Carrboro's 300 East Main

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Carrboro's first hotel and parking deck will soon be under construction downtown.

The first phase of the 300 East Main project includes a 142-room Hampton Inn & Suites with 18,100 square feet of retail and restaurant space located on the ground floor.

A 500-space parking deck will sit behind the hotel and will provide free public parking. Future phases of 300 East Main will bring additional retail, restaurant, office and cultural space.

Read more here: http://www.newsobser...l#storylink=cpy

http://www.300eastmain.com/project.html

[RaleighRob]

Wow. Carrboro moving on up. I almost forgot that the entire town had not one single hotel. I think that's kinda overdue.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

The entire 300 Main Street project is massive. I eagerly await the construction of the remainder of this project.

[Jones_]

For Carrboro it is very massive. It changes the character of the whole place. I am ok with with the underutilized stuff being replaced but have pause that the gritty, artistic edge may be getting replaced by sterile, uniform modern stuff. I am not saying this is a bad project...far from it...but often the things that make an area cool in the first place, get overwritten by those coming in later. See Asheville for exhibit A.

[orulz]

For Carrboro it is very massive. It changes the character of the whole place. I am ok with with the underutilized stuff being replaced but have pause that the gritty, artistic edge may be getting replaced by sterile, uniform modern stuff. I am not saying this is a bad project...far from it...but often the things that make an area cool in the first place, get overwritten by those coming in later. See Asheville for exhibit A.

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to in Asheville. I'm going to guess that it's probably something like the Akzona Building in Asheville replacing a row of 2-3 story early 20th century retain buildings, or a parking deck for the BB&T building replacing the Langren Hotel. Really, though, Asheville has fared far better in this respect than any other city in NC.

But let's make a distinction between between new modern developments replacing strip malls and parking lots, which is what 300 E Main is doing, and things like the Akzona and the Langren (which happened in the 1970s and 1960s respectively) which replace historic urban fabric with bland monotonous junk.

[DanRNC]

Orange County need the tax base so this may be one step in this process. Even the "block everything" crowd is realizing their pet projects can't get funded without revenue.

[Jones_]

It is definitely a bland strip of nothing being replaced regarding the buildings themselves. But I am sure the current rents there are more affordable than what it will take to pay the debt at 300 east Main. I am not convinced any existing business...including the Cradle, can pay market rate on a new building. Crappy buildings enable a lot of low revenue, but character businesses to exist. I am not knocking....just trying to think through the real final outcome here.

The parallel to Asheville is that a lot of what made Asheville interesting 20 years ago, is migrating over to west Asheville. Some very nice buildings are going up around Asheville proper. But the reality is the hippies that kept it alive when nobody else cared, are moving across the river. The first time I overhear a tourist asking where is a Starbucks, I may start a campaign like the one about keeping Austin weird.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Carrboro's large number of creative classers and hipsters ensures that it will retain its edgy weirdness. Cary it is not (no offense Cary). DC has massive amounts of these projects, and yet, its coolness vibe continues to skyrocket. These projects do not have to be sterile.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

300 East Main development finally underway

300 East Main’s developers, Main Street Properties, will celebrate the official groundbreaking of the project during a ceremony on March 28. The project includes the redevelopment of properties extending from the intersection of Main and Boyd streets near Nice Price Books to the present municipal parking lot on the corner of Main and Roberson streets.

The first phase of the project includes a 142-room Hampton Inn and Suites and a 500-space, six-level parking deck. The hotel building will include 18,100 square feet of retail/restaurant space on the ground floor, room for six to nine tenants.

Laura Van Sant, one of the Main Street Properties partners, said she expects the building to house three or four food- and beverage-related businesses, with the rest likely to be retail shops.

Additional phases of the project will include a five-story retail and office space near the train tracks and redevelopment of the building that houses Cat’s Cradle, Fleet Feet and Amante Gourmet Pizza.

http://www.carrboroc...nally-underway/

[DCMetroRaleigh]

A crowd gathered Wednesday at 300 East Main Street for the groundbreaking on a mixed-use development that will include Carrboro’s first hotel.

“It’s going to create jobs, and it’ll lead to more continuous development that Main Street Properties has proposed,” says Manish Atma, who serves as a principle for the Atma Hotel Group. “So, it’ll be good for all of Orange County, not just Carrboro.”

http://www.chapelboro.com/Carrboro-Breaks-Ground-on-New-Development-Includin/12676898

[Jones_]

"creating jobs" is as pure of a pc statement as kissing babies used to be