2 min read September 2022 — North Carolina’s Downtown Raleigh Alliance is a non-profit organization whose mission is dedicated to the growth of businesses and affordable housing in Downtown Raleigh. Invest: spoke with President and CEO of the organization, Bill King, about programs to increase foot traffic, expand affordable housing and future priorities to improve Downtown Raleigh.
What have been the organization’s top priorities over the last year?
We’ve definitely had a great deal going on. Our high-level goal is getting people back downtown. We’ve worked really hard on public realm activation with both events and activation in our City Plaza and other public spaces. We started a Jazz in the Square series, brought back our outdoor movies and an art walk where we brought large light installations into downtown. These activities were intended to bring people downtown during the weekdays and not just on weekends. We did an employee appreciation week with games, food trucks, fitness vendors and community service projects to get people reconnected. We made a public realm study last year where we recommended to the City of Raleigh many policy changes and investment opportunities in downtown public spaces that incorporated what we learned during the pandemic. For example, outdoor dining spaces in parking spaces, which the city made permanent as of April 1. We’ve also created opportunities to invest in space, whether that’s to improve the shade in City Plaza or the beautification of downtown. Another big focus has been getting employees back in the office buildings and we’ve done several other advocacy projects. We’re also trying to use this as an opportunity to make sure the downtown is more reflective of the larger community by providing storefront opportunities for entrepreneurs that are diverse.
How has the buying power of residents improved with all of these programs and initiatives in the past year?
Overall, our food and beverage sales have certainly improved downtown with a 15% increase in Q2 2022 over Q1 and more than 40% increase from mid 2021. It’s still a little uneven in our core that’s more heavily dependent on office workers and business travel, but we’re getting there. We’re working on an economic development strategy that has four key components. One is Fayetteville Street and our storefront economy. Secondly, we are looking at how we position ourselves in the office market coming out of the pandemic. Our third is diversity, equity and inclusion in our businesses. The fourth is catalytic projects towards the next big idea for Downtown Raleigh. The foot traffic downtown has returned closer to pre-pandemic levels, but we still have work to do. The residential market downtown is about 96% occupied with more than 2,000 units under construction.
What’s Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s role in making downtown an inclusive and welcoming space for everyone?
We recommended changes to the small-scale event policy in our public realm study for public spaces. We’ve supported that by taking on the event permit for different groups to come into downtown and be able to activate our public spaces. All of our outside events are free. We’ve looked at what the barriers to entry are and what we can do to provide some opportunities on the storefront level. An example is our pop-up retail program. We master lease the space and subsidize the rent making it affordable. It’s done in a storefront right off our main street where there’s good visibility and tons of pedestrian traffic. We have a similar program for food and beverage entrepreneurs who are women or people of color starting soon.
How has public transport expanded in the past year and what is the focus moving forward?
All of our public transportation has been fare free throughout the pandemic. This makes it easier to access Downtown and will continue for another year. Raleigh is working on four Bus Rapid Transit lines. The project is federally funded and the construction of the first line will begin next year. Many transportation problems are land use problems, so the focus has to be on getting the land uses right along those corridors.
How would the convention center’s proposed hotel space positively impact the community and DRA’s mission?
The convention center really helps provide business to the community, particularly evenings and nighttime during the work week when we may not have as many people coming into downtown. It also provides an ongoing, economic stimulant during what can otherwise be pretty slow times. Our downtown does not have enough hotel rooms for its size and we don’t have enough rooms to accommodate big conventions. We need more rooms in order to reach another tier. The RFI process by the city is ongoing throughout this year. Those RFIs will be reviewed and a preferred developer will be selected.
What are some of the partnerships that DRA has been invested in over the past year and how do you plan on expanding those?
We work closely with the City of Raleigh. We work with the Parks Department on programming public spaces to get people back downtown and it’s been a very fruitful partnership. We work with transportation on curbside parking zones and outdoor dining. We’ve also worked with Wake Tech Community College in supporting our entrepreneurship efforts. They’ll be a programming partner that will also provide expertise with our upcoming food and beverage entrepreneurship program. We’re always working with our private sector partners on placemaking and how to make the ground floor experience succeed.
What’s the current need for workforce housing downtown and how is that being addressed?
There’s definitely a need. Most of the housing being developed across the country is developed at the top of the market because it can be financed and there’s so much housing need. The city has put an RFI for two parcels of land they own next to Moore Square with a requirement for affordable housing to be the component of any proposal there. It’s a good location across the street from the transit center with a park in the core. We’re hopeful that it can produce a really good outcome. A couple private developments have been working on workforce housing. One is Raleigh Union Station that’s developing a tower over the bus terminal and part of those units will be workforce and affordable housing. The filtering effect doesn’t necessarily happen downtown since the downtown is relatively new.
What do you hope looks different in Raleigh over the next five to ten years?
I hope what looks different is a robust transit system that has the ability to move people on many trips and reduce car dependency. I hope we’ve aligned our land use along those transit corridors and it’s successful enough that we want to expand it. Otherwise, we’re going to be facing congestion. Our downtown is unique with 90% of our retailers and over 80% of our restaurants being locally-owned. There’s a place for national businesses to help drive certain types of traffic, but I hope we can look back ten years from now and have our downtown still be a place for local businesses. It would be great to get creative in how we can unlock some additional housing choices in the core of the city and not end up with a donut effect where socio-economic status puts people further out into the region.
What are your priorities for the continued smart growth of Downtown Raleigh?
We want to create an environment to encourage people back into these buildings and continue to grow our employment base. We’ve had success refilling a number of our storefronts over the last couple years and want to make sure the downtown is well-positioned for the future. Our downtown has many advantages. We’re going to be the hub of four transit lines, which positions us above many other office markets in this region. We have great walkability for storefront businesses, museums and events. This also offers a great opportunity to accommodate growth. We ultimately want to make the downtown experience robust and engaging whether you’re a resident, employee or visitor.
Is there any legislation or policy change that could disrupt or improve your day to day operations?
Our state government authorized to-go drink districts last fall. We’ve been involved in community engagement with that in helping develop a pilot program for one of those districts in the downtown area which launched August 15th. I’m hopeful it can extend visitor experiences downtown. Overall, North Carolina has a reputation right now for a level of political moderation. In our work, we more often deal with local legislation on policies that tend to be the most impactful around zoning and planning and are always working on changes to better help downtown recover and thrive.
For more information, visit:
