To follow on to Leebowitz’s post … one of the good things about the pre-boom ITB was how the rich, the middle class homeowners, and the renters were mingled. While the racial dividing lines are still easy to see, subdivision by economic class is much more difficult. Developers like Gordon Grubb are working on this non-problem, though, with the goal of homogenizing Raleigh’s old neighborhoods into zones of housing stock for the wealthy.
Point for future research: when was the phrase “inside the beltline” first used?
Witness the bulldozing and the bland-to-hideous structures going up in Whitaker Park. This teardown and infill probably won’t even increase density, given reasonable extrapolations on the before/after numbers detailed in this Triangle Biz Journal article from 2006. Isn’t the increased density what all the armchair urban planners call for with these teardowns, when they trot out the tired and false dichotomy of infill versus sprawl? A similar fate is foretold for the venerable Country Club Apartments, home to schoolteachers and retirees, waiters and budding artists, folks in their first jobs out of college. The “Now Leasing” sign is still up at the office there, but one wonders how lengthy or binding a lease could be signed at this point. Is the density going to be higher there? Doubtful. Are those old growth trees going to survive when the existing structures are demolished? Doubtful.
It’s not just happening in Raleigh. Now word comes that the Glen Lennox neighborhood in Chapel Hill, also owned by Grubb, is headed for the chopping block. Say goodbye to another big chunk of friendly, affordable housing, within cycling distance of UNC.
Where are these folks supposed to go? Is Raleigh going to end up like Aspen, where the hired help has to be trucked in?
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Thanks for this post! I feel the same way…the trend for downtown and ITB to be a rich-boys-only club is one of my biggest pet peeves about Raleigh these days.
I am pleased that you noted the intentional design of the mixed neighborhoods. We need to be intentional, or it will not happen.
There are those who say that economically diverse communities will solve our school problems, as well. Doing better than we did in the past, of course.
I am a whitaker park refugee who has moved over to Country Club and the management has pretty much fallen apart. i’ve complained for 5 months about a leaky bathroom situation and have been pretty much ignored. i keep getting letters to the wrong apartment offering rent price cuts and when i call about it, they deny it. very strange. the rumors are that we will all be displaced very soon. grubb also owns the elizabeth apartments which are off of glenwood, beside sushi blues. they were the last of the $400 apartments before whitaker and i still can’t believe they are standing.
my lease is up june 30 and i’m not renewing.
The affordability issue affects more than just people’s pocketbooks. Renters priced out of downtown and urban neighborhoods are forced to look farther afield for affordable prices. That means that they are driving in from Brier Creek, Durham and the smaller bedroom communities. This then becomes a traffic and pollution issue. Plus, the burden of added commute costs for these renters means that a rent that was affordable in the city is no longer when combined with the price of gasoline and vehicle maintenance. In addition, as the market for rentals are pushed out of the downtown, the pressure grows to bulldoze and build on previously undeveloped land.
I sympathize with affordable housing argument, but I worry that it is just going to fall on deaf ears for some. Perhaps we can get some of the prius and hybrid suv drivers out there to care about the environmental consequences of squeezing out economic diversity.
Living in Oakwood in the late 90s, I was witness to the early stages of the redevelopment of “the hood” just down the hill from Linden Ave. which gave me an idea. As the wealth reconsolidates in downtown, THIS time the lower middle and lower classes will be priced out of living here. Property Tax values will escalate forcing even long-term owning residents of less stature to consider leaving. The long term effect?: Look at New Delhi, Lagos or Sao Paolo. The cheaply built, crappy suburbs of today are our cardboard shantytowns of tomorrow. The suburbs around Falls OTN Road at Millbrook already has transformed from up and coming middle and high income young professionals in the 1980s and 90s to a lower middle class enclave with less resources, poorer maintenance practices, etc. etc. I wonder if they also receive less protection/patrols from Police?
It’s not exclusive to Raleigh by any means, but this is a broader socio-economic problem we have to face. Its a crazy vision, I know, but I’ve got no evidence that points to the contrary.