Quote :

"RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh's outgoing mayor says he hopes to get a land deal worked out with the state before he leaves office that would allow the city to buy the 306 acres of land currently occupied by the state's oldest mental health hospital. "We’ve worked on making Dorothea Dix a destination park for more than five years, and hopefully we’re getting pretty close," Meeker said Thursday. "I'd very much like to wrap this project up before I leave office next month." "The local developers who would ordinarily salivate over developing this and buying it for profit have joined with us to ask that it be preserved," Poole said. The group, which gathered local business and civic leaders together Thursday evening at the North Carolina Museum of Art to support preserving the campus, wants to see a park with some kind of anchor – such as a botanical garden, aquarium or museum – that would attract tourists. They liken it to something similar to Atlanta's Piedmont Park or Chicago's Millennium Park. "We just feel a burden on our shoulders from our forefathers, saying, 'Hey, carry the load. Let's continue to plan, let’s continue to be bold, brave, visionary and leave this place a better community than we found it,'" Poole said. "So that’s our call.""

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/10231034/

Oh I hope I hope I hope this happens. I love bringing my dog out there and would be very sad if it was sold to private developers instead. I even think they could do a hybrid deal where parts of the campus that already have buildings on it could be developed and leave the open spaces as such.

Of course I wouldn't mind if they threw up a museum like the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago on the property

10/7/2011 9:20:41 AM

I don't see a private developer buying it now.

Quote :

"The local developers who would ordinarily salivate over developing this and buying it for profit have joined with us to ask that it be preserved," Poole said"

if this is true, it's an obvious sign that developers have given up on this fight. too long, too hard, too expensive, and a crappy economy doesn't make this a good investment for the foreseeable future

10/7/2011 9:33:47 AM

Regardless of what they do with the place, I will steer clear of it because their used to be crazy people there and on the off-chance that ghosts are real I would rather not be mauled by the jackal thing from 13 ghosts while visiting the park.

10/7/2011 9:35:06 AM

This all sounds a little bit looney to me

10/7/2011 9:35:10 AM

Quote :

"I even think they could do a hybrid deal where parts of the campus that already have buildings on it could be developed and leave the open spaces as such."

this

10/7/2011 10:13:04 AM

he's trying to do this in case Redmond wins the election, imho.

she has a vested interest in multiple real estate and development companies. i wouldn't trust her as far as i could throw her. as mayor of Raleigh, you make all of about 20k a year, but you wield a lot of financial power if you know the right people. i'm just not too comfortable with that situation, and i hope this gets through just in case she's elected.

hopefully Mcfarlane or Williams wins this shit.

10/7/2011 10:26:48 AM

Quote :

"I would rather not be mauled by the jackal thing from 13 ghosts while visiting the park."

Lol i'm right there with you, but i would be ok with the hot knife-yielding redhead covered in blood....

10/7/2011 12:03:29 PM

^^ I'm concerned about her financial ties as well but to be honest, unless Meeker secures a deal to buy the property from the state, I'm not sure what role a future Raleigh mayor would have in the development of the property. Wouldn't that be left up to the state?

10/7/2011 12:49:16 PM

Quote :

"This all sounds a little bit looney to me"

iswydt

10/7/2011 1:33:08 PM

MEEKER

WANTS

DIX

10/7/2011 1:58:20 PM

with real estate in the shitter (compared to where it used to be at least), it's hard to make a solid economic argument for developing right now

10/7/2011 6:03:01 PM

The team captain for my Coed Over 30 soccer team works for the parks and rec division in Raleigh. He said it is a possibility that the soccer park could be sold to TASL and redone. TASL is trying to get their own soccer fields, so they don't have to rent from CASL anymore.

10/7/2011 6:50:34 PM

Is there a soccer park on Dix's campus?

10/9/2011 4:52:54 PM

Once again, B4C proves he doesn't know shit about shit.

10/9/2011 4:56:38 PM

I hope they leave the buildings intact. It would be a nice (and spooky) place to walk through and think about the history that occurred there.

It reminds of the radar base in Kernersville that was turned into a park. They left one of the buildings but removed the actual radar thing :/

10/10/2011 1:16:36 AM

^^ haha okay that's what I figured but you never know, there might be a soccer park there I'm completely unaware of

^ The problem is most of the buildings are dilapidated and in serious need of repairs. I know a few of them are beyond saving according to a study they did a decade ago and I can only imagine what that means they're like now. That's a big part of the reason the campus was closed in the first place. I could see them keeping one or two buildings to turn into a mental health museum like they have in Williamsburg, but it would be financially crazy to keep them all.

10/10/2011 9:36:07 AM

Quote :

"Regardless of what they do with the place, I will steer clear of it because their used to be crazy people there and on the off-chance that ghosts are real I would rather not be mauled by the jackal thing from 13 ghosts while visiting the park."

ahahahahaa

10/10/2011 9:44:27 AM

I like the idea of a park there- cause then RADL can work on getting another course put in there, and if, they do a top tier design and build, they could bring in the revenue from hosting NT tournaments like they do in Charlotte and all over California. But really it is to serve my own greedy purposes

10/10/2011 9:45:34 AM

God some of the GOLO comments on the article make me want to bash my head into my desk. I think GOLO users are against any and everything

10/10/2011 9:49:07 AM