miamiblue

I live very close to this parcel, and 25-35 stories just isn't going to fly there unless there are some setbacks with the biggest height adjacent to the tracks. This is a neighborhood consisting of primarily single family homes, so that must be respected. Not to mention it would stick out like a sore thumb. I'm all about density and downtown (that's why I live where I do), but the people who already live there need to be considered. This development also makes me wonder about the proposal to close the at-grade crossing on Cabarrus. It would make traffic a complete cluster in this neighborhood with a huge development and no way for heavy traffic to easily flow around it. Many in the neighborhood are curious about what this means for Haven House, which is a great resource for the community. I hope they're able to find a place to continue their great work if they're forced out.

It seems that Richard Johnson of Cityspace Homes (Rosengarten Park, Dorothea Gardens, Caraleigh Commons) is assembling properties across from Dix Park along Lake Wheeler Road under the name Dix Park East LLC. So far they've acquired 1215, 1213, 1209, and 1205 on Lake Wheeler Rd. It will be interesting to see what they have planned.

Two new retail stores have opened downtown in the past week. Lumina - 123 E. Martin St. - men's clothing Deco Raleigh - 19 W. Hargett - art and gifts

Looks like the Clarion has a new owner and will be getting some updates for its reincarnation as a Holiday Inn. http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/05/2319290/new-owner-plans-to-give-downtown.html I'm really glad to hear this. That hotel has a lot of untapped potential.

The owners behind Isaac Hunter's Oak City Tavern are opening up Joel Lane's Public House in the old Enoteca Vin/Sauced/Artisan space on Glenwood. Noticed the new sign and flags outside on my walk this evening. They are supposed to be opening August 15. Surprised I hadn't heard anything about it until now, I guess I've just been out of the loop!

I don't know if it's related or not, but the parking lot in front of Sushi Blues, Zely & Ritz, etc. was being torn up this evening.

A friend of mine who does marketing for the parent company posted this sketch of the Ale House yesterday. No mention of when work will begin or expected opening, though.

Glenwood South has another new retail addition: Gyspy Jule is a women's clothing shop that is now open at 520 West St. across from Ornamentea.

I've noticed work being done inside the space at the corner of Glenwood and Jones (across from Turkish Delight) for the past few weeks. Carpenters were building what appeard to be some sort of shelving. Yesterday the windows were covered with paper that said "Raleigh Wine Shop". I didn't see any info about expected opening dates. I think this is a good addition to Glenwood South. I live nearby, and the closest place to walk and grab a bottle of wine in a pinch has been Raleigh Beverage next to Dive Bar, which (as you can imagine) doesn't have the best wine selection in the world. Hopefully the Raleigh Wine Shop will do better than the European Espresso and Wine Cafe now that there are more people living in 222, Tucker, West, etc. Edited to add that I just read Sue Stock's column in the N&O and the expected opening date is sometime in April. Also, the owners include two former managers from Seaboard Wine, so they know what they're doing.

Yes, I believe this is the stalled apartment project at Seaboard. A friend is the organizer for the Music on the Porch series that was using the Peace China parking lot after the closing of Capital City Grocery. He said that Music on the Porch will be moving to a location in the warehouse district this year because of the construction of the apartment project. Developers would be smart to build mid-price range apartments in downtown. There is probably more demand there right now than at any other price point, especially with the housing situation the way it currently is. Actually, they should have started building these projects when 712 Tucker did, and they would likely be raking it in right now.

The N&O is reporting that City Council unanimously approved this project. Crescent expects to start construction in May.

Ciago's is officially open. They've got a "Now Open" banner up on the fence, and it appeared to be rather busy when I drove by just a few minutes ago.

Runway Boutique has moved into Catch 22's old space at 322 Glenwood.

Hillsborough Street and the proposed bike lanes were mentioned in this CNN article about motorists and cyclists sharing the road: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/11/bicycle.wars/index.html?hpt=C2

There is a banner in front of the "cursed" restaurant on the corner of St. Mary's and Johnson announcing that a restaurant called Ciago's is coming soon. Apparently it will serve "pizza, pasta and ales".

This morning on my way to work I noticed that Natty Green's (old Prime Only location) has "Now Hiring" and "Coming Soon" signs up in the windows. I've noticed that work has been going on inside for the past few months or so, but could not tell how far along things are since it was dark inside.

According to Sue Stock, the Dunkin' Donuts in 222 Glenwood will be closing as of today at 3pm. That will leave Tobacco Road, Brueggers and hairdos as the only remaining retail in that building. Not to mention the large corner space that has never been occupied. Supposedly DD will be relocating, but no word on where just yet. http://projects.newsobserver.com/taking_st..._donuts_closing

I've noticed the past few weekends that the DD's was closed at night when they normally have been open. Too bad they are closing - I pass by there on my way to work in the morning and there are usually people in there stopping on the way to work. I also noticed that Brueggers was staying open late on weekend nights about a month or so back, but they have ceased that the past two weekends. As for the martini bar where April & George was - according to the Downtowner, it is the co-owner of Ess Lounge who will be behind the new venture.

