Not Broke, Don’t Fix at rduwtf.com

5-points condos

Plans to demolish three historic houses at Five Points, floated years ago, now seem closer to happening. The fine folks over at newraleigh.com have posted on this and hinted at a question that we’d like to make considerably more explicit here. See below.

The Cinderella House, once a beauty shop, now occupied by a used/vintage clothing store, is a perfect example of the Old Weird Raleigh that we love, and that we will miss. Sprawl-versus-infill is an argument that won’t be solved by a blog post, or by a hundred blog posts. But is knocking down three venerable houses in one of Raleigh’s early 20th
century neighborhoods going to have a significant impact on sprawl?
Answer: no.

And even if it did, there’s a question we’d like to hear more often: Why does it have to be so fucking ugly? Why do we, good little urbanists, have to say “yes” to every bland half-assed po-mo four story building that comes down the pike, with slightly different colors of beige or brick exterior?

Why does it have to be so fucking ugly?

6 Responses to “Not Broke, Don’t Fix”

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1 FuzzyT Nov 30th, 2007 at 11:09 pm

I like how the watercolor artist rendered the street there as if it were 50 feet wide, and painted in a background of 100 year old trees. This is nothing more than a visual lie.
2 Robert E Leebowitz Dec 1st, 2007 at 12:43 am

I think the biggest problem with this development is parking. I believe Raleigh Realty (Bobby Lewis) also owns/manages the former barber shop, then antique shop, then very briefly “Posh”, now padlocked with a big honking-ass lock and chain, building at 5-Points. The parking at 5-points is just maxed-out and this sketch looks as though it’s adding about 25,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and maybe 8 public parking spaces on the street (diagonal parking as it exists on the rest of the block might add 4 more spaces). 5-Points was originally served by the trolley line, the Rialto was a grocery store, in addition to the Piggly Wiggly and another grocery store, Powell and Griffith- the neighborhood had a much higher retail density but less auto traffic. Without a parking deck, or some sort of mass transit to feed the neighborhood, any major addition of retail space will only harm the existing businesses.
3 JZ Dec 1st, 2007 at 2:27 pm

Why does it have to be so fucking ugly? Path of least resistance.

The three-legged stool of design is Time, Cost, and Quality.

You can always have two of the three, but the third is always sacrificed in the process.

Most developement opts for saving Time and keeping Cost to a minimum. Guess what suffers?
4 Matthew Brown Dec 13th, 2007 at 9:16 am

According to the N&O article of November 26, Bobby Lewis wants to tear down three houses on Fairview Road. But this drawing shows the new building adjacent to the Post Office, requiring the leveling also of a fourth house that Raleigh Development Co. does not yet own. The four houses are beautiful and historic, especially
the unique stone and half-timber Tudor Revival house next to the post office, the “Cinderella House.” The loss of these houses would be tragic, and could begin a domino effect on Fairview, one of the most beautiful and architecturally distinctive streets in Raleigh. Why not instead replace some of the ugly non-historic buildings at Five Points itself?

People wonder how we could have torn down so much of historic Raleigh. They just didn’t appreciate historic architecture in the 50s or 60s . . . or 70s or 80s or 90s or early 21st century.
5 Big Chicken Jan 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pm

Ah, Bobby Lewis and Raleigh Development Company. What is it, exactly, that is such a bummer about him/them? It’s pretty much everything he stands for, right down to his loafer tassels. His vastly over-inflated sense of his own importance is on display in this article, which he posted about on the newraleigh.com

http://www.visitnc.com/where_to_go_article.asp?r=2&s=2&sg=7&ArticleID=1122

Isn’t he the one that sold Kings down the river? (Answer: yessir he is) The infuriating thing is that he tries to come across as someone who is so dedicated to the ‘community’. It’s that fake southern politeness thing. “I’m-a jus doin’ the best for muh family.” It’s just about the best money for him, and the money – taste = if he is involved in a retail project at Five Points, is shall sucketh.

Sorry, had to get that off-a muh chest.
6 Robert E Leebowitz Jan 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am

Yes, his false modesty is certainly on display in that article. He fails to mention that Lilly’s Pizza began the rehab of 5-points and he just jumped on a bandwagon. A brief history should be: Lilly’s, then Sting-Ray, then Third Place, then the Pharmacy/Cafe and then Nofo. He’s right, he was only a distant influence in the neighborhood. He doesn’t mention his failed neighborhood ventures, like Caribou Coffee on Fairview. And did he unsuccessfully run the lunch counter at the pharmacy prior to its success? Businesses that operate in his buildings seem to have less success than others and I assume it’s because he keeps the rents at a level that isn’t viable. Or he’s just bad luck. Then again, he’s had great luck using his brother-in-law’s money to buy up chunks of Raleigh.

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Not Broke, Don’t Fix

6 Responses to “Not Broke, Don’t Fix”

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