DPK

It appears to be on the topic of discussion at the Hillsborough CAC meeting on the 17th: http://www.raleighnc.gov/content/CommServices/Documents/CAC%20newlsetters/CAC-hillsborough-agenda.pdf

No idea. All I could find were the old ones: http://www.raleighnc.gov/content/PlanCurrent/Documents/DevelopmentPlansReview/PlansInReview/2008/PlanSubmittalMapsByType/SitePlan/SP-096-08.pdf Emailed Sue Stock and she replied:

Anyone know if there's a supposed "phase 2" to cover the stretch from Gardner to some location down toward Gorman/Faircloth or Orberlin toward the Morgan roundabout?

I can't believe you left Crossroads out of your post, lol. It's probably one of the bigger contributors to pulling people away from Cary Towne.

Where's the Roses going?

A subway would not be cost effective for the distances required.

I agree completely about the prison being there, but it's not going anywhere for a long long time now that they snuck that expansion in there. It's utterly horrible and a bad "welcome to Raleigh" image. One of the first glimpes I had coming back to Raleigh from Charlotte when I took Amtrak for the first time was the prison. They really need to go ahead and start planting rows and rows and rows of trees that will block the view from the rail line through that area. It's the worst thing ever. City planning fail.

Something is going on at the old site of "The Hook" as of a few days ago. There's some maintenance activity and what looks to be like painting with plastic tarps hanging down from the rafters outside. No idea if it's just upkeep to keep things pretty or if something new is in store. Off the top of my head I can't remember if the "for lease" sign was still posted when I drove by earlier.

Nobody is really 100% aware of what they're moving in to so I think it's kind of harsh to say that anyone deserves crap on their step because they don't want skaters outside their home. If anything it'd be hilarious if they did it and then if they tried anything again it's kind of obvious who the culprits are. There was recently a case in Colorado of a teen doing this same thing and they were arrested and charged with arson, criminal mischief, and reckless endangerment. You buy property you have some rights as to what goes on outside your front door. How'd you like it if suddenly the area outside your front door became a haven for a group of people you found annoying? The same would be more true if there would have been retail on this corner in the future. You complain that there is none, but it'd probably be worse for your skater friends as most businesses don't take kindly to people impeding the flow of pedestrians into their store or by their storefronts. People have rights whether they are home owner or business owner. Don't like it, go to a skate park. This may sound harsh, but life's not fair.

9 town-homes are going there. I don't think it officially has a name.

I never said it was. Was generalizing to the street itself. Regardless, the issue is still financial for why they are closing the existing business. Money still has to be paid to those owed.

Pretty sure Red Hot & Blue is now closed. I've driven by the last 3-4 days and the lights/blinds are down with the "open" neon sign turned off as well. Adding more salt to the wound, it appears Fraziers is closing as well: http://varmintbites.com/2010/02/06/fraziers-to-close-and-reopen-as-food-centric-wine-bar/ It kind of pisses me off that the landlords of these businesses aren't cutting anyone any slack in a crap economy with all this construction going on. It's not like this street has a lot of success stories that you'd think they'd be able to justify high rents.

I'm anti-stainless. I appreciate the utilization of LED lighting as it relates to the tech sector, but why does it always have to look so craptastic. I was really hoping that they'd go with traditional black lighting to make things seem more "friendly" in that area. This project has really been hard to peg at any point in its progress as to where they are. Unless you read the construction reports or drive the street weekly, the work that they are currently working on never matches up with the initial phase diagrams set forth. An example being how Watauga Club at Enterprise was supposed to remain open until the last phase of the project. That road's been sealed off and grassed over for months. Not that I'm complaining that they're knocking stuff out insanely fast, it's just that I wish they'd have released better information in regards to planning. I had to send 3 emails to one of the guys on this project before they relented and posted what the final lighting structures were going to be on the Partnerships website. The lighting went absent from the streetscape rendering pdf and I was curious. Like it's some big secret or something. Even then, they said that "temporary lighting" was going up first. What's up now is not temporary. I think I saw maybe 3 of those "temporary" lights go up for a week intermixed before they came down again and the current stainless models went up. I really would like to see all that stainless covered with black paint.

