Raleigh Downtown Living Advocates

Category: Moore Square (Page 4 of 5)

DHIC: Developing Affordable Housing in Downtown Raleigh

November 16, 2010 /

You may have noticed a common theme among many of the interviews the DLA has included in its “Faces of Downtown Raleigh” blog posts.  Small business owners are happy to set up shop in the Downtown and support the ongoing revitalization efforts, but are concerned that many of their employees cannot afford to live Downtown.  It’s agreed that affordable housing is at the core of creating a vibrant, diverse and livable city environment.

The DLA shares this concern, and sees the diversity of residents as a defining element to Downtown (in contrast to suburban pattern living), providing an important liveliness and character to our environment.  Wanting to find out more about the key issues in maintaining and supporting a diverse Downtown population, I met with Gregg Warren, the President of DHIC (formerly known as the Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation).  The DHIC is a non-profit developer of affordable housing and a promoter of home ownership.

Gregg Warren, DHIC PresidentHaving just celebrated his 25th year with the DHIC, Gregg understands the need for “workforce housing” better than just about anyone.  “I believe strongly in the importance of people having the opportunity for choice and options in their housing,“ he says.  Gregg got his Masters in City and Regional Planning from UNC and says he’s always been an advocate for social change and believed strongly in an equitable distribution of wealth.  His driving force has always been diversity and opportunity within neighborhoods, with a healthy mix of income levels.   

Among DHIC’s goals is providing quality affordable rental housing for individuals with modest incomes, and increasing home ownership among first-time home buyers through education and counseling.  Two well-known properties developed and managed by DHIC in Downtown Raleigh are the Praire Building Apartments, and Carlton Place.  Gregg is also very proud of the new Brookridge Apartments.  Located just 2 miles south of Downtown, the building just opened with 40 studio apartments available to lease for single men and women, many of whom are formerly homeless.

When I asked Gregg to share a story that exemplified the work done by the DHIC, he told me about the Murphey School Project that was seeded about twenty years ago.  Raleigh’s oldest school, built in 1917 and located on North Person Street, the Murphey School had become fodder for the Joni Mitchell song: the state had decided to demolish the building and “put up a parking lot”.  The DHIC enlisted the support from neighboring Oakwood residents and joined forces to save it with Smedes York, City Councilors Charles Meeker and Ralph Campbell Jr., and Dan Blue, who was Speaker of the House at the time.  The building was saved, and now serves as affordable housing for seniors – Murphey School Apartments.

Contacting the DHIC

Most of DHIC’s apartments are reserved for households earning 60% or below Area Median Income (AMI).  To find out whether you qualify for a specific DHIC property, contact the apartment manager listed on the DHIC property page.

The DHIC offices are located in the Prairie Building, 113 South Wilmington Street in the Moore Square District of Downtown Raleigh.  The Prairie Building, one of Raleigh’s oldest and most architecturally significant buildings, was designed in the 1870s by prominent local architect, Joseph P. Prairie.  Visit them on the web at www.dhic.org

Praire BuildingCarlton Place CourtyardBrookridge Apartments

 

 


Moore Square Concept Plan Released

September 15, 2010 /

Click the image for a larger, full view of the plan.

The concept plan for Moore Square was released. This plan was the one used during the public workshop on September 9th, 2010. Some of the major changes are a central lawn, a concession stand, and restroom facilities.

What do you think?

Hamlin Drug Store, Then and Now

September 8, 2010 /

If you live or work Downtown, you might have noticed the Hamlin Drug Store Segway buzzing by on its way to deliver medicine to a nearby resident.  Hamlin Drug Store at 126 East Hargett Street (map) has never been one to follow the trend.  This is something that has long delivered not just pride, but success to the Dr. John Johnson family, whose generations continue to work together to meet the needs of their customers.

Dr. John JohnsonLast week as Brian Reece and I collected stories to capture the history of this Downtown landmark,  Dr. Johnson’s daughter Mischelle, announced proudly that her father had never sold tobacco products.  Her father smiled at that.  His daughter’s memory didn’t go back far enough to cover the full 53 years that he’d been in business.

At one time he had sold tobacco, he told us.  But  one day over 45 years ago, when one of his customers was buying medicine for her lung cancer, he noticed she was also purchasing two cartons of cigarettes.  That day he decided to draw the line, seeing as he described it, “the incongruence of being in the healthcare business.” Dr. Johnson declares that he “will never put profit before one’s healthcare.”  

