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11/7/2011 7:20:25 AM

Quote :

"What a shitty mindset to have. Expect nothing but mediocrity and that's all you'll ever get."

It isn't a shitty mindset. My point is it wasn't great, but it was good enough for between classes when I had little time to eat. College isn't about 5 star dining and living in a really fancy house. Melvin's just has that college feel to it.

11/8/2011 10:31:30 PM

Quote :

"Expect nothing but mediocrity and that's all you'll ever get."

What a shitty mindset to have. Maintain unrealistic expectations and you'll always be disappointed.

11/9/2011 8:59:28 AM

yeah that was hilariously smug

dining philosophy dictated by motivational posters itt

11/9/2011 9:31:19 AM

the thing with hillsborough street is that Raleigh is NOT a college town... and hillsborough street caters to more than just college students.

11/9/2011 12:24:09 PM

^

ding ding ding

11/9/2011 3:09:55 PM

Oh let me just clarify then.

Melvin's is awful and should be torn down.

Lawl "unrealistic expectations".

11/9/2011 10:46:47 PM

I know it's bad for me to say this, but it's kind of a shame that tornado didn't tear through Hillsborough Street while it was making its rounds in downtown. That Electric Company Mall building needs to be torn down anyway and the tornado would have sped up that effort

11/10/2011 7:56:53 AM

^Blasphemy. The bowling alley deserves to stick around.
Everything else in there could go without upsetting me, though.

11/11/2011 9:44:59 AM

The bowling alley isn't in Electric Company Mall is it? I think right of the underground parking deck is considered a different building.

11/11/2011 9:46:35 AM

I like Melvin's burgers.

11/11/2011 9:50:32 AM

I too like Melvin's for what it is.

11/11/2011 10:23:22 AM

There are plenty of things on Hillsborough across from NCSU that should be torn down, but the Electric Company mall is by far the least of our worries.

The Baptist Student Union is in my opinion by far the worst building on Hillsborough Street. It looks like a giant mouth ready to devour any hapless pedestrians who walk past.

11/13/2011 2:20:32 PM

They've set up fences around the old Baldwin building near the Morgan St roundabout. Demo should be starting soon.

11/13/2011 5:12:09 PM

^^ hahahaha

Is that the same building that has the random koi ponds beneath the building?

11/13/2011 5:37:58 PM

Two buildings bulldozed at Hillsborough and Morgan.

11/27/2011 12:18:57 PM

^Do you mean the old Stoudt bakery? The one behind the building that has the tattoo parlor and the chinese restaurant?

^^^The koi ponds are actually beneath the G. Milton Small office building, next to the SECU. That one is actually a fantastic piece of architecture, in a subtle way. Below the Baptist Student union is a tiny parking deck.

[Edited on November 27, 2011 at 8:50 PM. Reason : koi]

11/27/2011 8:49:18 PM

^ That's it. Everthing to the left of the chinese place is gone.

11/28/2011 2:20:29 PM

Too bad they couldn't save the main building, which had some cool art deco/art moderne features. The more industrial part of the space was just ugly, so good riddance there.

Is the mixed-use project supposed to occupy that lot and wrap around the back of the apartment building on the corner of Ashe and Hillsborough? I know it's eventually supposed to replace the IHOP and the Jackpot/Briggs House across Ashe too--wonder if they are two unconnected buildings or if there is supposed to be a skyway or somesuch. I also wonder how long before the existing apartment building is renovated as something more high-rent with the new fancy apts/condos being built around it. If so, that would be good as long as they don't screw up the exterior of the building--it's a nice-looking 1930's building if you can look past the window A/C units and the signage on the storefronts. Between that, the completely gorgeous house across the Morgan roundabout, and the nicely rehabbed houses to the west of the project down Hillsborough, I hope the new construction ends up looking good and not being a faux neoclassical fake stucco piece of crap like the building they're putting in at Cameron Village.

Wonder how long before they finally come for the Briggs house as well...I had so hoped someone would come through and move it but it looks like that's not going to happen.

11/29/2011 9:19:58 AM

So the Two Guys building took down their new sign for the remodel that just said "Authentic New York Style Pizza" (it was sleek and new) and replaced it with a painted mural-sign that just says "Two Guys Pizza" on the silhouette of a city skyline.

11/29/2011 3:22:30 PM

Quote :

"Between that, the completely gorgeous house across the Morgan roundabout, and the nicely rehabbed houses to the west of the project down Hillsborough, I hope the new construction ends up looking good and not being a faux neoclassical fake stucco piece of crap like the building they're putting in at Cameron Village."

Architectural elevations can be seen:
http://www.raleighnc.gov/content/PlanCurrent/Documents/DevelopmentPlansReview/PlansInReview/2011/PlansSubmittalMapsByType/GroupHousing/GH-003-11.pdf

Pretty boring design for the most part.
It's not going to be fake stucco. It's going to be cementitious siding/material.

....

11/29/2011 9:37:12 PM

11/29/2011 10:45:31 PM

Okay, WTF.

One--that looks like total crap.

