Powerhouse Plaza Plans 10 Story Hotel/Office Complex for Downtown
The preliminary site plan (.pdf file) for a new 10-story highrise in downtown has just been submitted to the City of Raleigh. Williams Realty and Building plans a mixed use building at West and Jones Streets, across from 42nd St. Oyster Bar ( map it ), that will house 4 stories of office space and a 134-room hotel on 5 stories. The structure will have an internal 397-space parking deck, an indoor pool, 7,684 square feet of ground-level retail, and a 4,969 square foot rooftop restaurant.
That giant crashing sound you heard was the dam breaking. Both Bob Winston and the Williams are now interested in the redeveloping areas of downtown. For years now semilocal money has led the way in downtown’s redevelopment, but now we are seeing long-time natives getting in the game!
Note: The site plan portrays the building with East, not North, at the top of the page. The bottom of the page is bordered by 42nd Street, so the buildings across from the restaurant will be razed.
Krispy Kreme Challenge Set for Saturday
One of Raleigh’s newest traditions, the
Krispy Kreme Challenge
(ie. Insanathon), will begin tomorrow at 9:00am. The event benefiting the N.C. Children’s Hospital involves running two miles from the N.C. State Belltower to Krispy Kreme on Peace Street. Participants will then eat one dozen donuts, and run back to the Belltower; all in under an hour. Last year’s winner, Auburn Staples, finished in 24:32.
The real winner is the hospital because the event raised $10,300 last year. The race has 2,704 entrants so far, and registration will close at 3,000. Registration will be open from 5:00 to 8:00 tonight at Krispy Kreme.
CAPTRUST Tower At North Hills East Begins Construction
Construction has officially begun on the 17-story mixed use tower in North Hills East known as the
CAPTRUST tower
. A joint venture between Duke Realty and Kane Realty, the tower will feature retail and restaurants on its first floor and will contain parking internally. A “high-end, national white tablecloth restaurant” is planned as well.
The tower is the centerpiece of the new eastside development of the 100-acre North Hills complex. North Hills East plans include a high-density retirement community, residential tower, retail, and a full-size, two-story Harris Teeter supermarket.
CAPTRUST Financial Advisors will be the building’s major tenants, however according to CNNmoney.com , other tenants of the 274,000 square foot building include Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak, & Stewart, PC, and CD Richard Ellis. The building will be completed in 2009.
Manilow Rescheduled for March 27
The RBC Center’s Barry Manilow concert that was postponed due to inclement weather has been rescheduled for March 27. Tickets for the January 20 show will be honored for the new date.
Steve Winwood/Tom Petty Coming to Walnut Creek
The first Walnut Creek announcement is out and it’s a good one! On July 12, 2008
Steve Winwood
and
Tom Petty
will be coming. No word on ticket info yet, but the
amphitheater’s terrible website
should have info as soon as the formal announcement is made.
Solving RBC Center Ingress Problems (Part I)
Ever since the RBC Center’s opening in 1999 the traffic scheme in and out of the parking lots has been an enigma. Each year the traffic plan is changed, but a true solution is never found. While the plan for egress and ingress are different, hard game times make the ingress plan more important to the experience of the RBC Center’s customers.
I’m not sure if the traffic plan is different for NCSU games than it is for Carolina Hurricanes games, but the parking designation for the events is definitely different. The Hurricanes largely sell the lot spaces as day-of-event general admission while the basketball games get reserved section parking.
The arena has six paved lots surrounding its North, West, and South sides and has two small VIP lots outside its main entrance. The west side of the arena is served largely by access from the variable direction, five-lane Edwards Mill Road while the east side is served from a three-lane Westchase Blvd. All perimeter roads around the arena on the property have three lanes.
There are a few caveats to planning traffic ingress. There must be a lane reserved on each road for emergency vehicle egress. Thus, the 3-lane roads can only use two lanes in any particular direction. Additionally, it seems that the City of Raleigh insists that at least one lane on Edwards Mill Road be marked for upstream traffic.
