Greenshields and Rush Hour

[Tayfromcarolina]

In todays N&O the new greenshield resturant in Cary is profiled. Also the article mentions that a 2,200 sq. ft. Greenshields is being built in garner in a development called "Rush Hour" near the Highway 70 interstate 40 intersection.

excerpt -Rush Hour will open next month and feature a racetrack that's a third of a mile long and go-karts that travel faster than 40 miles an hour, said co-owner Adam Saad. Only adults over 16 will be allowed to drive the karts, and Rush Hour will target corporate outings.

I'm definetly going to have to leave my north raleigh abode and check out what's going on in that neck of the woods. It has been a while.

See Article here

[reed]

This sounds absolutely awful to me. From a historic building on a cobblestone street in the heart of downtown, to a strip mall near a highway surrounded by a go cart track. I can't imagine how this could be any worse. They've gone from being an OK establishment to completely corny in my book. And I used to love walking over there on the weekends and getting my growler filled w/ their beer...

[DanRNC]

I liked hanging out and enjoying my beer at Greenshields in City Market on the patio but I wouldn't drive to Cary or Garner for it. Hopefully another decent brewery will fill this space.

[Tayfromcarolina]

I never went to greenshields when it was downtown, never had the oppurtunity. There are several new eateries coming online downtown but none that fit the brewery profile per se. I'm just thankful that it is reopening somewhere and not just gone for good. And anything that's recreational for the triangle is usually a good thing for the local economy. Don't knock it till ya try it.

[Justin6882]

Yeah I tried Greenshields beer before the fire, and it was god-aweful. Maybe if they can get the people who run Carolina Brewery or Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill to come over...thats good beer!

[DanRNC]

Maybe if they can get the people who run Carolina Brewery or Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill to come over...thats good beer!

Thats what I'm saying. Heck bring the Weeping Radish back. They used to have one in Durham. There is still one in Manteo-the beer is pretty darn good.

[paletexan]

This is from the N&O story on it today:

"When we were downtown, the complaints we got were that our customers didn't like the one-way streets and they didn't like the lack of parking," said Gary Greenshields. "I wanted to be close to where people live. ... When the fire happened, it was just time to reevaluate everything."

Looks like they're moving to where the "people" want.

[DanRNC]

The whole lack of parking thing is absolute garbage. I was in downtown Raleigh last week during lunch, pulled in and parked at City Market and paid $1 for a couple of hours. The parking decks, 2 in the Moore Square area, are free on weekends and never seem to be full.

[ncwebguy]

The new Progress Energy deck was under construction when the fire took out Greenshields... before that, it was a private parking lot for the Capital City club in the "first" Progress tower.

If the city and/or city market would educate current and future customers to park there, take the elevator near the southwest Blount/Davie corner, and walk across the street to city market (or park in the Moore Square deck and take the elevator to Martin) they would realize they have *hundreds* of parking spaces that are free at night and on the weekends less than a city block away. But all people see are the spots around Moore Square and the surface lot at Martin and Blount (probably missing the one by Person Street, which should be a city market extension and add more shops/apartments) and dismiss city market as not being "car friendly".

Greenshields had ok, but nothing special beer -- I ended up drinking their root beer more at the end. They did do a good job with Octoberfest and the Little German Band... if they could partner with Exploris and have a big "global/German" party in Moore Square, with fest beer, long tables, dancers, Clark Grizzwald starting a riot, the whole nine yards.. *that* could be fun!

Also, no matter how few people were there at the time, the wait staff did a great job of making you wait for getting anything. I hope the folks in Preston don't mind losing all the time they "saved" from having to go outside their boundaries to someplace with a soul.

I was just out at 40/70 last week, but didn't see "Rush Hour" though it was pretty dark... where exactly is it going? Is it just me or is White Oak a Crossroads Plaza wannabe, a big hole that could easily have been left unfilled? All I can think of it is will put Johnston County shopping dollars in Wake County's tax coffers, but that's about it. At least Crossroads was close to being a "unique Mall of America" type place but that fell apart.

There is a sign advertising a "mixed use development" at the southwest corner of 70 and White Oak, with the typical 2-3 story drawing and people walking everywhere, but no other details.

[Damien]

Never had any problems getting service at Greenshields. Of course that is probably because my ex and I knew a lot of the people that worked there. We went there almost every Sunday for a good 2 years. Not so much for the food, but for the location. It was always really nice sitting on the patio and watching the people go by. Even if the food wasnt all that great, its still sad that they decided not to rebuild after the fire. They definitely had good business there. It stayed pretty full on the weekends and some weeknights as well. Too bad for them. I can safely say that I will not be going to the Cary location, or that ridiculous "concept" idea for the Garner store. If they want to do something different, at least make it interesting, and not so typical. How many go kart tracks can one area have?

[DanRNC]

Definitely more atmosphere than food or beer quality but I still liked it. My fiance and I spent New Years Eve there in 2002/2003 waiting for the Acorn to drop.

[Subway Scoundrel]

I am OK with Greenshields leaving. The beer was nothing special and not to mention the food. It was an Irish Pub before its time. Now that Tir n' nog, RiRa and Hibernian are downtown, they could not compete.

I would like to see the space open up to 2 different restaurants or one really nice one. The problem with Greenshields was that when it did not have a lot of people there, it was a big empty hole. That is why they should split it in half.

I think that area has the possibility to be a section of nightlife with an older crowd. Glenwood south has people of all ages but it does get a little "young" sometimes. The Moore Square area seems to drive an older crowd with TnN, D&D and Cafe Luna.

