Tayfromcarolina

Forbes Mags latest Study finds Raleigh #2 and Durham # 8 in the US for doing business. This comes just days after the best places for singles 2006 placed the Triangle in the top 10. The accolades keep on rolling in. And a week after the Best Places to live Study Place Raleigh and Cary near the top of the charts in their respective categories. Forbes Best Places The growth of the metro will definetly continue to be on fire with this kind of praise continuing to happen. Bring on the families, retirees, and singles. Poll Where America Wants to live

I think that Northlake will do fine in the long run. Despite the unfortunate incidents. That could happen anywhere. That mall reminds me a lot of Triangle Towne Center in North Raleigh, also a new mall opening winter of '02. It really does take about 5 years for a mall to find it's niche. Triangle towne center has seen a sudden x-plosion of new stores and resturants several which are firsts in the state in the last 6 months or so as the next section of interstate 540 (Our second Beltline) prepares to open, linking the mall to the adjoining suburbs. Northlake could benefit from having a large specialty retailer like Saks which triangle has but still it should end up being a nice shopping destination. 2nd only to SouthPark in the Charlotte area.

True about the in depth article. But these BEST's City/Town Listings do count for something and frankly Raleigh and the Triangle have been represented far more often than any other place in the south over the last decade or so w/ maybe Austin, TX being represented slightly moreso. But anywho, you simply can sleep on the fact that this is a great place to live, be a single individual, college student, raise a family, walk etc. The Rankings say so. And for me I like specifically about RALEIGH the following things: 1. People and neighborhoods- There is a place for everybody from the lofts, and studios downtown to the apartments near NC State to the Mansions off of falls lake. A lot of young college people, A lot of families, and a lot of retirees. 2. Parks, Museums- Our constantly expanding parks and museum scene is great. 3. Climate- 4 distinct seasons with a occasional hurricane, flood or blizzard to break up the monotony. 4. Diversified Economy- Not to centered on one particular industry (like banking) 5. Progressive- Raleigh is getting there, bit by bit, I won't give up on the city yet. Especially with the last few years and new projects coming online shortly. We belong on each and every one of these "Best Lists"

Are you serious about Denver? It's actually the next city on my list of cities to visit. Phoenix was first and I loved it. So clean and I love the desert architecture. But is Denver really that dirty I'm going there in October.

This is the same thing a little birdie told me. Also a reliable source.

Yeah I definelty think it would work well for the area. I believe there was something like this in the works a while back dubbed "Intermodal Transportation Hub" or something to that effect. But with the light rails feasibility for the Triangle I'm not sure what's going on with that. I also think Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary and adjoining Wake Forest should think about getting one unified Bus System TTA which would elimanate the need for the separate intities we currently have.

I think the parking is a preference issue. To me I would rather walk a distance than have to navigate the parking decks. Especially in those peak shopping seasons, those decks can be the worst. For Buses I think the open lot malls SP, and TTC and to some extent cary have made good accommodations. If you build it, they will come thus far has worked well in the triangle. Seeing that we were the only metropolitian area in the country to open 2 malls 2002. I'm just glad we have some choices, gasp.. What if we only had real mall.

Hmm. Out of the 4 Major Malls in the area. If you count Cary Towne Center (Which I normally don't) it's okay but in reality it's only one story and lacks the polishing one would expect since it's in the town of Cary.. Southpoint probably has the most potential as it sits on I-40 and has a nice draw from the interstate which is very constant. Passerby are liable to stop there vs. the other malls. Crabtree is centrally located but cursed by horrible traffic and minimal parking. Triangle Towne is in my opinion also a very good place for a mall. Off I-540 and a decent draw from North Raleigh Wakeforest and points bordering to the north (Henderson, Louisburg,Southern VA.) And soon will be very accessable from points east like Knightdale, Zebulon, Rocky Mt. via 540 when it's opened next spring. I say we wait about 5 years and then try and rank them. This will hopefully give Crabtree time to get it's act together. But really all the malls are nice and have good locations.

Come on down to Raleigh-Durham we have (2) 2 story Barnes and Nobles. I wish we had a Joseph Beths Booksellers. I went to there store in Charlotte which was a little bit more posh than B&N. But still I prefer Barnes and Noble.

Additionally at Triangle Towne Center. In front of the mall where that atrocious K-mart is they are building on to the kmart 3 or 4 other large retailers (probably will renovate the k-mart to blend also) The developers are calling it Triange East. And Johnny Carrinoes is coming soon. Crabtree better wake up.

I forsee Barnes and Noble staying at crabtree and a another to open at North Hills. Really theres no competition at either location as far as bookstores go. I hope something good goes in the current Best Buy Location. I think there better off at Pleasant Valley. Traffic alone at Crabtree would deter me from going to Best Buy if that's all I really wanted to do. Isn't it about time they level that space and reinvent the area adjoining the mall. Conceding to TTC and Southpoint indeed.

Yep or Triangle Towne

I would like to see more international carriers. Maybe a Lufsantha (sp) to Germany/Europe I believe Charlotte has that carrier. But otherwise RDU has a lot of options for growth. And I think carriers are seeing that with the recent announcements of JetBlue.

I say they should visit a couple of Great performing older malls. Like South ParkSouthPark to get 3 Upscale Firsts for State. for instance and see what they are missing. Truly they must get a grasp now, as they are losing ground to the other shopping districts in the triangle. Not to mention the area coming on line in a few years at Alston at the 55/540 Junction and the Proposed Garner Mall.

I don't even think that the owners/managers of Crabtree know Crabtree's plans.

Also Crescent Bank is making it's presence known in the area. With 10 branches and expanding so maybe they would be a good candidate to move into "Site 1"

Hmm. That rendering is pretty good to visualize some of the new things coming downtown. "Site One" The 20 story portion will end up being taller than the Bank of America Building I believe as it's only 17 stories.

Now all this project needs is a real name "Site 1" is getting sort of vague. Any suggestions? And is it just me or why do the new Street lights on fayetteville street look nothing like the ones in the rendering. The new ones they are installing are boring and black typical of a housing subdivision.

That is a really good question. I think the "Bradshaw" Site would be good for some really upscale apartments moreso than Condos. Apartments that have a swimming pool, cinema lounge, mini library that rent for like 900-1400 a month. There are some in Charlotte that looked really nice when I visited earlier this year. Maybe a building 8 stories high. Similar to the Oberlin Project Apartments. I think there is definetly a market for those wanting to live downtown, yet not necessarily able to pay for a way pricey condo.

Oh, those are nice renderings. May be the nicest project Raleigh has seen in a while. And although they don't look to drastically different than the original plans the extra treatments on the roof really set this project, especially the 20 story tower apart. I certainly they end up having the movie theater, gym. And I believe there was talk of a main Raleigh library finally after decades of not having one. "Don't be afraid to Dream; And while your at it, Dream big" Tay.

True, True. I can't wait to see the finished Facilities.

Terminal A will also be demolished and built to complement C.

These are the only renderings I have seen for this project. However, although there are increasing in height I don't expect them to change all that much from these pictured. And in my opinion I like the architecture and design of these the most out of all the buildings recently built or proposed for downtown Raleigh . They are a bit more bold in design than most of what we have seen. X-cept for maybe the Paramount.

Good deal I really do hope a main city library is included in one of the buildings at site 1. Raleigh should have had a main library decades ago, I mean really.

True RTP area is the tops in the biotech field. Perfect with the universities and large work pool.