 

 

It’s clear he cares deeply about his customers, sometimes 3-4 generations, who are deeply loyal and appreciate the personal service that a family owned drug store can provide.  Dr. Johnson says he is proud to be an independent pharmacist, not driven by a model, but part of a culture of being a healthcare delivery service. 

As his other daughter Kimberley explains, “We are aware of our community. We have an ear on the ground and are always looking to strengthen our community.”  And Hamlin Drug Store has been part of the Downtown community for 106 years, the oldest drug store in Raleigh, and the oldest African-American owned pharmacy in North Carolina.  

People’s Drug Store, 1907It all started in 1904, when James Edward Hamlin opened People’s Drug Store, which became Hamlin Drug company in 1907.  John Mitchell Johnson and his partner, Clarence Coolidge, purchased the store from the remaining Hamlin heirs in 1957 from the granddaughter of the original owner.  Dr. Johnson became the sole owner when his partner died 21 years ago.

Hamlin Drug store moved to its current location (126 East Hargett Street), in the heart of the Black commerce district in 1964, and endured the mass exodus of Downtown businesses, what Dr. Johnson calls the “tumult of the mid 60s”, as new malls were built in the suburbs.  But Dr. Johnson,  a self-described “congenial urban dweller” decided to stay Downtown, confident that “the urban dweller would resurface”.

It was a long wait, but today, the 81 year old Dr. Johnson says he is happy to see the arrival of new residents, adding to what he says is a good mix of people.  He believes people are more confident now that Downtown is seen as safe, though he retorts that crime problems were always a perception, and that people needed to “disabuse themselves of this misunderstanding!”

Dr. Johnson remarks that initial actions to revitalize the city were disjointed, consisting of fits and starts without any solid direction that he could identify.  But now the city is on the right track, and he is particularly pleased with the attention being given to redesigning Moore Square.  

Hamlin Drug Store is also bringing in new changes to their business, adding new product selections, including organic and all natural Health and Beauty products, offering adult vaccinations, and ushering in their new state-of-the-art Pharmacy Robot (robotic dispensing system).

Jamie, Kimberley, Dr. Johnson, Mischelle, NicholeBe sure the next time you need a pharmacist, or maybe just like being called by name, walk on over and say hello to Dr. Johnson, daughters Mischelle and Kimberley, and their new pharmacist, Jamie.  They’re open Monday-Friday: 9:00am – 5:00pm, and Saturday: 10:00am – 2:00pm. 




Public Leadership Group For The Moore Square Redesign

June 29, 2010 /

Chris Counts Studio 7 (Via Flickr)

In the summer of 2009, the city ran a few open call workshops to get feedback from residents and interested groups about the idea of making changes to Moore Square, both in the square’s design and its use. After the three meetings, all the comments received can be described as:

Attendees value openness, activity, and versatility. They also want simplicity, diversity of people, and safety. Making it accessible and interesting to everyone – adults, children, youth, people with disabilities, and elderly – is a value shared by all. Many suggested making it a place for kids since the population of families in Raleigh continues to rise……

If you would like to read more comments, raw and un-edited, go to the city’s website here.

After all this input, the city started a design competition in order to better engage the design community to help drive the accessibility, diversity, and sustainability goals that came from the public feedback. Their hopes were for someone to create a space that would:

– Create a unique public space and urban experience for the 21st century;
– Engage broad public participation throughout the process and in the future; and
– Establish the conditions to develop a sustainable economic development strategy for the Moore Square area.

In the Fall of 2009, the winner and finalists were announced. Chris Counts Studio of Charlottesville, VA won the competition and their final design can be seen here on Flickr. If you would like to see some of the other submitted entries of the competition, they are here.

What’s next?

The open ideas have been recorded and the design competition is in the books. The next step is to draft a master plan for the square based on the winning design and public feedback. This starts in August with various community representatives meeting with the design team. Those reps will be part of a Public Leadership Group (PLG) and the Downtown Living Advocates will be represented by me in those meetings over the next several months. The focus of these meetings will be to get your input into the master plan for Moore Square. Once the plan has been finalized, it will go up for review, approval, and then adopted in the future.

