bikwillie

That's great news. I didn't think that they were even supposed to finish the parking deck by now. The credit market that we're experiencing now is truly unprecedented. Any project that secures financing and moves forward in this environment is a pretty impressive feat.

If you're refering to crime, Seaboard Station is incredibly safe. There used to be a large, barrack style 1950's public housing project there called Halifax Court surrounded by vacant warhouses and acres of vacant lots that used to be a mill village. After an incredibly successful HOPE VI redevelopment, crime there is virtualy non-existent. My understanding is that the year before Halifax Court was razed there were over 1000 police calls from Halifax Court, and it least one was an officer being shot. The year after the redevelopment there was only one police call, and it was over some kids breaking a car window with a rock or something. On a side note, Raleigh should be very proud of Capital Park. It truly is a national model of how successful HOPE VI can be and the inmpact it can have on a community. It also holds the record (until Chavis Heights is completed) as the fastest and most efficient HOPE VI in the country. It says a lot for the RHA, the city, and everyone else that worked on it bc they are incredibly complex projects to complete. Tenants have to be relocated and tracked, there are many layers of financing, soft costs are astounding, utilities, streets, and infastructure have to be realigned, etc. etc. On top of it all, it has served as a catalyst for all of the other development around it. ^ a couple of minor corrections: Capital Park is a mixed income development but not truly mixed use. It is my understanding that while the styles of housing are different, all the housing in Capital Park is rental. Some are subsidized and some are market rate. There is no assisted living. Parkview Manor (the large brick apartment building) consists of 90 units of independent elderly apartments (there are no medical or nutrition services such as in assisted living).

this was approved by the full city council yesterday

That sucks. I've heard good things about the place. I'm going to go buy my groceries from there for this week. I hope everyone else will do the same.

I think I'm going tomorrow. Anyone else??

Me too. I wouldn't have known that were it not for some inside knowledge My grandfather was an orphan there. Didn't know about Avent Ford though... Senator Helms had his Raleigh office there until 1999. A few months after Senator Edwards opened his office down the hall, Helms staff moved to the Terry Sanford building on New Bern and Dole's office has remained there. Senator Burr decided to not have a Raleigh office, and now there isn't a congressional office there. To my knowledge, OSHA and DOL have moved out as well, leaving the third and fourth floors vacant. Speaking of Masonic lodges, I'll leave you with this one. The former Josephus Daniels home, which is now the Masonic Temple off of Glenwood, has a captured German Naval gun mounted on the front lawn. It was presented to Daniels as a gift from the Navy after WWI. (Daniels was Woodrow Wilson's Sec of the Navy.) Now I don't know if this part is urban legend or not, bc I have not authenticated- But I've been told that rules at the time prohibited captured enemy guns from being displayed anywhere but at naval installations. So, Congress passed a bill making the Daniels' residence a naval base.

^ thank you sir. I'll post one just to see if it gets other stuff rolling. A lot of folks on this board may already know this, and if it is repetitive, I am sorry. If anyone besides me thought The Century Post Office building on the corner of Fayetteville and Martin Streets (right across the mall from the RBC site) bore an uncanny resemblance to the Old Executive Building in Washington, DC- that's bec it does. The CPO was designed by Alfred Mullet (huh-huh), the same architect of the OEB. That was probably Mullets' best known design, and they share many similar elements. On a side note, GSA has been looking to unload the CPO. It was in pretty extreme disrepair and a couple of years ago they had shown it to some potential buyers. Then they had gotten a Save America's Treasures Grant and done some work. I don't know if they are still planning on trying to sell it in the near future though. It doesn't have a lot of tenants besides the bankruptcy court and the post office, and it is very expensive to maintain...

Wow. I am impressed Jones133. You have more useless historical knowledge about Raleigh than I do. This is awesome. I want to keep this thread alive. Please post any factoids or useless knowledge about Raleigh and the triangle here. Keep em coming!

Longtime lurker, first post! Yes, Lake Boone was there where Lake Boone Trail is. The lake was drained and now there are homes built in it. When I was in college I worked construction during the summers, including some of those homes in the former lake bed. Sometimes when we get a lot of rain fast (ie hurricanes) it fills up some again.