I don't know about that, but I saw that Bert was retiring from the PR

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/josh-shaffer/article142906719.html

4/12/2017 1:31:01 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article139252888.html

4/12/2017 4:47:10 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/restaurants/article157344229.html

New Italian place that just opened in the old Porters/McDaids spot next to H-Street.

H-Street is also closed for the summer so that they can "execute some changes".

http://www.wral.com/h-street-kitchen-closed-for-the-summer/16734554/

7/14/2017 10:41:21 AM

^my coworkers really like it

I tried Pho Vietnam today. It was really good, had big portions, and the prices were super cheap, especially for being on Hillsborough St.

7/14/2017 4:14:56 PM

^Is that the same people who have the one in Cary? If so you do get a good amount for you money.

That said it's mostly broth and noodles so the margins are probably pretty good on that.

7/14/2017 4:49:14 PM

goddamn that abandoned site with the crane just makes me batshit insane

7/15/2017 1:21:27 PM

^
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article155849349.html

Construction may resume in the fall? Maybe?

7/15/2017 4:12:05 PM

Quote :

"^Is that the same people who have the one in Cary? If so you do get a good amount for you money. That said it's mostly broth and noodles so the margins are probably pretty good on that."

Yeah same people. Broth and noodles are cheap but it's about how concentrated the broth is and theirs was pretty solid. I had the Bo Bun Hue but it's probably the same base.

7/15/2017 4:23:12 PM

^^

Saw that. It's mind boggling.

I hope it does get in gear soon. It's just a junk situation that it's been allowed to sit like that.

7/15/2017 4:40:14 PM

I remember coming back to Raleigh from grad school in December 2014 after they'd cleared that site. Then the following summer it looked like they were making solid progress getting the structure of the building up. Now no progress has been made on that site for at least 2 years. Just a few beams and an ugly ass crane in the middle of the street.

7/17/2017 8:59:51 AM

there was a payment dispute so they left the crane there so it would accrue debt ($13k/month) that they'll get back in court.

7/17/2017 9:29:47 AM

http://www.wral.com/new-tenant-announced-for-h-street-kitchen-space/16864928/

RIP H-Street Kitchen

Quote :

"La Stella’s food will be prepared using a 1,000-degree wood-fired oven, the only cooking element in the restaurant. Pizza La Stella Executive Chef Matt Kepp and Theale collaborated on the menu, which will also include Old Bay Boiled Peanuts, Roasted Potato Poutine, Puccia (La Stella's twist on a wood-fired sandwich stuffed with vegetables and cheeses), rustic steak and drunken chicken soaked in tequila-lime jus, Honey Habanera and Dr. Pepper wood-fired wings, and wood-fired pizzas and desserts including a S'mores Skillet."

New concept sounds equally bad. Pricier options for pizza and wings on Hillsborough Street sounds like a winning idea, though.

8/7/2017 7:05:34 PM

Sounds overrated, its a college street...not downtown.

8/8/2017 12:38:02 AM

oh boy, more pizza!

8/8/2017 8:16:45 AM

Did h street kitchen not do enough business? Always seemed busy when I was there

8/8/2017 8:29:00 AM

I assume they put way too much money in the place and got crushed by their overhead. Only Chipotle can pull off a renovation on Hillsborough Street.

8/8/2017 10:23:43 AM

Quote :

"La Stella will keep some of H-Street Kitchen's art in the 6,000 square-foot space but want to enhance the restaurant's connection with N.C. State University. Look for the N.C. State Mr. Wuf mural to be highlighted with more lighting and prominence. The map of downtown Raleigh will remain. Overall the interior will be gutted and furniture replaced, Theale said."

That's seems kind of a shame. It already feels like NC State in there.

Also why? That shit is already like brand-new. Unless La Stella has some kind of brand they push through their furniture or they can't pack as many people in there as they want? Or they gotta make room for pizza ovens?

PLEASE DON'T JUNK IT UP. OLD PORTER'S OUTSIDE STILL BREAKS MY HEART.

8/8/2017 12:36:30 PM

Quote :

"I assume they put way too much money in the place and got crushed by their overhead."

