RALEIGH GROWS UP — AND OUT
Midtown, Uptown Take City to New Heights

Stories by Elizabeth Shugg

“Towered cities please us then, and the busy hum of men,” wrote John Milton in his 1632 poem “L'Allegro.” The Baroque Englishman certainly would approve of downtown Raleigh's towering skyline and hum of activity today, were he here to see it.

But drive north to Six Forks Road or northwest up Glenwood Avenue, and you'll cruise directly into one of two burgeoning development zones poised to claim towers of their own. Raleigh's midtown comprises North Hills and surrounding developments off Six Forks Road, while just three miles west, uptown stretches from the Soleil Center and Crabtree Valley Mall seven miles southwest to the RBC Center.

Midtown and uptown — geographical buzzwords — conjure up thoughts of Charlotte, Houston, or Atlanta. They also verify a pubescent coming-of-age for a city some say has floundered through childhood too long. Raleigh's lack of a defined concentration of residential space, high-end boutiques, restaurants, and hotels prompted developers with upscale intentions to abandon pockets of North Raleigh and Cary — where high-end amenities already are scattered about — and seek out deteriorating building complexes that could be replaced with new ones, or large parcels of land that could encompass multiple amenities in one place.

Kane Realty Corp., developers of midtown's North Hills, viewed Raleigh's old North Hills Mall as the ideal location for such a destination. The company purchased the property in 2001 and began the demolition process in 2003 to make way for the new North Hills.

“Before, when you looked around Raleigh, you couldn't say, 'You've got to go to blank' to meet all of your needs,” says John Kane, CEO. “We didn't feel there was a place to fill in those blanks. Now we're trying to fill in those blanks.”

Similarly, uptown developers such as Soleil Group's founders and principals Sanjay Mundra and Dicky Walia say their tower and surrounding developments will achieve the same goal for residents there.

“Imagine, if you want to do everything here, you can,” Mundra says. “You can live here at the Soleil Center, you can shop here at Crabtree, you can entertain yourself at Weingarten, Soleil, and Crabtree. You have fitness, you have pools, you have a spa, you have restaurants, you have offices and you have a greenway behind the creek that is miles long.”

Both sectors show palpable promise. Cranes and hard workers persist day and night. Developers controlling Raleigh's outer layers of urban expansion know what's at stake: A manifest destiny lies in their hands. They must do the job right, and they must do it with style.

The midtown method
The former North Hills Mall opened in 1967 with JCPenney's, Ivey's and a movie theater. Five years later, Crabtree Valley Mall opened with Hudson Belk, Sears, Miller & Rhoads, and Thalhimers. Customers gradually chose the new mall's increasing clientele over North Hills' stagnating options, and as the millennium turned, the deal was done. Raleigh's first enclosed shopping mall offered developers the only thing it had left: Thirty-one acres of land.

Kane Realty's vision to mastermind a high-end, mixed-use community blossomed on that acreage as “the new North Hills.” Today, the spot commonly referred to as Raleigh's Madison Avenue assembles some of the area's most prominent boutiques and restaurants near convenient and upscale residential offerings.

The Lassiter at North Hills, which currently is selling, stands seven stories tall and offers 49 condominium units with upscale interiors and architectural details. Ramblewood at North Hills consists of townhomes, stacked flats, and single-family garden homes with traditional brick exteriors and landscaped green spaces. The Alexan, a four-story luxury apartment building that is almost full, offers 297 one- or two-bedroom units with indoor corridors, a fitness center, pool, two courtyards, recreation area, and covered parking. On Six Forks Road's east side, The Cardinal at North Hills will stand six stories high and accommodate continuing-care senior citizens with independent-living units and on-site Duke Health services. Residents of The Cardinal also will have access to a 60,000-square-foot clubhouse, dining options, and salon and spa services.

North Hills patrons enjoy high-end restaurants such as Vivace, South, Bonefish Grill and Mura. Local boutiques such as Scout & Molly's, Liles Clothing Studio, Elaine Miller Collection and Rodolfo Gonzales Interior Design take shopping up a notch. Fitness and beauty amenities include Gold's Gym, Natural Body Spa & Shoppe, and Aveda Von Kekel Salon Spa, and residential and office space complete the formula for creating a one-stop-shop community.

“We offer a concentration of all the goods and services, and everything else you would need to live and work, shop, and dine here,” Kane says.

Vivace owners Kevin and Stacey Jennings couldn't be happier with their North Hills location. In 2004, Kane Realty approached the couple about opening a restaurant there, but they originally passed on the opportunity.

“We wanted to take logical steps,” Kevin Jennings says. “We've always wanted to make sure we make moves that are very deliberate and pre-planned, and when we do it, we're going to be able to do what we do well.”