I’d like to ask for comments from anyone, DLA member or not, about what they think about the design and what questions they have about the future Moore Square. Please comment on this post so we can get a conversation started or e-mail me anytime at Leo@DTRaleigh.com.

Also, consider joining the Downtown Living Advocates if this topic and other future plans in downtown Raleigh interest you.

Faces of Downtown Raleigh: Pete Pagano, Owner of Tir na nOg

April 5, 2010 /

Have you ever noticed the number of runners Downtown on a Monday evening?  Meet Pete Pagano, owner of Tir na nOg, whose sister’s inspiration started a Raleigh tradition!

DLA members, Ryan Craig and Julie Johnson Babb, caught up with Pete this week to ask him about this, as well as his general impressions of Downtown life.

Ryan: I’ve heard about the nOg run club you host here at Tir na nOg. Tell me a little more about that.

Pete: Well, my sister originally came up with the idea. We partnered with Fleet Feet Sports and at our first monthly meeting we expected around 20 people to show up.  We were really surprised when it was more like 60 people!  The demand grew so we started meeting every other week and now we meet every Monday night at 6:00 PM.  It’s just really a lot of fun, nothing serious.  It’s grown so much we get about 300+ runners every Monday night and we just started our second year.  It’s really fun to see tons of people running through Downtown Raleigh on a Monday night wearing Tir na nOg shirts.

Tracy, a DLA member commented about the Monday night runs:

“You can run or walk 3-6 miles through Historic Oakwood, Downtown Raleigh and across to Glenwood Avenue.  Once you return to the “nOg” they offer a salad and pasta buffet for $1.00/plate. Of course they offer beer specials.  What is the true motivation for running 3-6 miles after work?…Eating for a buck and playing trivia and/or bingo to win a beer!  And, after 10 runs, they give you a free Tir na nOg wicked shirt, and after 20 runs they give you a free mug.”

Ryan: What is your impression of the Downtown growth since you moved to Raleigh?

Pete: I was actually disappointed in the Downtown Raleigh food scene when I moved here 5 years ago from living in Belgium. I hoped for a lot more independent restaurant options, rather than chain stores.  I saw all the empty buildings as a blank canvas.  There are still a lot of empty spaces so I still see so much potential in Downtown Raleigh.

Ryan:  What do you find to be the best thing about your location in the Moore Square District?

Pete: Moore Square has a laid back and diverse scene, with all types of restaurants from Italian, Asian, and Irish, to German.  In addition there are family friendly places like Marbles Kids Museum and IMAX.  I’d describe the Moore Square district as unique, not trendy.  It is a consistently great place to go where you know you will be happy and have fun every time.  We will see how Moore Square changes over time.  Hopefully the Downtown Live concerts will stay in this location and we also hope to see other outdoor events.

Ryan: What would you like to see come into Downtown?

Pete: Well, if I could choose, I’d pick to have the RBC Stadium relocated to downtown Raleigh, though I know this is unrealistic.  I think Downtown Raleigh needs retail, but it’s probably still too early for that at this time.  People in Raleigh are still adjusting to city living and they want a park close by their destination.  To support retail you will need to support Downtown living. Adding small, local retail is a good start until the residential base picks up.

Ryan: What are your thoughts on the process of more retail coming to the downtown area?

Pete: In the evolution of Downtown Raleigh, I’d start with the restaurants and more destinations.  People will want to live Downtown, with more to attract them.  I wish that there would be more investment in apartment buildings.  It would be great to have more affordable, rental options and I believe that would bring a lot more foot traffic. The retail will follow.  I do believe we are on the upward trend.

Ryan: What makes Tir na nOg unique?

Pete: Every Friday night we offer Irish bands to play in the restaurant. We also support the Wake County Bag Pipe Band which we consider our house band.  Sunday’s we have an Irish Jam session and Monday nights we have Gaelic classes taught by a professor at Duke.  We really embrace the culture and help to develop the Irish culture.

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DLA  Mixer at Tir na nOg . . Come join your Downtown neighbors and friends at Tir no nOg this Wednesday, April 7th, from 5:00-7:00pm.  Hors d’oeuvres + Cash Bar provided.  RSVP, and we’ll have a name tag waiting for you when you arrive.

See you there!




 

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