Downtown Raleigh – 08.08.08

August 8th, 2008
Fayetteville Street Evening RBC Plaza wins the aircraft beacon competition Raleigh Rose Garden Lunch at Roast Grill Wachovia Capitol Center stands proud with its new signage. Bloomsbury Estates doing its best haunted house impression. 7 The ‘W’ of Wachovia on the ground, next to a lens for size comparison Raleigh Little Theater outdoors Offices are taking shape in RBC Looking down Hargett Street My wife and I had one of the best tasting dinners this year at Mo’s Diner Fisheye at Morgan and Fayetteville The Wachovia sign lights up Birds discuss the need a 24 hour downtown grocery store. Mystery Skyline Angle 3 Another shot of Wachovia In case you missed it. RBC Plaza watches over downtown

Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    August 16th, 2008 at 5:21 pm (#)

    Well, I see no problem with a photo of hot dogs on here. Matt R obviously thought well enough of them to give them a little “plug” here on his site. They look pretty good to me! I think we’d all agree that good food is just as integral to the appeal of a city as a pretty skyline is!

  2. Anonymous says:

    August 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am (#)

    You never know… We may even get a proposal for Sites 2 and 3, for two hot-dog-shaped towers :LOL:

  3. Anonymous says:

    August 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm (#)

    LOL Ernest 🙂

  4. Anonymous says:

    August 18th, 2008 at 1:49 pm (#)

    I don’t want anyone to say that we are a city with no imagination and signature towers 🙂

  5. Anonymous says:

    August 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm (#)

    Ernest: With that said. What is taking so long for RFP’s on site 2 and 3?

    This is why I keep saying Raleigh is slow to develop. We do not have to wait for one project to finish to start another. Get the process moving yesterday on site 2 and 3. Proposals should have been in conjunction with the convention center. The Convention Center team should not be surprised when conventions do not come back to Raleigh after their first experience (I will bet the farm, no entertainment or additional hotel rooms will equate to convention center authorities reducing square footage pricing to attract additional conventions – they will be lucky if they break even after reducing the rate because of the lack of amenities and hotel rooms – all resulting becasue of the lack of vision and the lack of urgency building out the area around the center – not to mention there is absolutely nothing to the west of the convention center for blocks – but ugly vacant lots – the downtown alliance should have started discussions a couple years ago about a signature development for entertainment and signature towers next to the convention center – convention goers will not wait 10 years for the Edison – they will have selected other cities long before the Edison is completed)

  6. Anonymous says:

    August 18th, 2008 at 5:05 pm (#)

    Ernest: P.S. Your thoughts (site 2 and 3 need to be signature towers on each side of F Street, I believe this develpoment is critical for the convention center and weekend activity – these buildings need 2-3 levels of entertainment, with the second and third floors having outdoor seating looking over F Street – similar to Bourban Street – I am suggesting two differnet looking buildings – the one west side 35 stories and the east side building must be taller to compliment the other (east side 40 – 45 stories – will bring a sense of balance to each end of F Street))

  7. Anonymous says:

    August 19th, 2008 at 8:57 am (#)

    Unfortunately, the city cannot just make people develop and build things. If private developers can;t get loans in place, nothign will happen. Now, the city can recruit businesses to come which might spark some new construction, but without a demand, it will not happen. The city cannot go building a spec office tower either and when they try to do something similar to a private developer, people jump all over them a la The Mint.

  8. Anonymous says:

    August 19th, 2008 at 9:33 am (#)

    TC, I am as excited about the possibilities, as I am frustrated about the delays in the RFP process for Sites 2 and 3. Is the city really moving slowly? I am not 100% certain, but let’s think about it. The following are merely questions I have no answer to, but at the same time they may provide us a way to understand the delays.

    * Would you publish an RFP before the convention center officially opens and you have some success to speak of?
    * Given the troubles and headaches lenders have caused for developers, what are the chances we’ll get some decent proposals? Maybe it is better to move slower.
    * As work on the new urban guidelines continues, we may need to wait a little longer, in order to avoid any back-and-forth discussions between developers and city planners. Open space requirements will have to change permanently.
    * Sites 2 and 3 are currently used for more than just parking. I assume they will be used during the construction of Site 4 and Charter Square. Until these two projects are well under way, should the city move forward with RFPs?
    * Do we have an adequate system to deal with developers that don’t deliver as promised? So far, we seem to have difficulties, but we are learning.
    * Regarding the perception of moving slow, we need to keep in mind that the City Council is a part-time entity, not a full-time one, like many other cities. Considering that, we are moving fast, in most cases, anyway.

    Whether we’ll see tall structures going on Sites 2 and 3 it is early to guess. Without some minimum requirements by the city, it would be hard to assume that high-rises will end up there. I certainly hope we’ll see nothing less than 25 stories – I would love a couple of towers above 35 floors, or course – but I am afraid we’ll end up with buildings up to 15 floors. In terms of design, I would not mind a twin tower project, similar to Kio Torres (Puerta Del Europa) in Madrid, Spain. They are iconic, however plain the overall design may look. We can have something like a “Gateway to Raleigh” project, with two towers that “serve” like doors to Fayetteville Str. Two other towers that may offer inspiration are the National Bank of Dubai Building (Dubai) and the Burj Al Arab (Dubai). I am not suggesting we carbon-copy these two towers, but their design may provide some inspiration. It goes without saying, these sites MUST have a superb street-level experience 😉

  9. Anonymous says:

    August 21st, 2008 at 9:29 am (#)

    when will the Edison rendering be added to a picture of the skyline

  10. Anonymous says:

    August 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm (#)

    I asked the same question in another topic, but Matt R. seems to keep secrets from us… He is preparing his next attack and he is very silent about it :LOL:

  11. Anonymous says:

    August 21st, 2008 at 4:46 pm (#)

    Ya gotta think with the lighting of the RBC logo and spire tonight, we will be getting some soon. Right?

  12. Anonymous says:

    August 23rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm (#)

    I’m sure we’ll see an update soon. The convention center exterior is complete, the Marriott and RBC are done as well. It’s too bad that the Reynolds project is up in the air. I’d love to see a definite rendering of what would go there if they could move forward with that.

    And, I kinda miss the “labs” section of the site too. That was fun to see before all of these projects started actually going up. 🙂

  13. Anonymous says:

    August 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm (#)

    Yeah, I miss the labs too. I just dropped my cousin off at NCSU and got a good look at the Raleigh skyline from a few different angles. It looks better and better every time I see it.

  14. Anonymous says:

    August 27th, 2008 at 5:28 pm (#)

    new pics now!!

  15. Anonymous says:

    September 5th, 2008 at 10:52 am (#)

    Hey Matt! Thanks a million from Hamid and I for taking a great picture of Mo’s Diner AND for the terrific comment. I’d love to see you again soon so that I can thank you in person. Keep up the great work!

  16. Anonymous says:

    March 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm (#)

    Matt oustanding job! I am suprised with all the angles. My computer screen never looked better. Thanks so much. Do you have prints for sale.

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Downtown Raleigh – 08.08.08


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