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"The Coliseum vs. "The Joel"

inspectah said:
It's a nice idea but I don't see it happening. There are no non-students living close enough to support development like that and Wake's enrollment would have to double to make it feasible. Plus, what little retail there was for years is now gone and the whole area around the Joel looks like an industrial wasteland. Hell, even the IHOP is no more. When you can't keep an IHOP open you've got problems. Whatever plan Wake had for reinvigorating Deacon Boulevard has not panned out.
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To be fair, the timing wrt the economy was pretty awful.

The whole area is a complete downer....and some of it isn't easily changeable. You can't really build much close to the Deacon / University intersection due to Grove's proximity to Deacon and the parking requirements of the Joel / fair (they need to build a parking garage, probably between the fair / annex and the joel and get rid of the surface lots).
 
Go said:
Its not like the Joel is going away, do people call Groves "BB&T" outside of TV announcers?
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Yes depending upon how old they are and how active they are with Wake sports..
 
WFU Lurker said:
To be fair, the timing wrt the economy was pretty awful.

The whole area is a complete downer....and some of it isn't easily changeable. You can't really build much close to the Deacon / University intersection due to Grove's proximity to Deacon and the parking requirements of the Joel / fair (they need to build a parking garage, probably between the fair / annex and the joel and get rid of the surface lots).
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Curious. Most of W-S seems to have had strong growth since 2008. Any particular reason the Coliseum area hasn't?
 
CHillDeac said:
Curious. Most of W-S seems to have had strong growth since 2008. Any particular reason the Coliseum area hasn't?
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Considering Wake or its affiliates own most of the land and buildings in the area, any lack of growth is likely due to a lack of investment on our part.
 
CHillDeac said:
Curious. Most of W-S seems to have had strong growth since 2008. Any particular reason the Coliseum area hasn't?
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IDK...while I was there (class of 12) seemed like the only parts of town really prospering were around the mall and downtown.
 
RacerDeac said:
Considering Wake or its affiliates own most of the land and buildings in the area, any lack of growth is likely due to a lack of investment on our part.
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The other issue is that large chunks of land in the immediate vicinity are used up for parking, RJR factory, fairgrounds, golf course, etc. There's very little space to create the density needed to drive residential and retail growth without some very large redevelopment efforts.
 
I just don't really blame Wake for this..there just aren't enough available retail dollars in that part of town, and I don't really think Wake should take on the job of changing that (via residential development). In the end, it's just a crappy place for a sports complex. I am guessing that wasn't always the case but it certainly is the case now.
 
inspectah said:
It's a nice idea but I don't see it happening. There are no non-students living close enough to support development like that and Wake's enrollment would have to double to make it feasible. Plus, what little retail there was for years is now gone and the whole area around the Joel looks like an industrial wasteland. Hell, even the IHOP is no more. When you can't keep an IHOP open you've got problems. Whatever plan Wake had for reinvigorating Deacon Boulevard has not panned out.
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Interesting. Been awhile since I've been there. May part of the plan was to tank it and hope all that property becomes easier to purchase.
 
PhDeac said:
Interesting. Been awhile since I've been there. May part of the plan was to tank it and hope all that property becomes easier to purchase.
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I was on campus last fall for the first time in many years and was really stunned to see what's happened around the coliseum. There's just no life there anymore at all. I think the loss of Ziggy's was the death knell. It was never Franklin St., but Baity and environs were fun to visit when we were back in school. There were at least a few restaurants to choose from and you could count on bumping into somebody you knew no matter when you ventured over there, even if it wasn't a game day for Wake.

The current situation is certainly not conducive to luring more townies to Wake games. Sad state of affairs.
 
RacerDeac said:
The other issue is that large chunks of land in the immediate vicinity are used up for parking, RJR factory, fairgrounds, golf course, etc. There's very little space to create the density needed to drive residential and retail growth without some very large redevelopment efforts.
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That area doesn't get enough traffic because its not an important or popular throughway. The only real reason to drive through there is for a ball game. Right now it's a chicken and egg problem, you can't attract business without the traffic, and you can't get traffic without the business. Some type of mixed use development with student housing is the only way I can think of for Wake to revitalize that space.
 
There are plans to change the road so Akron Drive would go straight into the area off of US 52, which would make it a lot easier to get to, because now it involves major sharp turns and if you don't know where you're going it's easy to bass-ackward in the area. SO while nice for us it seems really geared toward large trucks. In the coverage of the Whitaker Park announcement, the role of the University was really downplayed - it sounded like they were looking really to develop something that would make money and bring jobs, which makes me doubt we'd see student housing. I think the idea is that Wake's existing properties would benefit from that growth, and with the additional workforce would revitalize thr properties the own there (RIP Goober's or whatever those places were that the U encouraged to go on Deacon Blvd)
 
Damn, not another advertising name again. Constant advertising and naming has taken the sports out of sport. Yep, here is the KFC starting line up, the Bo-Jangles defensive report, the Sunoco hit of the game..etc, etc.
 
RollTheQuad06 said:
I caught myself calling it BB&T Field the other day, and wondered when the switch had happened in my brain. I'm sure current students, those who go to games at least, call it BB&T Field because that's what it has always been for them. Like Hearn Plaza and Manchester Plaza that I'll always call the quad and the mag quad.
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A lot of people call it BB&T Field. Nobody, even current students, call it Hearn/Manchester Plaza
 
Rafi said:
I think the student housing will eventually go along Baity Street, and maybe Whitaker Park. I like the idea of renovating and updating the Joel. The additions this year have been good, and I think there are a lot more to come.
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The monkey vomit green seats in the upper deck must go!
 
It was a great deal for wake. Reality is we aren't going to build a new on campus arena. Carolina going to replace the dean dome anytime soon? Same age.
 
If they come through with the long-promised fapping lounge, the broad public support they seek will finally be realized.
 
WinkinDeac said:
If they come through with the long-promised fapping lounge, the broad public support they seek will finally be realized.
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They'll probably screw it up like they did the beer garden. Clean up your own mess or something.
 
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