I think Raleigh Skyline is nice when you see it from about the beltline at the right angle. It looks like its coming up out of a forest. Like the second and third pictures from hcnguyen but if you get it on a no smog day.

5/30/2006 8:06:03 AM

what im trying to figure out is the original picture posted - what is the building in the middle supposed to be (above the new convention center and left of the BBT building)


it looks like the progress energy building that was finished almost two years ago, but it is in the wrong place, not to scale at all...



anyone, anyone?

5/30/2006 8:27:20 AM

^rbc centura headquarters

http://www.raleighskyline.com/rbc/

5/30/2006 9:01:09 AM

Thats a lot of words dedicated to a craptastic city town.

5/30/2006 9:28:28 AM

when people that "THE DEFINITION OF LARGGGGGGGGEST" shit it makes me wanna punch a baby.

also, Union City, NJ is part of the New York City Metro area so its not like its some crazy ass dense city in some random fuckin spot.

5/30/2006 9:38:15 AM

If you're going to debate something, it's generally a good idea to be technically correct about what you're talking about.

I've got to wonder what type of dumbed down major you're in to have the kind of mentality where generalities are sufficient.

5/30/2006 9:57:31 AM

the one where im posting on the thewolfweb and not writing a research paper?

is this a trick question?

5/30/2006 9:59:07 AM

Sorry, I didn't mean to go over your head there.

5/30/2006 10:00:50 AM

ya?

5/30/2006 10:03:49 AM

oh, i see we've regressed to name calling now.

Well, you're a stupid head!

5/30/2006 10:05:56 AM

one thing about RTP. RTP will deny any construction project that reaches over the trees. As a result, people are building out insead of up. GSK, for example, has multiple buildings across RTP as does IBM. In Philly (the other HQ for GSK), they have like a 40 story building to house their employees. If RTP didn't exist, DT would look like Charlotte. If RTP didn't have that stupid rule, then there would be DT Raleigh skyline, a comparable one in RTP, and the small shitty one in Durham.

5/30/2006 10:08:04 AM

^^hahaha i do believe you started that. homo.

5/30/2006 11:53:22 AM

Quote :

"I've got to wonder what type of dumbed down major you're in to have the kind of mentality where generalities are sufficient."

oops!

5/30/2006 11:56:32 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte%2C_North_Carolina

here's an actual NC city

5/30/2006 12:01:09 PM

charlotte sucks dude.

yeah, it's bigger, but it still is a shitty town.

[Edited on May 30, 2006 at 12:01 PM. Reason : ]

5/30/2006 12:01:27 PM

Quote :

"charlotte sucks dude. yeah, it's bigger, but it still is a shitty town."

I'm not trying to start the age-old Charlotte vs Raleigh fight here

you can like Raleigh better if you want. All I am saying is that Charlotte more closely resembles what most people outside of NC consider to be an ACTUAL city.

Having said that, I have lived in both places and I personally think Charlotte is hands down a better city. I live less than 5 miles from Raleigh's "downtown" and yet I don't feel like I'm anywhere near a city.

5/30/2006 12:14:59 PM

yeah, i totally feel like i'm living in the middle of the country.
(I'm biased... i've lived in raleigh my whole life.)

5/30/2006 12:22:19 PM

whoopdeefuckingdoo to all of you comparing Raleighwood to other cities. we're not known for our daunting skyline.

we're pretty much the Silicon Valley of the east coast, and we're now the 3th largest biotech hub in the world--that may not mean much to you now, but biotech is quickly becoming the future of healthcare.

if you want a great view of concrete and steel, there are many places you can go.
whatever skyline we do manage to prop up is a nice ancillary banefit, but is in no way definitive of what this place is about. so i'll take what we have now without any complaints.

5/30/2006 12:44:16 PM

and just to clear it up, by "we" i mean ther greater RTP/Raleighwood area

5/30/2006 12:46:22 PM

ya, there are two types of cities, centralized and decentralized. we are decentralized and like la our skyline is weak compared to similar cities. (la vs ny and chicago)

most cities only have one area of density we have several (rtp, dt, crabtree, highwoods, north hills). if you put all that together it would be pretty impressive just like if you put las 2 or 3 areas it would be competitive with ny and chitown

5/30/2006 1:12:32 PM

Quote :

"we are decentralized and like la our skyline is weak compared to similar cities. "

such as...

winston? what similar city?

[Edited on May 30, 2006 at 1:50 PM. Reason : ']

5/30/2006 1:39:36 PM

we don't need a skyline as much as we need high density development

5/30/2006 1:48:05 PM

winston works great because its obviously an inferior city with a slightly more impressive skyline.

5/30/2006 1:48:25 PM

i'd love for there to be a good chunk of raleigh with 3-4 story buildings with stores/bars/etc on the first floor, maybe even the second, and then apartments/condos on the tops of the buildings.

5/30/2006 2:13:21 PM

^^what??? they have the big penis building and that's pretty much it.

5/30/2006 2:13:52 PM

asheville wins

5/30/2006 2:27:20 PM

wins at what

5/30/2006 2:32:08 PM

life

5/30/2006 2:32:38 PM

Ok, so I started skimming after the first page or so, but here are some thoughts...

Quote :

"When building dense makes economic sense, people will do it."

Psssshh...we'll see about that. Since when do people as a whole really do anything that "economically made sense". Many times we see things as the here and now, they look good, let's do it.... then it comes back to bite us in the ass. (Social Security anyone?)