But the lure of North Hills was strong. “We came back to Kane Realty in the beginning of 2005 and inquired as to whether or not they had anymore restaurant spaces available, and they showed us our current space,” Jennings says. “I asked him, 'Why can't I do a restaurant somewhere else?' and he said, 'Because we have very meticulously planned out where the restaurants are going to be, and the parking fields associated with them and the store mix that's going on around these restaurants, and that's where the restaurants are going to be.' I like that structure. They've really made a huge effort to look at the individual spaces and how things are going to flow. It's assisted us with our learning curve.”
Kane notes that this strategy has resulted in an ideal blend of vendors at North Hills.

“By controlling all of the retail we have, we're able to develop a merchandising mix that we think is appropriate for this area,” Kane says. “We have some national restaurants here, but we have a really strong cadre of local merchants and restaurateurs, and that's very different from having just national retailers.”

Other North Hills vendors echo their approval of Kane Realty's strategy. Scout & Molly's owner Lisa Disbrow recalls when the company sought out her women's clothing boutique in 2004.

“I was one of the first people to sign a lease over here,” she says. “I wanted to be in a place where people were coming to spend the day, and would have more than one reason to be here. I'm very happy with my choice.”

North Hills' “vibrant and vital atmosphere” attracted Elaine Miller, owner of Elaine Miller Collection.
“When I learned of the transformation that was coming to North Hills, I recognized the tremendous potential of the area and knew I wanted to be part of it,” says Miller, who was among the first to locate there.

Gena Fajgenbaum Combs and Chandler Woodall, co-owners of Gena Chandler, recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of their contemporary women's clothing boutique at North Hills. The store, which regularly hosts events for customers, carries designers from Los Angeles and New York, with a focus on designer denim.

“Our location can pull people in from all areas of the state, being located right off Interstate 440,” Woodall says.

“There's just an excellent mix up here,” adds Combs, referring to the mix of condominiums, hotels and other amenities offered nearby.

Rodolfo Gonzales of Rodolfo Gonzales Interior Design, who maintains an original location in Chicago, recently opened his new design studio and showroom at North Hills.“Given the high-end nature of my firm's product and service offerings, it was important to locate my new space in the heart of a growing and prosperous urban area,” he says. “After extensive research, I chose North Hills as the ideal location for the studio. Its renaissance, as evidenced by both residential and commercial renovation as well as new construction, provides the ideal environment for my firm's business, given the audience to whom we cater.”

The renaissance continues. A 10-story, four-star Renaissance Hotel with 229 rooms and two-story garage underneath is scheduled to open in October directly behind North Hills' main entrance. The 100-acre development will accommodate additional residences and retail, as well as an office building that will stand 17 stories tall.

“We have a lot of acreage of infield under the control of one developer,” Kane says. “This gives us the ability to really develop midtown in a way that's cohesive and pedestrian-friendly, which is an advantage that some areas of town don't have.”

Not all North Hills vendors are new to the area, though. First Citizens Bank, which recently moved its headquarters into the First Citizens Center at Six Forks and Lassiter Mill roads — and which also owns property on the adjacent block — first purchased and opened offices at North Hills in 2001.

“We were here when the original mall was demolished and the new one rose from the ruble,” says Chris Young, First Citizens' Triangle area executive.

“It's been great to see the business activity across the street, and it's a great opportunity for both businesses and the retail sector.”

Movin' on uptown
Soleil Group's Mundra and Walia have uptown pegged, literally. An aerial image hangs in their boardroom with numbers marking current and future developments. The Soleil Center and Crabtree Valley Mall complex anchor the northernmost end, while the RBC Center and Carter Finley Stadium anchor the southernmost end. Points of interest between include Rex Hospital, the North Carolina Museum of Art, hotels and residential developments.

“When you connect these dots and you look from Carolina Country Club, Crabtree Valley Mall and go all the way to the RBC Center, then near Rex and circle back here, this whole area emerges as a very successful, vibrant area, and this is what we think will become uptown,” Mundra says. “The location is such that it is centrally located to downtown, to RTP, to I-40 and to North Raleigh.”

Pretty soon, identifying uptown's northern end won't be difficult. Forty-three stories of gleaming glass curtain-wall elegance will tower over the area after construction of the Soleil Center is completed next fall. This modern, Perkins + Will-designed skyscraper will accommodate 54 luxury condos, 290 four-star Westin hotel rooms, a rooftop terrace garden, 6,500-square-foot spa, world-class Reebok fitness center and 4,000-square-foot indoor pool. Lavish concierge, chauffer, dining, and housekeeping services will pamper guests and residents.

The tower will be built on the former Sheraton Hotel site. “After many efforts to rehab (the hotel), it was determined that we would need to tear it down because no matter what we did to the building, it was not going to be able to show our vision,” Mundra says.

