenced by some heavy traffic on Western and Hillsborough.

[Jones_]

I don't know if this is the right topic or not, but there is a big chasm that runs through SW Raleigh. It begins around the rock quarry on Duraleigh Road and extends to the fairgrounds, through NCSU, Central Prison, and through Dorothea Dix. This is almost a straight line institutional purposes. There's a quarry, two hospitals (Rex, Dix), art museum, formerly 2 prisons, a football stadium, 3 arenas, and two colleges (Meredith, NCSU).

map it

The swath acts as a giant social river. People rarely want to cross it, and it takes a considerable amount of time to do so. I imagine the Wake Co. School System has discussed this at length. Rarely in history have they taken make students across the swath.

Any thoughts?

I think it was done on purpose as a buffer between Cary and Raleigh...I mean how else are you going to create a Containment Area for Relocated Yankees? Seriously, most of that is a byproduct of locating certain things far enough away so as not to invoke nimbyism. I always thought west Raleigh and Cary were poorly connected it is all realted it seems....