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True, guess I should've clarified that the entire Triangle metro is slightly smaller than Charlotte, rather than Raleigh individually.
All of North Carolina's major cities are more similar to each other than dissimilar. I agree that Raleigh feels like a giant suburb but even Charlotte has a lot of sprawl, and "Uptown" isn't exactly large compared to the downtown districts of other major cities. However, the Triad was the largest metro in the state for many years and it shows. This makes the Triad feel authentic and more North Carolinian, IMO. "Gritty" isn't the first word I would use to describe Greensboro (Durham is the Piedmont's grittiest city) but it certainly has a lot of character. I lived in the western suburbs of Greensboro for two years and I always enjoyed the Battleground Ave corridor, lots of nice shops and restaurants.
Yeah....that's not a way I would describe Greensboro. Now Winston-Salem is definitely gritty.... even more so than Durham in my opinion.
Greensboro is smaller than Raleigh and isn't growing as fast. Unfortunately, the Triad doesn't have the tech companies of the Triangle or the banks of Charlotte. With that being said, I've grown to appreciate Greensboro and Winston-Salem because they have more character than Raleigh and Charlotte. The Triad feels more authentic, while the Triangle and Charlotte are full of transplants from other areas.
The Triad used to have the banks of Charlotte...before they got acquired by Charlotte banks.
I agree that Greensboro and Winston-Salem have more local character than Raleigh and Charlotte, but I fail to see how that makes them more "authentic." Is NYC inauthentic because of all the people from all corners of the globe who live there?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gsoboi78
I Love Charlotte. Definitely full of life. I just wished the city had preserved more of its history uptown. Look at cities like Boston or Cleveland. I think there is room for both the old and the new. Durham, Greensboro and Winston-Salem understand that. Its part of their unique character. Raleigh needs to remember that. Cities don't have to look like Atlanta which is kind of all over the place with highrises randomly all over the city.
Indeed it is lamentable that Charlotte didn't preserve more of its historic urban fabric, but cities like Boston and Cleveland actually destroyed even more of their historic buildings because they had more to begin with. And they had more to begin with because they were big cities before cars became the dominant means of transportation.
If Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem were growing like Charlotte and Atlanta in the second half of the previous century, they would've razed a lot more than they did; they didn't because the growth, and thus the demand, wasn't there. We have the benefit of hindsight now and as a nation we've learned from the mistakes made in the postwar era for the most part.
And as far as Atlanta goes, its highrises are concentrated in its business districts. It just happens to have three large ones within the city itself and other parts of the city are densifying with midrises. But again, it's a matter of growth and demand.
"Authentic" might have been the wrong word to use, but the Triad feels older and more established compared to the Triangle and Charlotte. If I'm not mistaken, the Triad was the largest metro in North Carolina until the 1980's or so, and this is noticeable to an extent. However, this is a slight difference and all three metros are clearly more similar to each other than dissimilar.
Yeah....that's not a way I would describe Greensboro. Now Winston-Salem is definitely gritty.... even more so than Durham in my opinion.
Definitely. It's a tossup between Durham and Winston-Salem, especially since both cities have tobacco legacies and cigarette factories that are still standing. Despite the fact that many of the factories have been converted into lofts, offices, etc.
For the most part, Greensboro was a headquarters city with a few textile mills. Greensboro might have a grittier feel than a city along the lines of Raleigh, but it's not quite as gritty as Durham or Winston-Salem.
I think that it's important to understand just how small Raleigh was 100+ years ago compared to other cities in NC. If you go back in time, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, and even Asheville were larger than Raleigh. While Raleigh (and the state of NC) did plow down some of the city's history like many cities did across the country post WW2, it's not as if there was that much of the old city in the first place. Raleigh also wasn't really a big manufacturing town like the Triad or Durham used to be. This means that there just isn't a wealth of old tobacco or mill buildings to preserve and renovate.