My definition of an "easy" walk has less to do with distance than whether the path I must take is pedestrian friendly. An "easy" walk to me means that there are appropriate and safe avenues in place that were designed with the pedestrian in mind, avoiding interaction with autos or making that interaction safe for the pedestrian. About half of the Charleston development is an "easy" walk if all you look at is distance. For the rest, unless you are on good enough terms with your neighbors to walk through their yards every time you want to go pick up TP at Wally World, those distances could as much as triple depending on where your house is in the development (plus crossing ACC Blvd which is a 4-lane road). Not everyone's backyard butts up against the Alexander Promenade shopping center, and I do not refer to distance "as the crow flies" when I talk about walking somewhere. When I walk somewhere, I tend not to trespass on private property to get where I am going (distance as the crow flies) - I take the pedestrian avenues that are appropriate. That said, if you live on the east side of ACC Blvd in the middle of the Charleston Homes section, you will have to either cut through your neighbors' yards, or walk all the way to an alley or the end of the street to get to the shopping center entrance. Once you're there, if you want to go anywhere other than Kohls, Petsmart or Wally World, you need to navigate a parking lot ocean that is not pedestrian friendly by any means (not even for those who park in it). I don't think anyone on here is saying that Western Blvd is ped friendly. In fact, everyone has said that it is one of the factors impeding the connection of Dix with Boylan Heights and the rest of downtown. However, I think there are probably ways to at least improve things a little should the property be utilized in a fashion where people downtown would want to walk or bike to some sort of attraction there. To me, the botanical garden idea, in complement with the arboretum remaining in its current location, would be a great addition to the city. However, the issues concerning urban form in the area that Jones and others have mentioned would definitely need to be addressed before a botanical garden or any other "destination" could be successful at the Dix property.

On the topic of Brier Creek being a walkable community, I am guessing that those who suggest this notion have never actually tried to walk around in Brier Creek. It is no North Hills. It is a glorified strip mall that happens to have a halfway decent amount of residential nearby, as the crow flies. Walkable it is not. Why? Because it was built with the automobile as its centerpiece. When I lived in NW Raleigh I frequented Brier Creek and noticed the Charleston style homes there. They are cute, but I wouldn't call them "walkable" to Brier Creek. Maybe you could walk to the Kohls, Super Walmart, etc., but it wouldn't be an easy walk, and it's you up against many cars traveling a fairly high rates of speed. It certainly would not be a pleasant walk back home once you have purchased the items you went for. And forget walking from there to the rest of the strip on the other side of 70. That would certainly be a suicide mission. People in Boylan Heights can much more easily walk or bike to Cameron Village without half as much danger from auto traffic. I had a hard time parking at Camille's cafe and then choosing to walk instead of drive over to the movie theater. You can't even walk within Brier Creek without dodging cars. All that said, Western Blvd is a major impediment to integrating the Dix property with the existing downtown neighborhood framework. I would love to see a botanical garden on the Dix property. Let the aroboretum stay where it is and continue its existing function, which is less of a tourist destination and more of a learning and research center that happens to be to the public. I wouldn't mind seeing a botanical garden like the Atlanta Botanical garden on the Dix campus. As much as I love the arboretum and fully appreciate it, I would love to see some enclosed gardens such as the awesome orchid and tropical gardens at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which are stunning, and more landscape design, etc. in a garden that is geared more toward recreational visits. I don't think this would hurt the arboretum, as the purposes would be different.

According to New Raleigh, the Oxford opened its bar for business this past Saturday and the restaurant opened on Monday, but they are still working out the kinks. They have lunch and dinner menus up on their website: http://www.oxfordraleigh.com/.

I just heard that Riviera will be closing its doors after tonight. This is pretty disappointing, and I am very curious as to why.

New Raleigh is reporting a new bar called Black Flower to open in the Double Down space behind MoeJoes on Peace St, brought to you by the same people behind Brooklyn Heights.

Don't forget, they picked up all their stuff during the week while the rest of us were working our butts off, so no need to shop on a Saturday. They are probably busy at their beach houses on the weekend anyway. Saks probably only has Saturday hours to accommodate the ones that like to 'be seen' at the mall shopping there.

Sorry this is off topic, but did anyone else find that news story a little strange? The title suggests that downtown residents are complaining about noise, yet Mr. Silver states that the reason many people live downtown is that they like the 24-hour aspect of city living. It seems like this was an attempt at bashing urban living without the residential complaints to back up that stance. The hidden message in the article I think was that the planning department is looking at building codes to make sure downtown residences are built in such a way as to reduce sound intrusion into the dwelling. I am not really sure how exactly Solas fits in with the rest of the article. There are not a lot of residences that are close enough to it to be a major problem unless they are planning to blast music from the rooftop bar extraordinarily loud. Even though it's a little ways up the street, I would hope that for the prices people are paying at 222 this type of issue was taken into consideration.