Subway Scoundrel

I guess I kind of understand but if you put a company in Raleigh, the talent pool gets smaller when looking at comutes. Put in RTP, a company pulls from 360 degree circle from Durham to Raleigh to Cary to Apex to Orange County. Put in Raleigh, it is harder to pull from talent pool that lives in Durham and Chapel hill. Big companies want that larger talent pool. Not to mention the airport factor. That is one major factor that makes RTP and area around so effective. You can hold a meeting till later in the day since the airport is 2 exits away. Also, people can fly in the morning and fly out at night and go 2 or 3 exits away. Not 30 min to to over 1 hour depending on traffic. Also "just another auto-dependent suburban office park" work well when people live in the suburbs which is Raleigh. For all the building downtown and even inside the beltline, I do not see the mad rush to get there. Even if it does happen in 50 years, there will always be 200% to a lot more percent that live in suburbs. This is seen in almost every city except NY and even seen there with Westchester, Princess Co and Jersey and Long Island. The idea in Wake county of offices not being auto-dependent, I just don't see it in my lifetime or in 2 generations ahead. I see improvement but workers will always be auto based. Even in crowded metros that Raleigh could become like San Jose, the market is still auto-dependent. Now telemarketing,which so many people do today, could hurt the entire office area but there will still need to be offices of some kind.

It is an outdated model when the land becomes more valuable as redevelopment than as it is today. RTP is not at that point and RTP is very viable becuase it is near the airport and near all 3 popluation centers. An example where the large park is nbot viable is the IBM plant in San Jose. One mile square. Land is worth a fortune. Salaries are so high in the area , they make everyone work from home. All mfg has been gone for a long time. Other points of viable office space is some people might say .... "people don't want to be isolated ina park" but guess what, companies don't care. An office building is an office building. There is no real difference between the large campuses in RTP when compared to the Airport Road new buildings like Lenovo, Salix and others that are being built. Again, an office building is an office building. The only difference is the older buildings are already paid for which make them better for the owner who bought the location 30 to 40 years ago. For the redevelopment of a site comment. I agree. But there must be that demand for that land or it is a bust. I think this would be done by private enterprise and not RTP foundations. The IBM land in San Jose is an example of land that was rural for so many years and growth that was urban enough to be redeveloped. RTP is not there...yet and sompanies,especially in the tech and todays business world are looking for the most inexpensive location to house their employees while still trying to act somewhat like a company. JMHO

I think a Soul Food restaurant ..something like Lupi's in Charlotte woudl work. Or maybe something like a Brazilian corner restaurant which serves Meat and rice along with other extras like soups and vegtables. Very casual and can eat a good meal for an average of $10 (without beer). To be honest, the little one story building right down from Slims on the corner would be the best place for the Braziian type corner restaurant. Make it so the windows will open up and have large tables. Kind of place you would see in Sao Paulo or RIO/Ipenema. Basic steak, chicken or Porko with some rice and some vegtables? Oh yea !!!! Stop buy and drink a cold beer and watch a futbol game !!! I like the Ale houses. They do very well. Turkey Pita with soup is a great choice.

You may get your choice. Set up direct flgihts to San Jose and LA with Delta and maybe half the business on those flights is for RDU and the other half or some percentage is for Paris. Instead of stopping in NY, stop in Raleigh. RDU gets direct flights to the west coast that feeds a new international flight. Works for everyone.

Flew in last night and I have to say, the new terminal looks good at night. The lights were on but no planes were at the gates but it looked nice. I see and read where people talk about the terminal and having to go up or go down, that is in many airports, especially newer airports. Maybe I dont get it but that has a lot to do with direction of traffic. Much like Denver airport. For the number of gates, I think the key to this terminal is the they can still extend it but not sure on all the details. I like the terminal and not ready to say anything negative about it as airports are the gateway to a city and right or wrong, spells out what people will think of your city. From podunk to modern and in between. For a high tech area with new age industry and top of the line tech and pharma business, RDU needs a serious make over. I fly quite often and maybe it is not correct of me to make an assumption on a city by its airport but I do...just like everyone else. Call me shallow......go ahead and then I will be like 98% of the rest of travelers. Wichita airport says podunk even though the largest private company in the world is there and it is the aviation capital of the US. Many high end tech companies. That is why they are building a new terminal. Miami airport says "cluster****" which it is. The worst airport I know of. PHX Skyharbor says "the old and the new" which is right for PHX. About time RDU says "Modern City"

I have eaten at M&S in other cities like San Jose. Good enough. I think the last time I ate in one I got Pork Chops. Quite good if I remember correctly.