That said, Raleigh rapid growth as also allowed the city to imagine its core going forward, and make those imaginations come true. A couple of years ago, the foundation of the Warehouse District made an enormous transformation with the addition of the full block (+ a half) of the Dillon project, including retail, housing and commercial office space. In the same time frame, Raleigh opened its new Union Station train station across the street. The addition of the Morgan Street Food Hall next to the Dillon completed a substantial re-imagining of the neighborhood in just a few years.
Today, Smoky Hollow is now making a similar impact to the Glenwood South neighborhood just a half mile north with the opening of 400+ luxury apartments and downtown's first full sized, full service grocery store. When completed over the next several months, the full impact will be 800 new apartments, 250,000 ft2 of new office space, more street level retail, and a block long pedestrian plaza flanked by that retail. This project has prompted rezoning of 2 adjacent parcels for future expansion of Smoky Hollow and on its edges. Across Peace St. from Smoky Hollow is the upcoming re-instating of Devereux Meadows Park on the site of Raleigh's former minor league baseball team.
All of this is just talking about 2 downtown districts on Raleigh's west side, and there's more happening and scheduled to happen in the other districts of downtown and just beyond its edges.
In the end, Raleigh's future is not so much about romanticizing its past through restoration of an old stock of buildings, as it is about establishing its urban bona fides today, and purposely designing a city with the experiences that lead it to what it wants to be. The good news for Raleigh is that its rapid growth allows that to actually happen.
"Authentic" might have been the wrong word to use, but the Triad feels older and more established compared to the Triangle and Charlotte. If I'm not mistaken, the Triad was the largest metro in North Carolina until the 1980's or so, and this is noticeable to an extent. However, this is a slight difference and all three metros are clearly more similar to each other than dissimilar.
Yes before the 1970s, the Triad was in the driver's seat for our state economy leading the state in manufacturing. At one time, Winston-Salem was briefly the largest city in North Carolina and during the 60s/ early 70s Greensboro was the second largest city in the state. The creation of RTP eventually led to Raleigh surpassing Greensboro in population.
Yes before the 1970s, the Triad was in the driver's seat for our state economy leading the state in manufacturing. At one time, Winston-Salem was briefly the largest city in North Carolina and during the 60s/ early 70s Greensboro was the second largest city in the state. The creation of RTP eventually led to Raleigh surpassing Greensboro in population.
Yep, the Triad use to be a bit of the "boss" of the state. ACC headquarters, manufacturing, etc. Time and progressiveness stood still so the Triangle and Charlotte zoomed by growth-wise with a quickness. However, the roads hold a secret of its past prominence, the Triad has the best highway/road infrastructure in the state.
Yep, the Triad use to be a bit of the "boss" of the state. ACC headquarters, manufacturing, etc. Time and progressiveness stood still so the Triangle and Charlotte zoomed by growth-wise with a quickness. However, the roads hold a secret of its past prominence, the Triad has the best highway/road infrastructure in the state.
I think a big reason why Greensboro and Winston-Salem became complacent is because of the "old money" folks that didn't want to lose their grip on the cities. The writing was on the wall as to what was happening to the textile, tobacco and furniture industries. A lot of that generation has died out and now the cities are beginning to move forward.
Winston-Salem kind of fell victim to Charlotte because it was a banking hub before Charlotte gobbled up its banks (Wachovia and BB&T). The evidence of that past is visible today with its skyline which is 3rd best after Charlotte and Raleigh.
Yep, the Triad use to be a bit of the "boss" of the state. ACC headquarters, manufacturing, etc. Time and progressiveness stood still so the Triangle and Charlotte zoomed by growth-wise with a quickness. However, the roads hold a secret of its past prominence, the Triad has the best highway/road infrastructure in the state.
Being at that confluence of I-40 & I-85, Greensboro has always had more traffic through it than would be expected by a city/metro of its size. It also positioned the city well for businesses that wanted to take advantage of that visibility.
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