401 Oberlin Road

[orulz]

There is a proposal out to rezone the two-story office building at the NW corner of Clark and Oberlin as well as the first three houses along Clark into a multi-story, mixed-use building with ground floor retail. It is likely that what is proposed for this corner will look very similar in size and design to the project linked above.

Goodnight, Raleigh will not be happy about this as this is an attractive modernist building, but the fact is that it takes up a huge chunk of real estate along Oberlin, and incorporates no retail.

This really makes sense to me. Though Cameron Village might not be quite as pedestrian-oriented as downtown, it also has vastly more retail amenities within walking distance (rather than just restaurants and nightlife). That makes this, in my opinion, the neighborhood with the best combination of livability, walkability, and convenience in Raleigh. Now that Crescent has blazed the trail by creating a template to follow for building design and neighborhood participation, and given how hot urban apartments are right now, I really expect this area to take off now.

[orulz]

From an e-mail sent to a CAC mailing list:

Tom Worth, David Brown, and Ann Stoddard, representatives of landowner Tom Taft (of Greenville ), will present plans for a mixed-use but predominantly rental unit development at 401 Oberlin owned by Tommy Taft of Greenville . About 250 apartments are planned

The building is proposed as 6 stories facing Oberlin, stepping back to 5 stories, and then 4 stories, with a small 3-story shoulder at the rear near Chamberlain. This site is located on the northwest corner of Oberlin and Clark directly across from the recently-approved Crescent project.

This plan is seeking rezoning approval to the “SC” (Shopping Center) designation which would give the property the zoning equivalent of Cameron Village Shopping Center across Oberlin Road .

Structured parking would be contained inside the west end of the complex (side nearest Chamberlain). It would be shielded by the surrounding end of the apartment building wrapping completely around it to prevent ambient light from headlamps and interior illumination sources being visible from the outside.

The "SC" zoning seems a little unusual. Would this open the door for a bait-and-switch and construction of a strip mall?

[orulz]

The site plan for this project is up on the city website. Looks like a pretty typical Dallas Donut. All four sides of the parking deck are wrapped by apartments. The resident services (office, fitness, whatever) occupy the corner of Oberlin/Clark and retail faces the rest of Oberlin.

I'd like the city to turn Oberlin into a street that looks like Hillsborough, with wider sidewalks, one lane of traffic in each direction, and on-street parking.

[Jones_]

^ good idea especially given that the Ferndell connector never came to be and as such the 4 lane parts of Oberlin do not serve their original purpose. As someone who regularly parks at Teeter and runs over to the post office, a traffic island ala Hillsborough, would be nice.

[Green_man]

Does anyone know what exactly Harris Teeter will do with the extra space from Fosters? Another entrance? A cafe? I hope they don't just block if off and use it as a storeroom. It is still looks like a restaurant, but I don't know if that means they just haven't renovated yet.

[RaleighRob]

^ I remember hearing about Fosters closing but didn't know HT was getting the spot??? I figured it would just sit for re-lease availability.