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People spend so much time indoors these days that they like walking outside when going from store to store. We like the feel of a small village where the outdoors is part of the theme. Benches, statues, plants.
Too bad actual town centers with vibrant shopping districts are apparently no longer an option. Not enough profit for big developers.
When I first heard it called mini-city, was probably in the late 80s. I used to consider it the of Capital north of the beltline up to around Old Wake Forest Rd, where the development stopped. The old Farm Fresh store and KMart were really about the last businesses as you went north up US1. Farm Fresh used to sit where the Gander Mountain is now, the former Best Buy. This was long before Triangle Town Center was built. The area where the At Home, Lowes, etc sits now was what I generally thought of as mini-city. Some businesses even used that name. Some will say beltline to where 540 is now, some may think between Buffaloe Rd and Spring Forest.
Location: Sodo Sopa at The Villas above Kenny' s House.
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Originally Posted by UserNamesake
Capital Blvd. is just sketch to me... in general. But what are the parameters of Mini City? I've always been unclear about that...
Mini city is imo the area of capital blvd that starts right after the louisburg rd exit up to about the capital blvd/spring forest rd intersection. Basically any area within a mile of the 2 shopping centers there. The one with food lion,boston market,taco bell and across capital where the target used to be. Now there is a lowes,chick-fi-la,sams club..
Years ago I lived in several of the apartment complexes and it was a large percentage of hispanic workers. They used to call it little mexico. During the construction slump alot of those guys moved on. Needless to say the apartments had lost alot of value and began accepting section 8 and lower standards in order to attract tenants. There was a glut of empty apartments that basically were filled with anyone they could get. The area is on the bus line,close to ammenities and centrally located so it quickly became full again but this time it was a different crowd. More families especially. Usually thats a good thing. Over there,not so much. With families you have teens. Being that a majority of these teens lived in homes that dont value education,they had lots of free time on their hands. There is tension between young AA and hispanic males which resulted in growing gang activity. The crime in that area is mostly wayward teens and some older knuckleheads breaking into cars,homes,shop lifting etc...The worst one in my opinion is the robberies done in apartment parking lots. Several hold ups in Brentwood apartments over the years. Brentwood isnt exactly mini city but it is within a mile of it. Nasty horrible place infested with bed bugs,roaches and black mold. dont get me started on how the owners of that place get away with it.
People use mini city as a reference to Raleighs decline often. When it was new in the 80's it was the nice part of raleigh. It was called.mini city because of the housing,shopping and soccer parks in that area. Even though it was still mostly apartments it was yuppies living there and soccer moms taking their kids to practice. Brentwood subdivision was a well respected,established neighborhood that used the ammenities too. Its really a shame.what happened to the whole entire area because of irresponsible city planning and greed.
Location: Sodo Sopa at The Villas above Kenny' s House.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saturnfan
Calvary Dr/New Hope RD/Millbrook Rd. We lived 8 years at 5009 New Hope Rd.
I lived in every single apartment complex in that square except maybe 3. They keep changing names over the years. My mother lived in one that was still considered uppity till after 2000. Cant remember the name. Argh..... By the time she moved out it was declining as well.
I lived in every single apartment complex in that square except maybe 3. They keep changing names over the years. My mother lived in one that was still considered uppity till after 2000. Cant remember the name. Argh..... By the time she moved out it was declining as well.
Ours had several names - Countrywood, Fairway, Lexington on the Green as it sunk from nice to trash.
Location: Sodo Sopa at The Villas above Kenny' s House.
2,492 posts, read 3,030,069 times
Reputation: 3911
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturnfan
Ours had several names - Countrywood, Fairway, Lexington on the Green as it sunk from nice to trash.
I was there when it was fairway. During the 90's the only bad one was Dominian spring forest. What was the name if the yellow and white ones across from fairway closer to 401 ?
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