“It's very efficient because we're going vertical, so we're using less land mass and we're promoting less traffic.”

Soleil Group also plans to demolish and rebuild on the Capital Bank building's 3.2 acres of land next door, which currently houses the company's offices.

“We're proposing an 18- to 20-story office building here that will be about 200,000 square feet,” Mundra says. “The building will open within six months of the tower.”

An ideal place
Another large mixed-use development looms adjacent to Crabtree Valley Mall. Weingarten Realty Investors' Crabtree Place will feature a vertically integrated, 850,000-square-foot mixed-use development. A unique blend of upscale retailers and high-end restaurants covering 258,000 square feet of the project will serve uptown's residents and visitors.

Next door, the Triangle's top-ranked Crabtree Valley Mall will continue to play a large role in uptown's vitality. Several new stores have moved in, while 11 stores have been remodeled, redesigned or expanded. Hudson Belk recently opened its new men's store in the upstairs space that formerly housed Lord & Taylor. The store's expanded selection includes Polo, Tommy Bahama and Burberry Clothing. Other new stores include Shi by Journeys, Aerie by American Eagle, Forever XXI and Crisp Salads in the food court. Additional stores are expected to open later this year.

A new mall entrance, hallway, and restrooms occupy Lord & Taylor's former downstairs space, and a new parking deck located between Hudson Belk and Barnes & Noble opened last fall. Construction on the front of the parking deck will provide room for three new restaurants: McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, Brio Tuscan Grille, and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, which are expected to open this fall.

“These major projects are part of our ongoing strategy to continue giving our guests the most stores, the biggest selection and the best shopping experience,” says Bobby Medlin, the mall's general manager.
Together, new construction and improvements to existing businesses uptown should wind down around 2010 and add up to $1.5 billion in total investments.

“It's Buckhead (Atlanta), in the making, or the South Park of Charlotte,” Mundra says. “Once you add it up, a picture emerges.”

And that picture shows a city preparing for its true debut. Raleigh's adolescent years soon will give way to adulthood, and when they do, the city that suffered a childhood of fickle growth patterns and dicey developments will emerge with class and sophistication. WL

Elizabeth Shugg is a freelance writer based in Apex

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Whether they are Southerners by birth, by choice, or are simply visiting the area, many are curious about the history of Southern towns. When it comes to Raleigh, there is no better place to discover the city's heritage and modern-day points of interest than the narrative Raleigh Historic Trolley tour.

The first Raleigh trolley opened on Christmas Day in 1886. Drawn by Texas mules with tinkling bells, the streetcar covered four miles through the heart of downtown Raleigh. In 1891, mules were replaced by electricity, and by 1908, the trolley had expanded to 14 streetcars and 14 miles of track that ran in and out of the downtown area.

With the expansion of this new and relatively fast transportation — trolleys ran at 30 miles per hour — many of the first and now oldest Raleigh subdivisions such as Cameron Park and Hayes Barton became an easy commute to and from downtown work and shopping. In 1932, streetcars were replaced by city buses, and after missing the action for five decades, in 1989 the trolley returned to the heart of Raleigh. A replica of the original trolleys, the narrative Raleigh Historic Trolley Tour lasts one hour and stops frequently throughout the downtown area.

Two of the more important sites along the tour include the North Carolina State Capitol Building and North Carolina Executive Mansion. The Capitol is one of only a few significant civic buildings that were constructed in the U.S. before the Industrial Revolution and that remain in use today. Completed in 1840, it has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark. Aside from providing a description of the building's exterior, trolley guides inform passengers of the significance of most of the 14 statues at Union Square surrounding the Capitol.

A real treasure to all North Carolina residents, the Executive Mansion is home to the sitting governor and his or her family. The mansion is one of the state's finest examples of Victorian Queen Anne architecture, and the gardens are gorgeous anytime of year. The trip via trolley car is sure to inspire passengers to return for a tour of the century-old mansion and its perfectly manicured grounds.

City Market often is a departure point on the tour. At the market, visitors can travel down a cobblestone street leading to Big Ed's Restaurant, where they will be offered some of the South's most traditional dishes, while Péché de Chocolat wraps and serves beautiful boxes of imported, award-winning chocolates. For tourists more interested in eye candy, ArtSource allows guests to view and purchase local art.

Whether entertaining out-of-town guests or having a fun family outing, the trolley is an ideal way to hear interesting stories, facts, and folklore while viewing the downtown sights and restaurants. From current exhibits at the state museums of history and natural science to the story of Sir Walter Raleigh himself, there is something for everyone. WL

Sandra Simpson is a Triangle-based freelance writer.