Rumor has it that Red Hot & Blue is in danger of closing and are in danger of being evicted. They are apparently doing badly business wise and have ceased paying any of their bills. This includes the dumpster that they apparently split fees w/ Player's Retreat next door which has caused bad blood between the businesses. That corner might soon be vacant once again. Hopefully not for as long as the last time.

As of what appears to be last night, the small roundabout on Oberlin is officially part of the new traffic configuration. It's not finished, as they still need to do some more curb work in that area and one more layer of asphalt, but you now drive around the new roundabout there instead of just awkwardly curving around and up Oberlin. This project has progressed extremely quickly.

I was brought up to pay for what I use so that it can be maintained for others. Also to treat where I am as an extension of my home. I wouldn't want my home treated like crap so why would I do it anywhere else. Way to not support public transit man.

The white building in the center of this map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Blount+and+Oaks+Street,+Raleigh,+NC&sll=35.793363,-78.635743&sspn=0.001997,0.005493&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=N+Blount+St+%26+Oaks+St,+Raleigh,+Wake,+North+Carolina+27604&t=h&ll=35.793448,-78.635346&spn=0.000999,0.002747&z=19

So much fail going on over at Centennial Campus lately.

Barrel Monster makes the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...0,6554838.story

All news has its negatives and positives, here's some "positive": http://www.technicianonline.com/news/thoug...es-on-1.1931769 Construction crews are opening up more access paths through the construction zone for pedestrians in an effort to increase foot traffic for businesses. Maybe we have some construction foremen/workers reading UrbanPlanet?

Well this surely isn't helping anything: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6093472 I've definitely seen people get towed from the lot behind I <3 NY Pizza and Dunkin' before. Sometimes I just like to go to Jimmy Johns during lunch and sit by one of the upstairs windows looking over the back lot and watch cars get picked off one by one by tow trucks.

Indeed, a lot of the businesses are hanging on for dear life. Mitches is giving larger portions too in an effort to bring people back for more. They're also hosting more special events. Global Village just got a "make your own brew" coffee machine which I hear is quite delicious. It's kind of a novelty item, but it does get people coming in wanting to test it out, in turn making them buy coffee. I heard last week from the owner of the Dunkin' on Hillsborough that they're probably not going to make it when construction work shifts to the North side of the street. Apparently they're just not making enough to break even and justify operating costs or something. Also there's a new Dunkin' just announced for the Western Blvd corridor so that's not going to help them either. All of the coffee shops on that street are going to take a huge hit when construction shifts. The morning coffee crowd that pull over on the way to work aren't going to have that possibility. I really feel like the city could do more to help some of these businesses out. That or the building owners could temporarily lower rental fees. I just better not hear a year from now landlords complaining they have no tenants. It'd be their dumb faults for not giving business owners a break. I still support this project 100%, it needed to be done, but only the strong (with good business sense) are going to survive it.

Terminal 1 renovation updates: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/s...14/daily67.html It looks like they are pretty set on just reusing the existing structure as opposed to flattening it.

I always go to this mall when I want a cheap deal on higher end clothes. I've noticed that they tend to usually mark things down more than Crabtree, North Hills, or Southpoint because the customer base is thinner. Eventually this mall will have to innovate as more and more people are drawn to the growing monolith that is North Hills and nearby Crossroads. Then what happens when Kane & Co. (or another investor) get maxed out with development at North Hills and decide to re-make South Hills into their new pet project. Granted Kane has a long time before he could max out development opportunity at North Hills since he pretty much owns the land all the way to Wake Forest Road, but still. Who knows.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a drop in business. I work on campus and some days I go to cross Hillsborough Street to only be confronted with barricades and fencing that stretch from Pullen Road down to where Jasmine Bistro is off Horne Street. Today I was really craving an iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts and had to detour myself an extra 15 minutes around construction just to get to the crosswalk at Horne, only to then have to walk down to Dunkin'. Rinse and repeat that walk and it starts to cut into productivity. So a lot of people basically debate whether the trip is worth it. Personally I wasn't getting anything done without a caffeine fix today and it was really hot outside so I was committed. I did almost turn around when I realized that my usually 5 minute walk to and from Dunkin' would elongate to roughly 20 minutes. Time is money. I support the chaos of this project though. Like orulz said earlier: