A new brewery has opened, but a nightclub and a $22M apartment complex is on the way

Owner Michael Stagner recently opened Sub Rosa Brewery. The microbrewery is located at 2039 Progress Court, which is off E. Whitaker Mill Rd. Anyone been?

In other news, a yet-to-be-named bar/tavern/nightclub is slated for 603 Glenwood Avenue. Renovations are currently underway at the location, which recently held a 1,000 square foot retail spot. (Was/is this Brooklyn Heights?)

And finally, Charlotte's Faison & Associates are planning a $21.8 million project at 927 W. Morgan Street called "Tryon Hill Apartments." This project is slated to boast ground-level retail -- which is always a good ambition.

Raleigh-Cary real estate market poised to outperform the rest in '12

Inman News, in a report released today, highlights 10 metro areas that data suggest are set to outshine many other markets in real estate performance this year.

The markets, which stretch from New York to Texas and include metros with populations above 150,000, were selected and ranked based on a range of demographic, economic and real estate market data, including real estate sales volume and median sales price appreciation.

Topping the list is Raleigh-Cary.

Despite a steep drop in sales, the Raleigh-Cary market saw considerable price appreciation last year, with its median sales price for single-family homes jumping 7.3 percent from third-quarter 2010 to third-quarter 2011.

At $224,300, the Raleigh-Cary metro had the highest median sales price among the 10 markets on this list and was the only market with a median sales price above the U.S. median. Nonetheless, its affordability rate stayed above the national level, with 73.6 percent of its homes affordable to households earning the area's median income, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

Perhaps the real story here is in the Heartland.

Three of the 10 markets on this list are state capitals, and both Illinois markets benefit from proximity to that state's capital, Springfield. Four of the markets: Bloomington-Normal and Peoria in Illinois as well as Des Moines-West Des Moines and Waterloo-Cedar Falls in Iowa, are no more than 300 or so miles from each other.

Engel to talk about city's namesake

I came across this via the most recent Downtown Raleigh Alliance newsletter.*

Dr. Elliot Engel is not merely a lecturer but a captivating storyteller with a talent for bringing history to life. He promises to educate, entertain and make you chuckle too. Dr. Engel has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University. He now lives in Raleigh between his many public performances around the country. Dr. Engel describes Sir Walter Raleigh as “a true Renaissance man….brilliant ….the Steve Jobs of his era….” Get the real story on this often controversially-portrayed namesake of Raleigh.

Engel will be talking about the man that John Lennon once cursed and called "such a stupid git" on February 24 at 7 p.m. at the Long View Center. This event is a benefit for Haywood Hall & Gardens and the Joel Lane Museum House.

*If you're not subscribing to the newsletter, you are really missing out. (Click here to subscribe.) I'm constantly amazed at just how MUCH is going on in Raleightown.

Tubby tabby gets new knee joint at NCSU vet school

From the AP:

Because Cyrano weighs more than 20 pounds, amputating his cancer-weakened leg was out of the question. So the tubby tabby's owners turned to doctors and engineers at North Carolina State University to get him back into mice-catching trim.

On Thursday, the 10-year-old cat from Upperville, Va., received what doctors believe is the first feline total knee replacement in the U.S.

"This is the most complex implant that NC State has made and really, in all honesty, that anyone has built for any situation that I know of," said surgeon Denis Marcellin-Little, a French-born veterinarian.

Cyrano — his full name is Mr. Cyrano L. Catte II — underwent treatment last year at Colorado State University for cancer in his left hind leg. The disease is in remission, but the treatment left the leg nearly useless and extremely painful.

Marcellin-Little and NCSU engineer Ola Harrysson are pioneers in osseointegration, a process that fuses a prosthetic limb with living bone. In 2005, Marcellin-Little performed the world's first surgery to fuse leg implants with a cat's bone tissue, so Cyrano's owners turned to him for help.

Britain's Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick was credited with the world's first total knee replacement in 2009 on a cat named Missy, whose leg was crushed by a car. But Marcellin-Little said Cyrano's plastic and cobalt chromium alloy implant is more like those used in humans.

"It has a form of articulation that is unique — that allows the implant to bend and rotate," he said, demonstrating with a model during a news conference the day before the surgery. "The devil is in the details."

Such implants have become commonplace in dogs. But a cat's smaller anatomy has proved more difficult to work with, and Cyrano's damaged bones posed an additional challenge, Marcellin-Little said. ...

'I can't wait to tell people about this place!' - January 2012 edition

Boy, did I pick a bad night to try out Tyler's Taproom at Seaboard Station in Raleigh. A bunch of us went last night -- the night of the State-Carolina game. Yeesh. The place was packed -- which is always good to see in a new place -- so it took a while to get a seat. (Took about 2 hours, actually; they don't take reservations, apparently.)

Honestly, that's my only beef with the place. The beer selection is great. On a "normal" night, you should have no trouble finding a seat. And the Pork Belly Sandwich was fantastic. Oh, and they have their own beer store attached to the back.

If only the score had been reversed.

Raleigh has the healthiest women ... and a healthy film industry too?

The accolades continue to pour in for the City of Oaks. Along with recently being tabbed as the Best Place to Live in America by Businessweek, the city was also recently named the healthiest city in the country for women. The ranking comes from the January/February issue of Women's Health magazine.

