The Edison

[Jones_]

That southeast corner of downtown is starting to mass-up. 

[RALNATIVE]

I like the view of this area heading into downtown on Person St.

[DanRNC]

So what does the redesign look like-hoopefully not anything like that 80s throwback black glass box.

[InitialD]

[DanRNC]

Ok, back to the generic Raleigh box design from the creative genius of J Davis Schlockitects.

[Green_man]

I really wish they would incorporate a big screen similar to to the original design...  Would be cool to show major sporting events among other things.  Although Raleigh has really gone overboard on the sign restrictions, sooo it would probably get eliminated anyway.

 

Actually, I wish they would incorporate a whole lot from the original design.

 

[Euphorius]

Looking at those old renderings makes my blood boil. This block started out as a grand idea. What we're actually getting is a copy and paste apartment tower, an office tower that basically amounts to a copy of the Red Hat tower and a 6 or 7 story ugly sibling of Hue.

[NCMike1981]

^I know I don't even want to think about the old pics b/c it almost breaks my heart to see what we are actually getting compared to what was originally proposed

[Jones_]

I still think it looks more like the Dawson in form than it does the Hue but I realize nobody else here thinks so. Anyhow, this site would have had little impact on the coveted [south Saunders] money shot anyway. The Berkley block, the site if the Raleigh Building proposal (Reynolds) or even tearing down and rebuilding one or both the Sheraton parking decks would start a needed western push of height for both livability (I prefer spreading it around instead of slamming it all in tight together) downtown and improving the money shot. 

[Green_man]

Not to get too far off-topic, but the Chavis Park view has been the best view for awhile now and will be even better after Charter Square & Edison office are complete.  An observation tower (like 50'-60' tall) would be a great additional attraction for Chavis park.  Seems like the funds could be found from the parks bond when it passes this fall.

[RALNATIVE]

Looking at those old renderings makes my blood boil. This block started out as a grand idea. What we're actually getting is a copy and paste apartment tower, an office tower that basically amounts to a copy of the Red Hat tower and a 6 or 7 story ugly sibling of Hue.

 

 

Matt Robinson posted a rendering of the future skyline, had the Edison towers been built as originally proposed. Oh what could have been...

 

http://images.raleighskyline.com/2006/future-raleigh-skyline/300/future_raleigh_skyline_rendering_2008/

[Euphorius]

I remember those. He does such a good job of photographing what little we have around here. 

[RALNATIVE]

His passion and enthusiasm for Raleigh should be contagious. It's amazing how a transplant has more genuine love and appreciation for the city than most natives do.

[DanRNC]

^Well I would contend that it takes transplants to envision anything in Mayberry as the natives are still partying like its 1899. 

[Jones_]

Did anyone really think the Sandreuter/J Davis combo could pull off the renderings made public? I never sniffed any more than a marketing set when I saw them. "Hey company X, come to Raleigh and here's a proposed headquarters we'll build you". I think Highwoods has a better shot of pulling off skyline changing stuff followed by the Reynolds before I'd bet on Hamilton Merritt. Had he gotten the pre-leases in place, the building would have immediately lost all its expensive extras and gone to standard-high-end-basic, which is my way of referring to the unimaginative stock often derided in this forum once it got turned over to JD anyway and number crunching started. 

I still think along the lines that the organic downtown build-up starts with a base of 5-20 buildings that create the momentum and foundation that later gets you the 40-60 story stuff and the hope I hear in here for Edison leap frogs that intermediate step...a step that is currently taking place and has been since about 1992. Anyway, patience I say...something to get excited about seems like it'll happen before we're cashing our SS checks...

[RALNATIVE]

^Well I would contend that it takes transplants to envision anything in Mayberry as the natives are still partying like its 1899. 

 

Sad, but true.

[Spatula]

We can't reduce the Triangle's woeful lack of urban spaces to transplants vs natives or liberals vs conservatives. It's a combination of things. Mainly the people in charge, regardless of social or economic ideology, favored suburban planning when the region was growing in the 1980s and 90s. The Research Triangle Park was a good idea but poorly implemented as well, and while it caused the growth of these cities it detracted from their urban character. Downtown Raleigh and Durham were very lively places before the 60s. They're lively again but they're incomplete cities and they feel incomplete. It will take some time to undo the damage from decades of neglect. Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

Some of the people moving here from big cities see the city as a 'trauma', and want to keep the place as rural or suburban as possible. I think most of the people moving here take the opposite opinion though. I think they'd prefer the cities to be a bit more actual city than they are currently--closer to what they're used to. The current government of Raleigh is more urban minded than it used to be. They want to encourage dense infill. But they're not radical enough about it. They're taking a gradual approach rather than a Portland or Austin sort of approach (which is what I'd prefer to see). I don't know if replacing Russell Allen will help.

 

As for the people trapped in 1899, I think they're clearly outnumbered here. Unfortunately they're holding the state government hostage, and there's very little being done about it, it seems.

[InitialD]

Today:

 

[ctl]

The Research Triangle Park was a good idea but poorly implemented as well, and while it caused the growth of these cities it detracted from their urban character. 

 

Poorly implemented, perhaps, from the perspective of today's urbanist looking back 50 years... but certainly not poorly implemented from the perspective of someone in the 1950s or 1960s. I can't think of a single case where corporate R&D in that era was downtown-based. It didn't happen with IBM in the Hudson Valley or Bell Labs in the northern NJ countryside, it didn't happen in Silicon Valley, it didn't happen along Route 128, it didn't happen with the aerospace industry in southern California, and for that matter it didn't happen in Europe either (e.g. Cambridge UK or Sophia Antipolis in France which looks a lot like RTP except that it's near the Mediterranean).

 

RTP was a pragmatic political compromise among boosters of the three cities and the three universities. The compromise falls apart if it goes into any of the three downtowns, even assuming that adequate space was available and that any corporation would have been interested. Remember, the original push for RTP was from the chemical industry. You want to have R&D for industrial chemicals taking place in downtown? Good luck with that.

[InitialD]

New rendering of The Edison from JDavis architects:

 

[DanRNC]

Looks ok except for the retro black glass circa 1980. Still boring as hell though.

[InitialD]

It's okay infill. It isn't going to stand out on the skyline anyway. If you want a less boring rendering, check out the new proposal for an apt/condo tower across the street from this over on the urban apartment thread.

[prodg52]

Wrong post.

[15895]

Looks ok except for the retro black glass circa 1980. Still boring as hell though.

I like it a lot. And it looks like it has a good street presence

[orulz]

No complaints from me. Looks fine. I think it will look better than the Charter Square building.