Development Beat: Hayes Barton Baptist Schism And Our Solutions

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Week of March 12, 2018

Hayes Barton Baptist plans to tear down 6 houses to add parking

Moore Square seeking contractor

House of Swank finds a new home

Gusto Farm to Street begins work on first Raleigh location

1965 State Capital Plan Envisioned a Different Future for Raleigh

“Mystery Room” coming to Triangle Town Center

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Church Wants To Pave Paradise, Put Up A Parking Lot

Note: This section is co-authored by William Needham Finley IV. He’s seen how controversial this issue has been and figured that if we co-authored this, people wouldn’t know who to get mad at.

Hayes Barton Baptist Church at Five Points created quite a stir last week when they made public their plans to demolish a row of 6 rental homes they have owned since the 1960s. Was this a Crusade to evict 6 Satanic families from Five Points? Not quite. The church wants to put 78 parking spaces where the houses, built between 1920 and 1925, currently sit.

We assume HBBC got the idea from Mark 4:22, which recalls how Jesus turned 6 dwellings into 78 donkey stables to accommodate all the townsfolk lining up to check out His water in to wine miracle. These parking spaces would add to approximately 170 parking spaces already on the property. HBBC told the News & Observer that the spaces are needed to accommodate the 500 to 600 members who attend the 11:00 am Sunday service.


We’re unclear as to why this plan is being proposed at this point. For decades, local businesses have opened their lots to church members on Sunday, while the church has allowed Five Points customers to park in their lot during the week, a deal that was struck during the First Council of Nicaea.

Members of the church spent last week informing thy neighbors of thy plans. We first heard about it from an Olde Raleigh post on Facebook, since we’re millennials. We then obtained a document covering the church’s plans, since we’re basically Spotlight-level journalists.

The document states these are “concepts only!”and summarizes a report by the Long Range Capital Planning Committee. The report was presented in a February 10th meeting to the members of the Diaconate, which apparently has something to do with Deacons and is not the name of a dragon from Game of Thrones.

In the document, titled, “Change for the Next Generation,” seven points are listed under “Parking and Rental House Solution.”

-Provides covered drop-off area with closer access to nursery, sanctuary, chapel, and educational building.

-Provides additional handicap parking with closer access to the sanctuary.

-Helps eliminate longstanding parking issue – adds 78 spaces.

-Costs less than half of the parking deck option.

-Retains real property for expansion and other uses.

-Provides truck delivery entrance, reducing the need for food service and other deliveries coming through the Welcome Center and the main church corridor.

-Creates a more attractive and welcoming entrance from White Oak Road.

Missing from the list was “Announce plans that infuriate neighbors and cause them to start a petition,” which is exactly what happened.

The petition on Change.org, created by Five Points neighbors, has received 751 signatures as of 11:13 am, March 15th. The authors of the petition offer the following alternatives:

-Continue using the houses for affordable housing, refugee support, or a community home for people with intellectual disabilities (essentially some use that lines up with the Church’s overall mission).

-Sell those homes to families that would love them and use the money to find another option (such as paying for shuttle buses and/or alternate parking solutions).

-Adding additional Sunday services to mitigate the high volume late Sunday mornings and alleviate some of the traffic and parking needs.

Those all sound reasonable. However, we understand that this property belongs to HBBC and they can do whatever they want with it. Since we don’t want to piss off the Five Points residents, and also don’t want to piss off God, we’re offering our own solutions.

1.) Add parking to the front of the church.

It’s a well known fact that this area has been mistaken as parking for years now. Why not just make it official?

2.) Put parking spots on existing land that no one is using.

We found plenty of potential parking spots in front of HBBC on White Oak.

And on the Whitaker Mill side of HBBC.

And behind HBBC.

HBBC will have to cut down some trees if they go with our plan. But just think of the money they’ll save on landscaping and leaf blowing.

Our main concern is the use of White Oak as the pick-up and and drop-off spot for HBBC preschool. I can already see a line of 15 Yukon XLs stretching out onto Glenwood from White Oak and creating a traffic apocalypse.

Hopefully our ideas will create constructive conversations that lead to a solution that appeases everyone. We aren’t trying to tell anyone what to do with their land. We’re just here to make the world a better place, one photoshop at a time. And remember, if you’re upset with our coverage of this, Jesus would have wanted you to forgive us. Have an ITBlessed day!

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Moore Square Seeking Contractor

The City of Raleigh is seeking a contractor for an exhibit in the Moore Square Visitor’s Center. This will be separate from the $10.3 million renovation contract awarded to American South General Contractors in September 2017.

The City is looking for a design that incorporates “interactive elements, interpretive panels, and complimentary displays” in a 14.5′ x 14.5′ room and an adjoining 26′ x 4′ hallway.

The exhibit will “shed light on Moore Square’s evolution since 1792, as well as its uses over time.” The exhibit will “identify how Moore Square has been at the center (both figuratively and literally) of Raleigh’s history since the city was founded.”

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A House of Swank Makes A Home

House of Swank, a local screen printing shop, is moving to 119 E. Hargett St, in the historic Raleigh Furniture Building. Co-owner John Pugh said, “Our goals for the new location are twofold. First to establish the House of Swank shop as a retail fixture in the downtown. Second to have a space that is easily accessible to host music and maker workshops for community engagement and corporate events.”

The new location is a three-story brick building built in 1914 in the late Romanesque Revival style. The Raleigh Furniture building was a furniture store for much of the 20th century.

House of Swank is having a sneak peek popup shop at the new location from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Saturday, March 17. They will also be discussing their new interactive Maker concept floorplan for the retail space, as well as selling Raleigh and NC-inspired clothing.

Gusto Farm to Street Coming to Wake Forest Road, JITB

Gusto Farm to Street, a healthy fast casual restaurant specializing in pizzas and salads, is coming to Wake Forest Road, in the same shopping center as Trader Joe’s.

Gusto boasts of its “scratch kitchens,” which complement their “vibrant farm-to-table flavors.” They make promises of using “healthy grains” and “antibiotic free meats.”

Permits were issued for the fit-out of Gusto’s 1,820 square-foot space to Battino Contracting Solutions just last week, so we imagine it won’t be opening for at least another month or two.

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Blast From the Past

Oak City CRE, which puts out a weekly newsletter covering commercial real estate in Raleigh, uncovered a real gem last week when they published an excerpt from the 1965 North Carolina State Capital Plan. The plans were for future land use and development in the city. They offer imagery of some things we wish had come to fruition, like the lake across from the Governor’s Mansion, which would feed nicely in to the larger downtown canal. Take a look.

Side note: I love how they thought Raleigh would be so classy that people would be wearing tuxedos and formal dresses while eating at “Terrace Restaurant,” wherever that is.

Magical Mystery Mall

What has anchors, railings, sales, and floats on a sea of concrete? An indoor shopping mall, of course. Solving mysteries much tougher than that will soon be part of a new venture at the Triangle Town Center mall.

“Mystery Room: Detective Story” (as listed on the permits) will soon open in a 3,780 square-foot space in the mall. We’ve deduced from the name that it will be a detective-themed “Escape Room” where participants must solve a crime in order to “escape” the room. This is an interesting addition, considering that most people think Triangle Town Center itself is one giant escape room.

I found examples of places like this in NYC, where I’d make everyone call me Briscoe, and Los Angeles (Sergeant Joe Friday). If I make it out to the grand opening I’ll be going by Sheriff Andy Taylor and bringing ITBlake the intern along as Barney Fife.

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