In December North Hills East will bet a bowling ally. However forget those images of The Dude knocking them down with Walter and Donny. This will be a high-end bowling ally. Sparians Bowling Boutique will take undeveloped space across from Bruegger’s in North Hills East. The facility will have 18 lanes featuring sofas, suites, and giant TVs to go with lighting and sound effects. While the place will be family-friendly, my first impression is that it will be to bowling what SportClips is to barbershops, and will be a great addition to the North Hills area.

The City of Raleigh is accepting nominations for the 2010 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Community Appearance. The annual awards recognize outstanding new development, building rehabilitation efforts, and natural resource conservation within the Capital City. The awards program was established in 1983 to commemorate exemplary achievement in enhancing the city’s appearance. More than 200 projects, sites, and individuals have been honored.

Awards are offered in 11 different award categories, including new residential, commercial, or institutional construction, plus historic preservation, sustainable design, and tree and landscape conservation. The award for “Maintained Outstanding Appearance” honors appearance contributions by projects 5 years old or older. The “Individual” award is presented to a citizen who has consistently worked to preserve or improve city appearance.

The deadline for entries for the 2010 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards is Friday, July 9. Nominations for the can be made online at or by completing a printed form available at City government offices. In addition to project information, six or more digital photos of each nominated project or individual, submitted on CD or flash drive, are also required.

An independent jury will meet in July to review the nominations. Award winners will be selected based on specific criteria, including exhibition of a new standard of excellence, awareness of land stewardship, innovation, conservation of natural and/ or historic resources, and exceeding applicable ordinances. The Raleigh City Council will confirm the jury’s selections in August. Awards will be presented in October.

Spring Rolls, a Chinese/Thai combo restaurant is now open in North Hills. The restaurant is the third Asian restaurant to occupy the space across from Moe’s, but perhaps the third time is the charm. Part of the menu (.pdf) features a wide range of Chinese favorites, as well as sizzling hot platters, chow mein, and “ho fun” selections. The other part of the menu features 19 Thai favorites, excluding curries. The average dinner menu entree price is $11.76.

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The North Hills East location of Piola will open for dinner today. The pizzeria will open a Chapel Hill location in the new East 54 complex later this year.

The new Harris Teeter at North Hills East opened a month ago and the customers’ responses to the 2-story fiasco have been extremely negative. According to Sue Stock, Harris Teeter is responding by moving some stock around. Soon, the store will swap the Floor 2 locations for cereal, juice, and baking with the Floor 1 locations for wine and flowers.

Unfortunately there is no word on changes to the parking garage, parking surface lot, lack of an escalator, small elevator, and placement of cafe tables adjacent to feminine hygiene. Howevver this is a start.

International pizza chain Piola is slated to open in North Hills East on Thursday, April 8. The fast-casual restaurant features “rigorous Italian” fare.

The second area Zoës Kitchen opens Thursday at North Hills East. The restaurant features “a Southern take on Greek”, and has been a big hit with their Oberlin Road location. Zoës is located to the left of the upper level parking entrance, facing Six Forks Road.

The wait for Bruegger’s return to North Hills is over. The bagel chain opened last week in the North Hills East development, in the free-standing building next to the CapTrust Tower. The store has the chain’s usual selection of bagels and sandwiches. This site, unfortunately, sports just two soups, but has a fantastic patio seating area. The store is also touting its coffee, but I was not able to discern any differences in that department versus the selection at other Bruegger’s sites.

Raleigh recently lost a gem. Lisa Permar Ham, a 1988 Broughton graduate, died of cancer. She was widely loved, as more than 1,500 people crammed into every corner of the 1st Presbyterian Church complex a couple of Sunday’s ago to pay their respects.

Lisa was instrumental in starting the St. Timothy’s School Spring Sprint, and rightfully, the school is dedicating the Sprint in honor of her. The event will take place April 17. Here is the press release about the event:

The St. Timothy’s Spring Sprint is an annual 5K Run/Walk and 1 Mile Fun Run and NEW this year, a 50 Yard Dash. Adults and children from the school and the community participate in this event.  The race course winds through the North Hills neighborhood (NEW FLATTER COURSE this year), beginning and ending at the school.

Registration information:

**Complete registration by April 1, 2010 to guarantee a Spring Sprint t-shirt.

**T-shirts are available in the St. Timothy’s School front office to try on for sizes.

• Log onto www.sportoften.com to register online and pay by credit card, or
• Complete an entry form and return it with payment to St. Timothy’s School

Click here for a full Brochure or  Click here for an Entry Form only

Register early to enter for two drawings:

• 1st Drawing will be on Wednesday, March 17: All St. Timothy’s students, faculty and staff who register before 9am on Wednesday, March 17 will be entered into a drawing.  Click here for the list of prizes
• 2nd Drawing will be on Tuesday, March 23: All St. Timothy’s students, faculty and staff who register before 9am on Tuesday, March 23 will be entered into a drawing.  Click here for the list of prizes