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Week of September 17, 2018
Hurricane Florence recovery efforts
Ridgewood Shopping Center sold
Lola’s Beach Bar opens in Five Points
City Hall Civic Campus updates
Land by Crabtree sold for more apartments (probably)
Noir adding another patio
Chavis Park awarded redevelopment grant
Contact wnfiv@itbinsider.com with news or to be featured in the Development Beat.
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Hurricane Florence Recovery Efforts
Before we begin, we’d like to highlight some ways that you can contribute to the Hurricane Florence recovery. Raleigh was spared from a horrible storm, thanks to Bonner’s masterful control of the Raleigh Weather Dome™®. As you’ve seen in the news, many other areas were devastated.
There have been tons of great efforts already, from local businesses to individuals who are willing to drop what they’re doing and take supplies to areas that need it the most. This list of organizations below is by no means comprehensive. City Council Representative Nicole Stewart has done a great job on Twitter (@Nicole4Raleigh) of keeping the public informed of ways to help. Here are a few:
North Carolina Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund
NC Hospital Foundation Disaster Relief Fund
Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC – donations will be collected Thursday from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium (inside Gate A) and at the food bank distribution facility at 1924 Capital Blvd.
Volunteer for a 6 or 12 hour shift with the Red Cross
Here are a few tips on donating:
Why cash is better than donations
How to avoid charity scams. Do your homework first by checking out a charity.
- Visit www.give.org to see if national charities meet the standards set by the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, and www.charitywatch.org for ratings of charities by the American Institute of Philanthropy. Other good sources of information are www.guidestar.org and www.charitynavigator.org .
- Find out whether or not charities are licensed. Many charities that solicit in our state are required by law to register with the N.C. Secretary of State. You can call that office toll free at (888) 830‑4989 or check out a charity or fundraiser on its website.
We’ll keep you updated on additional ways to help as things progress.
Ridgewood Shopping Center Sold
Regency Centers, a real estate investment trust based in Jacksonville, Florida, purchased the Ridgewood Shopping Center last week. The 95,000+ square foot property was sold for $46 million, leaving many residents speculating on what is to come.
A two-story Whole Foods? A Snooker’s expansion that takes over the entire shopping center? The return of Tripp’s muffins? Unfortunately, plans for the property have not been announced.
Regency also owns Cameron Village and a number of other shopping centers in the area, so we’re confident that Ridgewood is in good hands. We assume Regency became aware of the property after reading @WNFIV’s article Dads Won’t Stop Fly Fishing In Orvis Parking Lot.
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Lola’s Beach Bar Opens in Five Points
Lola’s Beach Bar in Five Points is now open. The @TriangleExplorer brought this to our attention on Sunday.
According to their FB page Lola's Beach Bar in Five Points opened today. (📸 by @lolasbeachbar) Cc: @WNFIV pic.twitter.com/rYTfuqVx7Y
— TriangleExplorer (@trianglexplorer) September 16, 2018
Located a few doors down from NOFO and Third Place Coffee Shop on Glenwood Avenue, the bar stated on Twitter that they were open, but with a limited menu.
We opened today🎉 .. limited menu because no deliveries but amazing cocktails and lots of fun!
— lolasbeachbar (@lolasbeachbar) September 17, 2018
This is sure to be a big hit with Five Points parents, who have been at home with their children for 5 straight days.
City Hall Civic Campus Updates
The master plan for the City’s new downtown Civic Campus is now complete, and both City Councilors and members of the public have a chance to review it. The 60 page plan is available here.
Before we get into the details, let us not forget that the City has already knighted us to lead a panel on La Croix water fountains for this new development.
I consider this a win for everyone. I'll circle the wagons and come up with a flavor matrix that's representative of all citizens and have a presentation ready for the next council meeting. @RaleighGov https://t.co/m0GIiRdcBy
— ITB Insider™ (@ITBInsider) February 22, 2018
Here are a few of the highlights of the three phase project:
- Phase I
- Build a 20-story, 420,00 square foot East Tower of the new City Hall
- Demolition of the vacant police headquarters
- Enables the City to fully consolidate its fragmented downtown workforce
- The land and new building will be owned and maintained by the City
- Phase I is on track for completion by 2023 and has a projected cost of $190 Million (funded through a combination of lease savings, asset sales, and debt capacity)
- Phase II
- Develop the 20-story, 180,000 square foot West Tower
- The West Tower will provide additional departmental offices and conference facilities for staff and additional public facing functions
- Phase III
- Replace the existing municipal parking deck with mixed-use private development and new parking facilities
The master plan will be voted on in today’s City Council meeting. As many predicted, we do not have that report on La Croix ready at this time, but we are working hard on it.
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Land Across From Crabtree Valley Mall Sold
Land across the street from Crabtree Valley Mall was recently sold for $9.5 million. Kotarides Developers purchased the 11 acre property, which is currently home to an apartment community. Developers have attempted to redevelop the land a few different times over the last ten years. There was even talk of a pedestrian bridge over Glenwood, which sounds like a great idea until you say it out loud. Go ahead, say it out loud. Yeah, you wouldn’t set foot on that thing either.
The latest developer, based in Virginia, hasn’t said what they plan to do with the land. Since this property is located too far from Hillsborough Street, we can take “luxury student housing apartment complex with six golf simulators and a bitcoin mining cave” off the table. We’re betting it will be redeveloped into an apartment building/complex with some sort of retail or office space.
Noir Adding Second Patio
The owners of Noir Bar & Lounge recently filed site review plans to build a second patio behind the bar. The plans for this fenced-in, 1,460 square-foot patio would actually reduce the amount of impervious surface, although not by much. The fence will be eight feet of “solid wood” that will enclose the entire rear of the property.
The existing Noir patio usually serves as a performance area for digital musicians, often known as “DJs,” who use “samples” of songs to take their audience on a journey through various musical genres. We were unable to confirm if this second patio was simply for an additional DJ, or if it was some new type of vape club. We will not be investigating further.
Chavis Park Redevelopment
Today, the City Council will hear a report on a $747,600 grant issued to Chavis Park from the National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The grant will be matched by the City using funds from the 2014 Parks Bond, for a total of $1,495,200. The money will go toward implementing a master plan that will transform the park in a number of ways, including a new water feature (perhaps tied into the downtown canal?), an improved playground, and a new community center.
The total cost of the project stands at around $14 million, and construction on phase one is expected to start late this year or in early 2019.
The land across from Crabtree was set for a vote as last week’s NW CAC meeting, but was delayed until next meeting as the owners didn’t have requested information they had promised and because of the low pre-Florence attendance. They said no bridge because of cost, and because the switch from largely retail to largely residential didn’t warrant it. Their plans look like the apartments the tenants of the “luxury student housing complex” will move into after graduation.
Regarding Ridgewood being sold to a Jacksonville, FL-based developer, major changes that I anticipate, based on my own intuition and zero reports or even rumors are:
1) Red-White Shop changing to a Jacksonville Jaguars themed store
2) Orvis becomes a Margaritaville
Please confirm
Wow, that’s credible enough for us to run with it. Thanks for the tip!
Sorry if we were unclear. The bridge plans we were referring to were from a previous project. Didn’t know that was actually still on the table. Thanks for the info.