{"id":109907,"date":"2016-07-28T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=109907"},"modified":"2016-08-28T12:05:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T16:05:13","slug":"development-beat-building-a-better-brentwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/development-beat\/2016\/07\/28\/development-beat-building-a-better-brentwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Development Beat: Building a Better Brentwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brought to you by Rufty-Peedin Design Build<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, July 28, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1970, just six years after turning over\u00a0a 19.2 acre parcel of land in north Raleigh to a swimming club\u00a0he operated,\u00a0John R. Adams \u2014 the man who built Brentwood \u2014 decided to convey a majority of that land to the City for the development of Brentwood Park.<\/p>\n

\"Brentwood<\/a>

James Borden<\/p>

The Community Center at Brentwood Park<\/p><\/div>\n

Adams was a well-regarded Raleigh homebuilder who attended NC State and moved back to Raleigh after serving in World War II. According to his obituary and his entry in the Homebuilders Association of Raleigh & Wake County Hall of Fame, Adams standardized the inclusion\u00a0of air-conditioning in new Raleigh homes, and was one of the first to include recreational facilities in the neighborhoods he built.<\/p>\n

The development of the Brentwood neighborhood off Capital Boulevard and just outside the beltline in the was one of his most significant achievements. According to that Homebuilders Association, “building ‘outside’ the beltline in the 1960s was considered ‘out there.'”<\/p>\n

Good on Adams for thinking outside the beltline, and even better on him to donate that huge piece of land to the City, which is now soliciting an architect to design a new master plan for the park.<\/p>\n

The Brentwood Swimming Club, of which Adams was the president, apparently remained active for some time after the 1970 sale, as it operated a pool and club house on the remaining 3.06 acres until that land was deeded to the City in 2010. At that point, the City decommissioned and filled in the pool, turning it into a “green space.” Awful.<\/p>\n

Here’s some aerial before and after shots of the Swim Club.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

Googe Earth<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Brentwood Park, 2016<\/p><\/div>

Googe Earth<\/h6>
<\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6>

Brentwood Park, 2010<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Even better, here’s an old video of the Brentwood Swimming Club circa 1970:
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