Regardless, there are two easy answers for creating smooth ingress for events. Using the existing roads, simple lane assignments should solve all problems. Because there are three parking lots on the building’s West side (Lots 4, 5, and 6), one lane should be designated for each lot from Wade Avenue inward. The illustration above show the first solution, and is a detail view of this area . read more…
North Hills Club Manager Wins MOY Award
The
USPTA
this week named
North Hills Club’s
C.W. Cook as their North Carolina Manager of the Year. Cook has overseen a complete transformation of the club in the last two years and seems to have the place on track. Perhaps his most difficult task has been determining the true demand for the club’s full dining room capabilities while requiring no food minimum of its members. The offerings from the start have ran the gamut for periods lasting a few weeks, but have settled into meeting the club’s demands.
Congrats to CW!
UNC and NCSU Basketball Calendars for Your PDA
UNC and NCSU fans who like electronic calendars rejoice! I’ve uploaded the 2007-2008 UNC and NCSU basketball schedules in the .CSV format.
Outlook/Palm Users:
- Create a new folder in your in Outlook calendar (Bball08, for example). Use the File | Import and Export… to import from “another program or file”, then “Comma Separated File (Windows)”. This will set up the schedule in your new sub-calendar where you can make whatever changes you want.
- When you are happy with the way the subcalendar looks, change the calendar view to “Events” (instead of 7-day or 31-Day or whatever view you’re using). “Select All” from the list, and drag them over to your main “Calendar” (The Treo and other Palm Handhelds only sync to the main calendar – time for Palm to get with the program on that one!). If you want to keep your sub calendar intact, use Ctrl-drag instead of plain drag. That will create a copy of each event to the main Calendar and keep the Bball08 calendar in place. Sync your handheld to copy the events to the handheld.
iCal Users:
- Use iCalTextImport to import the .CSV version of the schedule.
Download uncbball08.csv
Download ncsubball08.csv
(right click on the link above and “Save As…”)
Note: Use at your own risk. I do not accept responsibility for any consequences resulting from errors in the schedule.
Quick-View Traffic Cams
For the last few years the NC Department of Transportation has developed a nice arsenal of highway traffic cams . Other traffic sites exist, but this is my favorite because cam thumbnails can be seen by simply hovering. This allows one to scan the entire I-40 segment of the RTP is less than 10 seconds!
Unfortunately there is not a direct link to the Triangle region cams, so the link still requires one click to get to the good stuff. You’ll continue to find this resource in the “Tools” section to the left.
NBA League Pass Free Preview
Time Warner Cable customers are now getting a free preview of the NBA’s cable package which shows every game in the league. The free preview runs through January 27th and is a promotion for the $99
half-season package
. Tune to channels 711-719 for the games, and click here for a
schedule of games
.
New Project: The Lassiter
The final piece of the “
North Hills West
puzzle is
The Lassiter
. Standing at seven stories, the building’s plan includes 49 condominium units with 10-foot ceilings, underground parking, terraces, and an overall figure 8 design that allows each unit to be an end unit.
They’ve prepared a nice video that includes renderings not featured on the project’s website.
NC Named #3 for Business
The newest rankings are in from Chief Executive magazine and we’ve moved up from last year’s #4 ranking to the #3 spot for business. We wearned a B+ for both "Taxation and Regulation" and "Workforce Quality" and an A- for "Living Environment". Texas and Nevada ranked #1 and #2, respectively.
U2 3D Opens at IMAX Tonight
The new U2 film
U2 3D
debuts tonight at midnight with a special showing. Shot on the Vertigo Tour, the 90 minute Imax movie promises to immerse the crowd with its 5.1 sound.
The movie will be shown at the Marbles Museum at three or four nightly showings thru at least February 7 . Tickets are $12 for adults (See showtimes for details).
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