Two--I didn't think they were demolishing the apartment building at the corner of Ashe and Hillsborough, across from the Briggs house. Evidently they are. That's kind of a cool building, yet I've not heard anyone say anything about its eminent demise.

11/30/2011 2:22:19 PM

ugh i hate that cookie-cutter style they are using for projects like this these days

11/30/2011 3:19:09 PM

Per the Goodnight, Raleigh web site, asbestos abatement has started on the Fabius Briggs house (aka Green House aka Jackpot House) in preparation for demolition. I knew finding someone to purchase, move, and rehab the house would be difficult or impossible, but it's sad that the day has finally come.

http://goodnightraleigh.com/2011/11/death-of-a-victorian-fabius-briggs-house-to-be-razed/

[Edited on December 1, 2011 at 10:46 AM. Reason : link]

12/1/2011 10:46:21 AM

I believe this home was also a former Sigma Nu house.

12/1/2011 11:02:39 AM

It's too bad it was in such bad shape. If it had been more structurally sound perhaps it could have been moved onto one of the empty lots on Blount Street.

12/1/2011 11:19:44 AM

is the building with the distinctive vent coming out of the side of it at the intersection of Ashe and HB still there, or is that the one they are tearing down?

12/1/2011 11:25:34 AM

^That's the one. Jackpot has the side-facing vent and the Briggs house is attached to the back. Both are coming down in the next couple of weeks.

^^^Yes it was, I believe way back in the '40's before it had the storefront attached.

There is a fantastic history of this house here:
http://goodnightraleigh.com/2009/10/the-fabius-briggs-house-a-crumbling-raleigh-relic/
It's a good read, though saddening to realize just what we're losing. Thankfully the interior details (moldings, mantels, tile, wainscoating, and the entire staircase) were salvaged a few months ago and hopefully will help restore other old homes with a brighter future.

12/1/2011 12:28:24 PM

damn that sucks. that vent is one of my earliest memories of childhood... when we passed the vent on the way to pullen park I knew we were almost there!

12/1/2011 12:37:20 PM

Okay--looked at the plan again and the Cameron Park Apts/Jade Garden building appear to be staying around after all. And that is a Good Thing, especially as that apartment building is considerably more attractive than the new project and will block some of its boringness from view on Hillsborough.

12/1/2011 9:21:18 PM

Looks like Melvin's is closing, according to a Facebook party invite I saw. The "sports bar" will remain open.

12/5/2011 7:47:51 AM

really????

12/5/2011 8:32:11 AM

FUUUUUUUuuuuu

[Edited on December 5, 2011 at 9:59 AM. Reason : what a shitty street]

12/5/2011 9:59:16 AM

I think this is all a plot by Players' Retreat to make sure there is nowhere else to get a burger on Hillsborough. Next victim: Sadlack's.

Seriously though, it wasn't outstanding (the fries never thrilled me and the selection could have been better) but it wasn't a bad burger for cheap. And please, for all that is holy, open something other than another pizza place there. We already have 7.

12/5/2011 12:28:32 PM

What, you don't like pizza?

12/5/2011 1:51:18 PM

RIP Briggs House

12/5/2011 3:12:42 PM

Wow they're making short order of that.

12/5/2011 3:15:46 PM

man looks like that historic directv dish is seconds away from being lost to the ages

12/5/2011 3:58:00 PM

And so it goes. Over 100 years on Hillsborough street erased in 3 hours, and another little bit of what was Raleigh gone.

RIP.

12/5/2011 4:41:45 PM

I hope those lofts on Ashe get razed at some point, if they're trying to build all this "fancy stuff" on the H-boro end.

12/6/2011 4:22:22 PM

^Well supposedly that will follow this development. They're intentionally driving up the price of those nasty apartments between the work site and the railroad tracks so that they'll get purchased, torn down, and put a nice giftshop there or something.

12/6/2011 5:04:01 PM

lol, a gift shop

THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!

12/7/2011 8:52:30 AM

a giftshop for the prison or for the IHOP?

12/7/2011 9:10:38 AM

It's the historic Jackpot gift shop.

12/7/2011 10:13:53 AM

The "nasty apartments" aka Pullen Park Lofts reportedly used to be a U-Store-It complex. Sure looks like it, anyway.

Regardless, the city wants to tear 'em down to build an extension of Morgan Street from where it curves near Charlie Goodnight's, along the railroad tracks, to Ashe.

12/9/2011 10:59:34 AM

That kind of makes sense, I guess.

12/9/2011 11:01:33 AM

^^ Weird, I don't really see the point of that looking at the aerial view on Google. Is it somehow trying to provide better access to Western? I would think anyone wanting to do that from Morgan Street would just cut over on Boylan.

12/9/2011 11:12:07 AM

I guess the least it could do is spur a little bit more development in that area. Perhaps not much if Catering Works and Charlie Goodnights/City Limits remain in place. Still should be enough land for something.

12/9/2011 11:28:29 AM

If the transit tax actually passes next fall, the alignment of the light rail will go right through there and there will be a station in that area, so my guess is that they are keeping that scenario in mind and the potential development that would occur.

12/9/2011 3:09:08 PM