Vision for Dix Hill Property (Raleigh, Cary: sale, apartments, condos)

[rnc2mbfl]

I know that this has been addressed before but I thought I'd share again my vision for the Dix Hill and adjacent properties:

The 306 acres that will eventually be available are a huge amount of land near any city's downtown, no less a growing city like Raleigh. For those hwo are unfamiliar with it, on the property there's a hill that rises about a couple hundred feet from Western Blvd. Atop that hill is a collection of administrative and hospital buildings with absolutely the best views in Raleigh. While the grassroots org (Dix306) has some preliminary plans for a park, there are also some challenges to their idea that this could be Raleigh's "Central Park". First of all, it's separated from downtown by a swath of wide boulevard that runs from the south side of NC State to downtown. It also has the State's Maximum security prison as its neighbor across the Blvd. Next to the prison on the west side is a state run school for the blind. These two huge pieces of property along with the current surrounding infrastructure, make it foolish to expect that this parcel would function like a major city urban (walkable and integrated) park.
To really make the park the urban treasure it truly could be would be much more difficult to achieve because it would require some domino effect planning. My idea is as follows:
1. Move the Prison to a less urban location. Why does the maximum security prison have to be on valuable land near downtown? This seems foolish to me. This is by far the biggest obstacle to my plan and the most difficult to achieve.
2. Possibly move the school for the blind as well so that a new park could connect to an existing Raleigh treasure: Pullen Park to its immediate west. (my plan could work even if the school wasn't moved though)
3. Submerge Western Blvd for a few blocks to connect the old prison property with the old mental hospital property (sort of like a mini Boston big dig). If it couldn't be tunneled completely, at least either lower it with several wide pedestrian paths or decorative bridges over it for walkers or bikers like: Greenway Bridge on Flickr - Photo Sharing! or meander/narrow and slow the traffic through the park area like they do in Central Park.
4. Assemble the lower, flatter part of the mental hospital property with the flat prison property to make a functional park like Central Park.
5. Develop the upper property with a mixed use of condos, boutiques and entertainment/restaurants and use the proceeds from the partial land sale to finance the development of the newly assembled lower section.

If all these steps were to occur, then the new park would abut an older urban neighborhood of post war apartments to the North and spawn additional investment in that immediate area. Right now, the immediate areas to the North of the prison are not living up to their full potential in land use because, frankly, there's a prison behind it. This neighborhood links to two downtown districts: Glenwood South and the Warehouse district and all of this proposal is either walkable or bike-able from these and other nearby areas including NC State Univ.

Taking these steps would allow the park to truly function as the urban park that the DIX306 folks want.

[Francois]

Interesting idea about moving the prison...but the Dept of Correction is one of the most heavily-cut departments in most budget proposals this year. And if that property ever DID come up, I doubt it could survive undeveloped.

[CHTransplant]

Sounds nice. Maybe it's Cary's turn, as the next largest city in the area, to house Central Prison.

[uncletupelo]

It will be a long, long time before Central Prison is moved and when it is it will most certainly be developed. I also cannot inagine the School for the Blind being moved. It has a long history there. I would love to see Dix Hill become a park, but with our state government's financial woes I think that land needs to be sold once the market comes back. I also wonder when the old rex hospital(where i was born) at St Mary's and Wade will be developed. Now that is some valuable dirt. The Country Club apartments sold for over 1 milion per acre last year if that is any indication.

[lovebrentwood]

Re below, why?

Next to the prison on the west side is a state run school for the blind. These two huge pieces of property along with the current surrounding infrastructure, make it foolish to expect that this parcel would function like a major city urban (walkable and integrated) park.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by lovebrentwood

Re below, why?

For me, one of the major attributes of an urban park as envisioned by the folks at Dix306 is that it's easily accessed by foot from its urban surroundings. As the property exists today, that's not the case. The only side that's accessible by foot is the neighborhood along the East side of Lake Wheeler Rd. near the major part of the Hospital. But, even then, it's a single family neighborhood, not the urban core of the city.
It's unreasonable to expect that anyone should be accessing a park from the North by foot across a wide, fast and busy Western Boulevard. That's why I think it's important to bring the park closer to the urban center so that it's closer to the western side of the developing urban core. However difficult and expensive it is to do, merging the lower Dix property with the prison property (along with re-invisioning how Western Boulevard bisects it and how walkers and bikers cross it), creates a park that snuggles up to the city core better and moves us closer to having a park that functions like an urban park. What's the point of making this place an amazing park destination if half the thing is covered with parking lots and garages? While I understand that there will have to be some parking, shouldn't the goal here to create a large city respite that will enable the city dwellers to access it by foot and bike instead of jumping into cars of their own to fight for parking with the suburbanites that access by their cars?

[lovebrentwood]

Sounds good. I can't imagine it ever happening (the closings).

[DPK]

Good luck moving that prison any time soon. They are currently constructing an expansion to Central Prison so they aren't just going to throw that project money away by relocating.