That's kind of what I assumed when I saw they were having issues. The food was good there, but they had limited parking and seemed to be focused on operating as a restaurant that you might see downtown instead of one by a college campus. Needed more options of cheaper bar food, better drink specials, and I think they could've easily cleared out the tables and turned it into a late night option on Wednesdays & Thursdays for students with PB's & Rum Runners either gone or in the process of moving.

The new La Stella spot sounds like it won't just be pizza though so I guess that's a plus. Hillsborough has too many of those as it is.

8/8/2017 2:25:38 PM

I know we're not Chapel Hill, but Franklin seems to house both college and class establishments well. Granted, part of that is certainly because there is no downtown for people to go to otherwise, so maybe that is the limiting factor.

That said, as an alum, I feel depressed whenever I go down Hillsborough Street. It. Looks. Horrible. To me, even the new stuff looks crappy, to me. The new buildings are largely out of scale with the street and surrounding buildings and they are built with pretty tacky materials. There is also no connecting vibe or style to the buildings as a whole, so it looks like an assortment of lowest common denominator construction with no foresight or planning involved at all.

When this thread started years ago, I used to believe that the street would see a lot of love and that in a 'few years' that it would be something great. It's now over 10 years later, and it still looks like a shit show.

8/9/2017 1:52:49 PM

Quote :

"New concept sounds equally bad. Pricier options for pizza and wings on Hillsborough Street sounds like a winning idea, though."

There is also already a "high end" Italian restaurant in the old Porters location (RIP, Porters). So maybe they will just cannibalize each other.

8/9/2017 2:13:43 PM

Every time the wife and I went to H-Street for dinner it was packed and the food was pretty good. Idk why folks spend so much $$ upfitting somebody else's commercial property. They had to spend atleast a million + on that space and they were in business for what, a year? I guess the next tenants will reap the benefits if they don't run it into the ground.

8/24/2017 10:58:34 PM

IIRC the renovations were like $2.5M. I just feel like to really take advantage of that space, whoever is in that location needs to be a place students can go late night drinking on Wednesdays through Saturday nights.

8/25/2017 10:10:59 AM

Students don't have any money. If you're going to run a business targeting them, volume is the key. That means corporate chains with economies of scale and ruthlessly managed overhead. Any small business with any character has to lure in people who live further from campus.

8/25/2017 11:20:57 AM

gotta launder money somehow

8/25/2017 6:15:06 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article169368062.html

Ok, let's keep this shit moving.

8/27/2017 12:18:43 PM

Auction is 9/22. Let's get a gofundme going for Tdub Tower.

8/27/2017 4:46:31 PM

Any news on the yellow bulldozer building/sign? I remember seeing a while back that a developer wanted to build Yet Another Apartment Building there, but there was the possibility of saving the sign.

9/5/2017 6:13:49 PM

In the paper today, actually:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article171379067.html

New plan to incorporate the tractor in the facade goes before city council 10/5.

9/5/2017 8:59:05 PM

Sounds specific about the location and lighting of the sign, I think that's about as good as we're going to get. Thanks for the link.

9/5/2017 11:04:12 PM

rip equipment co. footage from yesterday

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/ITBInsider/videos/2121578404537746/&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1527960326325000&usg=AFQjCNECDaWOXezcazlcO4hsWgGszDIDTQ

6/1/2018 4:12:44 PM

Did La Stella even make it six months in the H-Street Kitchen space - after H-Street Kitchen lasted less than a year after completely rebuilding the entire place?

First floor of the mini-Target is still for lease as well.

Any updates on the crane at Two Guys?

6/4/2018 3:35:52 PM

That street isn't good for anything up market, if you're going out you'll go downtown instead.

6/4/2018 3:40:06 PM

I will say that I heard that DH Hill will begin some renovations and the Brickyard side will be closed for a year. They're going to reopen the Hillsborough Street side as an entrance, which should be interesting to see how that reactivates that portion to heavy foot traffic. Might start a kind of neat interaction between that major bus stop and the Howling Cow/lounge/study areas in the library.

6/6/2018 8:44:39 AM

I hope it leads to them keeping the front entrance open post-construction. Always seemed kinda dumb to me to have it closed off.

