RALEIGH - FAYETTEVILLE STREET REOPENING
Raleigh, North Carolina. Fayetteville Street, the main street through downtown Raleigh, is reopening tomorrow to much fanfare; a parade, TV coverage and special sections in the News and Observer about the streets past history and its future commercial value to Raleigh, Wake County and the area as a whole. Will it be the boon to business that the city fathers have hoped it will be? Will it draw the businesses and permanent residents to the central core that they have spent much time, effort and money to promote? While school is still out on these questions I think the time for it to work has finally arrived.
Thirty years ago this main thoroughfare was closed to traffice and promoted as an outdoor pedestrian mall. As with most efforts to rejuvenate the downtown area, it was mostly a failure. The lack of an affluent core population was not there and neither were the support facilities to attract and service them. However, this area has continued to enjoy an explosion in population with a substantial portion of them people with good jobs or businesses and good incomes and with many of them needing living space in, or close to, the downtown area. Also, more and larger buildings have been built in the immediate downtown area along with a considerable number of homes (in a broad price range) and several large and very fine condos as well with even larger and much pricier ones on the way. There is a healthy demand for these homes and condos by those who don’t want to flee to suberbia at 5 o’clock. A downtown popuation of 20,000 is projected within the next 10 years. Thus, the $10,000,000 spent to reopen the street and encourage business to locate or relocate to the downtown area would finally seem to be paying off rather than just another ho-hum downtown business as usual situation.
Interviews with people who live in some of the new homes and condos mostly produce rave notices. They like the quiet, the convenience, the ability to walk and not drive to good shopping and restaurants and, of course, being able to dispense with the commute back and forth to their jobs or businesses.
New construction in, and coming to, downtown Raleigh includes a Marriott hotel, a public art project by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, the new Convention and Civic Center, the 31 story RBC Centura headquarters Bank, Yancy’s (a Cajun restaurant and jazz club), Progress Energy’s mixed-use tower and five or six major condos.
All-in-all, living in downtown Raleigh is well worth investigating for anyone who is or will be working downtown and well as those looking for a good investment. A properly selected condo unit could produce a handsome return for the judicious investor. If you would like to investigate this possibility contact me. Once I know what your interests and parameters are I will develop information for you that will be keyed to your particular objectives. I also work closely with a local mortgage banker who is very knowledgeable and who has assisted many of my clients in the purchase of local, coastal and mountain properties and well as the refinancing of other out of state holdings in order to make their purchases work. Please feel free to call me at any time (919-696-3474) or send me an email (marvmax@mindspring.com) and we will work together to provide you with information of value. Also, don’t forget to visit my web site - www.JohnFish.com.
John Fish (919) 696-3474 Email: marvmax@mindspring.com Website: www.johnFish.com