Just some points on San Jose I know the area well where they are talking about and they made a decision to choose what they want and what is faster to build but that said, if this runs into Downtown, which it does, it is then rail connected to run to the north SJ area all the way down through downtown past the airport and south and then crisscrossed the other way with the convention center, HP arena, airport on rail along with many corporate businesses which are on the rail line. It also would connect CalTrain which runs below SJ/Santa Clara to San Francisco. So yes, busses are being used for this line to connect to DT and other rail projects and for connectivity. The Caltrain (which I have ridden many times along with the VTA line) is very much like the TTA backbone proposal and every time I ride it, I am blown away by how many people ride it and by how many trains there are and most importantly, how everyone is not going to San Francisco. Bt the time I get to SF from SJ international, the train is close to empty since most people got off the train. The route they are talking about or at least some of it is very much like Capital Blvd and somewhat lower middle class by what I can see which means starter homes start at $400K. I am all for bus routes and lanes as long as it part of an overall system and the VTA system has a fairly large bit of rail that at the closest point is still 35 miles from San Francisco. Also, please stay away from the Choo Choo reference, I value your knowledge and opinion too much to loose total respectability on that reference which should be banned from local afternoon radio and one foundations

But you can not live in a city and enjoy all the benefits and not have some issues, especially how close they are to DT. Where BHs is now, they are lucky someone is not proposing to mow the entire neighborhood and build on it. It is right next to a large railroad set of lines and a large prison. The people knew that when they moved there.

As we have all seen, it appears most or all of flight in and out of RDU are full. What I have seen a lot of lately and just yesterday, the airlines are having a big issue with scheduling of crew members. I guess as they have cut or not hired, it seems lately that flights are pushed back because the flight attendents or pilots are not there. Just yesterday, I had some contacts coming into RTP for a 2 hour lunch meeting and they were to be here at 10:00am but got here at 12:30 coming out of Boston as they waited on crew. I don't buy all the doom and gloom but I do think it is bad. Airlines need to rethink and hopefully the investors will push them to succeed and make the right decisons, not just to raise revenue every quarter.

and who is to say that all buildings will be 13 stories? They will lucky if they get four 10 story buildings in the next 15 years. I like the niegborhood, know many people that have lived there, including 2 good friends who live there now and even going back to the 1920s. II even went to High School across the street but I think the neighborhood has more to worry about than a 13 story building. The smartest man I know once told me...... If you live in a city, you can not expect to have all the good without any of the bad (like traffic). You can not have it all" JMHO

I would say Glenwood South in it current form offers more "harm" to Cameron Park than a 9-13 story building would. Myself have walked "fully wasted" through Cameron Park neighborhood at 2:00 in the morning with 7 other people. Not to mention Hillsbourgh Street between Players Retreat and St. Marys with the "persons" who habitate there now. Sorry, I don't see the point.

Stopped by at Peace China on Saturday and talked to the owner. Just ate so got a shrimp roll and a drink to take out. Young guy started it but I hope he does well. Get some apartments in there and he will do OK. I thought the roll was pretty good but the place is not and not meant to be upscale Asian which is OK with since when I eat Chinese (unless I am in Shanghai or Hong Kong) this is what I like (unless I want to eat upscale). Looks like a great take out or a fast place to get a decent meal. He said he was doing 30% better than plan right now but you could tell he wanted more weekend business. The seating outside looked good and I don't buy what the poster said about a parking lot and railroad tracks. Yep, that is there but better than sucking fumes on Glenwood like Lily's or Moonlight or many others. I would eat outside.

Flew in late last night from out of the country. It is looking good. I was waiting for the park and ride bus on the base floor and you could see in. It wil be very open. But they have some big pipes to move (steam pipes maybe). I guess they will go underground because right now they are above ground and go underground right in front of the door leading out of baggage. Anyway, the building looks good.

Good. I took a new job and could be going to Wichita more often.