I also don't buy the parking solution. If people complain about having to look for a parking place and not being able to park in the "fire lane at the local strip center" then they probably will end up in the strip center 95% of the time anyway.

[capitalapts]

It's fitting that Greenshields went out to the burbs-as someone wrote, their one-time prominence within the irish pub niche has been taken by worthier establishments. I never really cared for the place, aside from the exterior of the building (including the outdoor seating on the east side of the building), frankly-it was very dark and gloomy on the inside and it didn't have to be. Plus, the beer wasn't that great, and the food was awful.

I haven't walked by there in a while-did they reclaim all their old brewing goods (big copper tanks, etc.) for the move to Garner? Even if so, that space remains ideal for a brewpub-type establishment, similar to Southend. It would be great to get that space occupied again, soon-is it just me, or does it not speak to the market of downtown restaurants/bars that it hasn't been occupied yet? Is there more amiss than I realize (fire cleanup, etc.)?

[edit: as some have pointed it, it's hilarious that the Greenshields ownership invokes a "lack of parking" as a reason for moving. I think that the typical Raleighite has no idea how easy parking is to find in the heart of downtown. That is, if you don't mind walking more than 50 ft. from your car to your destination]

[DanRNC]

I am from Chapel Hill and have never had any problem finding parking in downtown Raleigh-its one of the easier cities to do this in around here no matter where it is. I also can't believe that people cite 1-way streets as a reason not to frequent the area as well. Aren't we supposed to be one of the most educated and intelligent areas in the country but these people can't figure out how to use 1-way streets?

[capitalapts]

I am from Chapel Hill and have never had any problem finding parking in downtown Raleigh-its one of the easier cities to do this in around here no matter where it is. I also can't believe that people cite 1-way streets as a reason not to frequent the area as well. Aren't we supposed to be one of the most educated and intelligent areas in the country but these people can't figure out how to use 1-way streets?

Sadly, they are catering to these one-way street inept folks by reconfiguring traffic patterns near Fayetteville St.

[DanRNC]

Sadly, they are catering to these one-way street inept folks by reconfiguring traffic patterns near Fayetteville St.

I'm sure they will complain about that as well. Maybe all the years of trying to adapt to 1-way streets permanently impaired their ability to face oncoming traffic.

[orulz]

I'm fairly familiar with downtown, and I still have a tough time remembering which streets head east and which streets head west when I'm heading down Salisbury or Wilmington. Just like the mythical lack of parking, one-way streets are a red herring when you're talking about why Greenshields left downtown, but the streets are still confusing.

Thanks to I-40, the Beltline, and the Western / Martin Luther King Jr connector, most of the one-way pairs downtown probably can and will be safely converted to one-way traffic without causing congestion. The only pair that absolutely needs to stay for traffic reasons is Dawson/McDowell. The one-way pairs are the result of a 1950s plan to combat the very heavy traffic resulting from the complete lack of any sort of bypass around town.

[dmccall]

I have two friends who have owned and operated a couple of stores and restaurants in City Market and they got out because they were sick of dealing with scum-of-the-earth people who have no intention of buying the businesses' products. Safety and security have been and continue to be a huge problem in that subsidized money pit.

[Subway Scoundrel]

I have two friends who have owned and operated a couple of stores and restaurants in City Market and they got out because they were sick of dealing with scum-of-the-earth people who have no intention of buying the businesses' products. Safety and security have been and continue to be a huge problem in that subsidized money pit.

So, what should we do? Just knock down one of the oldest structures in the city and build something on top of it ? Just wondering......

Once they built the school, I think it has gotten much better

[DanRNC]

I don't think City Market is all that bad as far as homeless people go. Franklin Street is much worse in my opinion. Once the former Greenshields space is filled it will probably become less so. I like this area of downtown-the city should really have more police out and not tolerate loitering around the bus station.

[dmccall]

Yep. More police.

BTW, some of these scum-of-the-earth people have homes. But none of them enjoy cuddling up with a posted cop!

[ncwebguy]

If "safety and security have been and continue to be a huge problem" in City Market and the Moore Sqare area, then there wouldn't be

- First Fridays (and Artsplosure)

- Budweiser Downtown Raleigh Alive / Free Fest

- the Wednesday night movie series in the City Market parking lot (over the summer)

- Vic's Italian Cafe, Rum Runners, Angelos, Woodys, etc. in city market

- the Pour House/Duck and Dumpling/Tir Na Nog/Cafe Luna strip right by the bus depot

- no vacancies in city market (except Greenshields and the New Orleans/Zydeco place under construction)

Items 2 and 3 were the city and convention center actually *programming* the area and giving something

back to residents.

There are many times I'd like to go to the coffee shop, but it closes at 6 on weekdays, and not much later than that on weekends. That plus Big Eds closing up shop after lunch and Greenshields sitting empty contribute to sucking the life out of the area. There is *no* police in the area, but a downtown raleigh alliance "ambassador" is usually nearby.

Things have changed from when management of City Market shifted from the city itself to York properties, but it's a lot easier to belive things haven't changed in the last five years than to find out in person.

[Justin6882]

Yeah I live near City Market and I've never experienced anything negative. I like that coffee shop, its pretty neat, but I definitely wish it stayed open later. We need something in the Greenshields space that will bring people downthere till at least 10 or 11 so the other places can stay open later.

[DanRNC]

Do those small shops ever do any business-the Tibetan and American Indian ones?

[Justin6882]

Yeah I see people in there on the weekends buying stuff. They must do okay business or they would move, right?