Second, as someone who used to work in downtown in a nice federal building... I drove past shit hole excuses for buildings EVERY day that far outnumbered the nice Progress Plaza builidings... how about stop builing new ones and renovate what we have??? Not to mention, many of those "nice" buidlings have signs in the bottom floor that reads "space for lease!"... uh, let's fill up what we have THEN build more. And PS, as someone who'd rather pay 400K for a sweet house with a nice amount of backyard over a condo... let's stay with dense rather than expanding downtown.

Next... Dorothea dix. The last thing it needs to be is commercial. Raleigh is named "The City of the Oaks" or something to that extent for a reason. One of our biggest attractions for the growing population is the availability of surroundings that remain pleasant for outdoor use.

Last, if everyone wants to moan and groan and bitch about this stuff get off of t-dub and go to a freakin' planning meeting!! Don't complain about what your city government lets big developers do unless you're prepared to give them your input. Many meetings that are held before ground is ever broken are usually open to the public!!!

And one more thing, not that I think anything I've said is worth attacking... but it's all just my humble opinion. I've lived in Raleigh for 21 years and hopefully I'll land a career I love and be able to stay here as well.

5/30/2006 2:35:26 PM

Quote :

"we don't need a skyline as much as we need high density development"

if raleigh needs high density development
someone will invest the money to build it and get rich

if some people like high density development
they can invest the money to build it and ?????

5/30/2006 2:36:14 PM

i seriously would one day like to build something like this downtown that is really eyepopping and gives downtown a lot more character

5/30/2006 3:04:04 PM

wtf

that's fucking hideous

5/30/2006 3:06:26 PM

isn't it just from the effect of lights??? they put green lights whichever the building is right now, and I remember when I was younger they switched the colors every now and then...

5/30/2006 3:08:15 PM

yeah it's the bank of america tower in miami.

true i mostly like it from the lighting effects. i think it would be awesome lit up red after a wolfpack win (similar to what they do for big hurricane wins).

anyway, something like this would be a change or pace for dt raleigh. it is a terraced pie-shaped 37 story tower on top of a 10 story parking deck with all glass and reflective materials for the lighting effect. plus, it would be cool to have restaurants, spas, clubs, etc...on each terrace.

anyway, just an idea. i think this is the most recognizable building in miami, simply because of the lighting.

5/30/2006 3:13:15 PM

we really dont need more tall buildings just more density as someone pointed out. Charlotte has plently of big buildings but the downtown area sucks and is pretty much comprised of Tryon. Older cities have more density just because thats the way they were built. Charleston is much smaller than Charlotte but its downtown and surrounding area are much more dense and filled with lots of shopping and resurants and bars.

Hopfully downtown is better after they tore it up.

5/30/2006 3:40:37 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_urbanism

5/30/2006 3:58:32 PM

cool

5/30/2006 4:04:32 PM

Quote :

"Charlotte has plently of big buildings but the downtown area sucks and is pretty much comprised of Tryon"

when was the last time you were down there?

5 years ago?

5/30/2006 5:14:06 PM

2 months ago

5/30/2006 6:33:57 PM

i believe in gentrification, thats how im gonna make my money

5/30/2006 6:46:12 PM

me too

5/30/2006 7:16:11 PM

Although, the RBC Building would look better with 2 spires..

5/30/2006 7:51:02 PM

5/30/2006 8:50:21 PM

is that the new CAT headquarters?

5/30/2006 9:43:08 PM

Quote :

"Last, if everyone wants to moan and groan and bitch about this stuff get off of t-dub and go to a freakin' planning meeting!! Don't complain about what your city government lets big developers do unless you're prepared to give them your input. Many meetings that are held before ground is ever broken are usually open to the public!!! "

true, but you can also just vote with your feet and get out of town. I decided to leave Raleigh when the Tues/Thurs bike rides stopped leaving from the Mission Valley parking lot and started leaving from Cary. Pretty soon they'll be leaving from Apex or something. Fuck that.

There are plenty of cool places that have restrictions on sprawl. There are cities with real downtowns and mass transit and all that.

People need to stop worrying so much about Raleigh - it decided to become Atlanta a long time ago. It's too late now.

5/31/2006 5:04:17 PM

5/31/2006 5:06:02 PM

So many absolutely stupid comments in this thread concerning urban planning/development.

Quote :

"When building dense makes economic sense, people will do it."

Couldn't be more wrong. Sprawling then trying to change the population density is what results in Ghetto's, traditional "white flight" scenarios, massive property value decline, and INCREDIBLY high costs to make the area "dense".

It costs orders of magnitude less to develop high density areas to start and then sprawl, than to do the reverse.

You cannot compare ANY non-water bound US city to New York/San Fran/Seattle to Raleigh. They all have extremely complex geo-political histories that enabled their density and property values/income levels to become so highly inflated.

5/31/2006 5:58:20 PM

Most businesses exist to make money. If a developer can make more money with a high density development, they'll do it in a heartbeat... or someone else will step in and get rich.

One of the problems I see with condos in downtown Raleigh is they're only a few blocks away from houses that cost a lot less than the condos in the same neighborhood.

5/31/2006 6:12:45 PM

you people confuse me, like 80+% of the RTP is in durham county, yet its part of raleigh according to you

5/31/2006 6:54:03 PM

it's called a metro area. look it up.

5/31/2006 6:56:24 PM