H&M Coming to Crabtree
Sue Stock is reporting today that Crabtree has nailed a deal to bring the state’s first H&M store to the mall. It will be located in part of the former Thalheimer’s/Lord & Taylor space on the lower level (under Belk Men).
TWC To Roll Out 4G Wireless
Time Warner Cable announced today that it will officially launch 4G wireless service in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro on December 1. This will be called “Road Runner Mobileâ€, and prices start at $35 per month (for TWC Triple Pay Customers on Price Lock Guarantee).
Download speeds will be up to 6 Mbps. Unlike Verizon’s Mifi dongle, this service will be received via two types of USB dongles: Motorola USBw100 USB card (WiMax-only) and the Franklin Wireless CMU-300 USB card (dual 3G/WiMax). More options are said to be available after the service’s launch.
Note (10/15) : Also being launched on December 1 is Time Warner’s CradlePoint device, which will also deliver Road Runner Mobile. The device is a portable wireless router that connects up to the internet wirelessly, much like Verizon’s Mifi.
The introduction of fob-based internet connectivity makes things interesting, especially for people who live alone. With this kind of device and a Wifi-capable “phone” device, one could use Skype for their telephony over wifi and avoid having to exhaust all of their patience with a terrible cellular phone carrier (I’m talking right at YOU, AT&T!)
TeaGschwendner Now Open in Cameron Village
The worldwide tea sensation, TeaGschwendner has landed their fourth U.S. store in Raleigh’s Cameron Village.
TeaGschwendner began as a small tea shop in Trier, Germany, and features a selection of more than 250 varieties of tea, including black, green, oolong, white, rooibush, herbal and fruit. Seasonal specials will be e-mailed or listed on the store’s Facebook site. They will also offer “Introduction to Tea†classes in 2009 which include teaching mixed with tea tasting. More classes will come early next year.
The store is located next to Globtrotter, facing the Village Draft House.
Cameron Village Turns 60 with GrooveFest
For Cameron Village’s 60th birthday, the southeast’s first shopping center is celebrating with a nod to all things 1960’s . The 8-day celebration begins Sunday with a Vintage 60’s Car Show from 1-4PM. From Thursday (10/8) they are giving away $10 gift certificates to the first 600 guests when they spend $60 in the Village and other giveaways. On the final day of the GrooveFest, October 11 from 4-7PM, The BackBeat- Beatles Tribute Band will be performing while people can participate in 60s dance lessons, contests, community wall art, and food. (Now if only we could get Arrogance and Glass Moon to play The Pier again!)
HHGregg Opens Cary Store Sunday
The former Circuit City location at Crossroads is about to awaken with more electronics! The 115-store HHGregg will be opening to the public on Sunday. There is a private sale on Friday and Saturday, so hopefully some of those store-opening deals will be around on Sunday (like the 50†Samsung plasma for $700!).
LEGO Mini-Build Coming Tomorrow
Tomorrow the LEGO store in Crabtree will be holding it’s
monthly Mini-Build
. The session allows children ages 6-12 a changes to build a small project. It goes from 5:00pm until 7:00pm, but there are limited spaces available, so parents and their children have been lining up in the 4 o’clock hour for previous sessions. This month’s mini-build is a pencil and a book.
The LEGO store is on the first floor of Crabtree Valley Mall in the center court (Across from Belk Men’s Store).
Lollipop Shop Coming to North Hills
The Lollipop Shop
is about to open its 7th store. It will be in North Hills where the Alltel store was (next to Gold’s Gym). The sore offers 21 colors of M&Ms, homemade pixy sticks, jelly beans, and tons of retro candy and toys. (I know a great dentist, btw 😉 )
BB&T Plans for New North Hills Office
As reported here
in June of 2008, BB&T will not only be razing their current office at Six Forks and Rowan, they will also raze the neighboring building that once house Bank of America.
The site plan
(.pdf) shows a replacement 2-story 7,146 square foot office building purported to be similar to the
one on Kildaire Farms Road
(near Maynard).
Unfortunately the building will sit against its rear property line, making pedestrians navigate the moat of parking in order to access the building. What is interesting about this project, however, is the 5-lane wide drive-thru plaza. The plaza is oriented such that all lanes have satellite delivery (none abuts the building), and travel is perpendicular to the building; very odd. The site plan gives no indication as to traffic flow for the Six Forks Road access, however this will most likely be a right-in/right-out access. (It appears that the trend in this area is to limit yellow line crossings in between signaled intersections.)
Sales Tax Holiday is On
From today thru 11:59pm on Sunday the State of North Carolina will be holding back sales tax changes on many items. Clothing accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, protective equipment, wallets, furniture, items used in a trade or business, and rentals are not covered by the exemption and will be subject to the applicable tax. For more info, check out the DOR’s links:
New At Costco: Propane
Costco is now offering refills of propane for $12 $11 for members. See the attendant at the new LP station near the tire bays.
4pm Update: An employee told me this Costco location is the first in the nation to stock propane refills.
CoolSweats Now Open in The Lassiter
CoolSweats
, a casual clothing store with stores in Pinehurst and Wrightsville Beach, is now open next to Harris Teeter in The Lassiter (across from North Hills).
Hampton Inn Proposed for Glenwood South
As reported on June 2 here , a hotel is being proposed for the Northeast corner of Glenwood Ave and West Johnson Streets in the Glenwood South area (the News & Observer story this week erroneously reported the NW corner as the site). Since breaking the story, I’ve learned more about the project.
The 157-room hotel will carry the Hampton Inn brand and will be 7-stories tall, with street-level retail. The developers have reached an agreement with the owners of the 510 Glenwood complex to lease parking deck spaces, so no additional parking is required for the complex. The spaces are across Glenwood, but no mention of a pedestrian bridge across West Johnson St. was mentioned in the Board of Adjustment meeting minutes (.doc file).
Currently the owners are requesting a variance to the 1|1 stepback requirement for portions of buildings that are above 40’. This project will stand at 79’, so the stepback greatly affects the design of the project. Developers are greatly concerned about dampening train noise from the adjacent railroad trestle. In order to accomplish this, the building is planned to have centralized heating and air (instead of individual room units, standard in Hampton hotel designs), and additional insulation in the walls and from special windows. Noise abatement is said to be adding $700K-$800K to the project’s overall costs. The developers say that by being able to avoid setting back the top floors of the building, much noise abatement can come from the design of the building (room and stairway placement, i.e.) instead of material selection.
The developers seemed to have trouble getting the variance approved, so they are applying for a zoning change to allow the design, which has a greater effect on three properties at the site instead of just a variance to the existing code. To further muddy the waters, the recommended comprehensive plan the City of Raleigh is about to accept would also relax restrictions such as the 1|1 setback in this area.
So, it looks like eventually the plan will be accepted and the building will get built. My only concern is what happens to the parking situation should the agreement between 510 Glenwood and the hotel sour (breach of contract by either party, sale of either party, etc).
Sales Tax Holiday on Horizon
North Carolina’s sales tax holiday weekend is approaching. It begins on Friday, August 7 and ends August 9th, so be aware of this as you make major purchase decisions during the next three weekends.
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