6/6/2018 8:46:53 AM

it's supposed to be a phased design-build renovation of the entire building, should be significant

6/6/2018 9:00:55 AM

^^

It was closed so that they could have a single point for exit/entry for security/staffing purposes.

But I agree, I hope that this is the next step in eventually activating and integrating that side back into Hillsborough Street. Time will tell.

6/6/2018 2:53:54 PM

Quote :

"Did La Stella even make it six months in the H-Street Kitchen space - after H-Street Kitchen lasted less than a year after completely rebuilding the entire place? First floor of the mini-Target is still for lease as well. Any updates on the crane at Two Guys?"

My biggest issue with La Stella was that it took the exact same concept that H-Street tried and failed to use. It was the exact same place with a slightly different menu. I went there to watch the State / GT basketball game back in March and the place was empty. I sat down at my table and realized why, no drink specials, no beer buckets, no pitchers, and all of the food was $15+. I don't see why someone can't take the model used by EV, Sammy's, Mitch's or PR, and just put a sports bar there with slightly cheaper food (sandwiches, appetizers, burgers, pizzas, etc.), and then clear the tables out and have it be a place where students can go late night on Wednesdays and Thursdays with Rum Runners, PB's and the Alley all gone now.

Last I heard about the Two Guys crane, the company behind it went into bankruptcy, and it was sold to the highest bidder. I didn't know the first floor of Target was even up for lease, but there has been a Taco Bell and Waffle place that have opened farther down Hillsborough underneath one of the new apartments.

[Edited on June 17, 2018 at 11:23 AM. Reason : tbdv]

6/17/2018 11:22:37 AM

https://www.wral.com/booze-and-tacos-taco-bell-opens-cantina-in-raleigh/17766876/

alcohol at Taco Bell across from campus

8/13/2018 4:40:31 PM

Probably gonna doze the block East Village/Curious Goods/College Beverage is on and build a you-know-what. I’ll try and post the link later. I’m sure one of you guys have seen the plan.

8/13/2018 9:07:10 PM

East Village will get the ground floor restaurant space if they want it

8/14/2018 8:16:31 AM

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2018/08/08/new-mixeduse-development-on-the-card-for.html

RIP service station at Bagwell. New City Design takes another shit on Hillsborough Street.

8/14/2018 2:07:41 PM

New City and Blue Sky... ugh

8/14/2018 3:32:43 PM

http://www.itbinsider.com/development-beat-village-subway-returning-apartments-planned-at-east-village/

link to the East Village/Curious Goods/College Beverage story previously mentioned (scroll down after clicking link)

8/15/2018 4:04:40 PM

Bocci is gone. Former site of Porter’s Tavern, then former site of some Irish pub that I never learned the name of.

10/19/2018 10:43:58 AM

McDaid's. Never went there.

Is that stupid crane and derelict site next to Target EVER GOING AWAY?

10/19/2018 1:33:53 PM

Eventually it will collapse

10/19/2018 2:18:58 PM

^^^ I noticed that the other day. What's the longest somebody stayed in that space?

10/20/2018 10:54:43 AM

So the deal with the crane is that there was a dispute between the builder and the client to where the builder has left the crane there in order to accumulate rental charges/damages while it plays out in court.

McDaids was good but it was like $15 for a tiny portion of fish and chips on a cutting board (stupid because the vinegar went all over the table/bar).

The rental overhead is just too high on Hillsborough St. and whenever they try to cater to faculty/staff, they attract a lunchtime crowd but nobody goes there at night. The only things that will survive as leased spaces are going to be the cheap, high volume stuff. The Taco Bell will do great, as does the Chipotle. Students can't afford $15+ entrees.

10/21/2018 5:39:42 PM

Learned that the rent on the H-Street Kitchen space is $10,000/month. No wonder nothing is surviving there.

Kitchen stuff is finally going into the Guasaca space (under Target). Ready for this one to open.

Taco Bell Cantina is great. I eat there too much.

10/26/2018 11:55:58 AM

https://www.hillsboroughstreet.org/about/better-than-ever

10/31/2018 10:28:43 AM