The magazine looked at 30 categories of health for women in 100 U.S. cities -- from obesity and breast cancer rates to commuting times and hours spent working out, says the Birmingham (Ala.) News.

The top 10 cities for what Women's Health calls "the fittest, happiest females" were Raleigh, N.C.; San Jose, Calif.; Madison, Wisc.; Boise, Idaho; Burlington, Vt.; Plano, Texas; Virginia Beach, Va.; Portland, Maine; Austin, Texas; and Minneapolis.

In some of the individual health categories, Raleigh was highest for Pap smears and mammograms for women older than 40, Madison women were the happiest, Austin women had the healthiest diets and Minneapolis women were low in heart disease and stroke.

But there's even more good news. The Raleigh Telegram reports that motion picture production in the Triangle in 2011 was around $4 million, according to Triangle Regional Film, a new non-profit aimed at promoting film making in the Research Triangle area.

“This rise was capped by the scenes shot in Raleigh and Durham in November for the independent feature Arthur Newman, Golf Pro starring Colin Firth, an Academy Award winner in The King’s Speech and Emily Blunt who has appeared in The Adjustment Bureau and The Devil Wears Prada,” said the Triangle Film Commission in a statement released to the media.

The film commission said that the filming of Arthur Newman, Golf Pro alone accounted for at least reported $500,000 of the total spent in the Triangle Region during the shoot.

“We have seen significant growth in producers’ interest in North Carolina filming locations due to the increased incentives offered this year to the film industry by the state, and we have been able to focus a large amount of that interest in the Triangle region” said Commission Executive Director and filmmaker Rob Shoaf. ...

In the Triangle, one of the goals of the creation of the Triangle Film Commission was to catalog more locations in the Triangle so that film producers would be more likely to choose spots in the Triangle for as film sets.

“The Reelscout location search engine, which contains images of locations in the 13 county region served by the Triangle Regional Film Commission, has been expanded from approximately 166 listings at the beginning of the year to over 700 by December,” said the TFC. “This image library is a primary tool in marketing the region to motion picture and television producers nationally and internationally.”

The film commission said that due to some film projects being postponed from 2011, that “spending [in 2012] could easily double from the reported 2011 level."

Some Fayetteville Street food additions coming

To some it was a complete shock that Krispy Kreme's Fayetteville Street location never made it. (It's doughnuts! Who doesn't love doughnuts?) But to others, the fact that there was another, more historic "KK" just a few blocks up Person seemed like bad mojo from the get-go. So not long after opening, the Fayetteville St. Krispy Kreme "klosed" it's doors. (See what I did there?)

Soon to be filling the space at City Plaza (442 Fay. St.) will be Fire Wok, according to signage. The interesting thing is that the ownership of Fire Wok is the same folks that own La Volta Italiano across the plaza at 411 Fayetteville Street. This is good news; this means those folks feel confident in opening another restaurant. That's ALWAYS a good sign (even if we were once politely harassed -- yes, there is such a thing -- by a waiter from La Volta who was desperately trying to get us to go in on a Thursday evening).

In other F Street news, Hylton Hospitality is working on a $325,000 project at 301-110 Fayetteville Street, which will be the sight of Oro.

In non-Fayetteville Street news, the city is planning a nice (4,600 sf) "Carousel Building" for the historic carousel at Chavis Park, and Grubb Ventures has submitted plans for a 400,000-plus redevelopment of parcels at 401 Oberlin Road.

Tyler's at Seaboard now (finally) open

According to an email floating around most of the downtown email listservs, the long-awaited Seaboard Station location of Tyler's Taproom is now open. (And there was much rejoicing.)

I just wanted to let the neighborhood know that Tyler’s at Seaboard Station is open. In talking to the manager it sounds like they aren’t going to publicly announce it until Sunday but I just had a few beers and a nice meal over there. They have tables with taps that you can pour yourself and it just tells you how many pints you have had at the end of the night!!! (Dangerous!) Only way the night could be better is if the Hurricanes can win for once… [Note: That actually did happen.]

FYI, the place was only half full but the parking lot was overflowing. The street parking on Halifax was unused but on busy night you’d have to park over by Peace China to get a spot, unless you are lucky.

Thanks to "Ryan" for the update.

Check out 'The Point,' the new home for NCSU's chancellor

The home for N.C. State's chancellor appears to be completed (or very close to it). The new building on Centennial Campus replaces an older structure just off Hillsborough Street near the Belltower that, well, has apparently been in need of repair for some time.

This link will take you to some great photos of the new building, called "The Point." It was designed by College of Design Dean Marvin Malecha.



Images by Dustin Peck Photography

Quick hits: Innovation summit coming, and CAM gets awards

Raleigh, NCSU partner to spur entrepreneurial innovation
City leaders and North Carolina State University are teaming up to create a “unified vision” for developing Raleigh as an “Innovation Center.”

With Durham having firmly established itself as the Triangle’s hub for new and emerging companies through a variety of efforts focused on entrepreneurs, Raleigh is attempting to get in on the development game, says WRAL.

A first step is an “Innovation Summit,” which is set for the Raleigh Convention Center on Jan. 18, 2012. The one-day program is being put on by the city, N.C. State, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, Raleigh Economic Development and Wake County Economic Development. Sponsors include Rex Healthcare, the Poyner & Spruill law firm, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and Springboard, which is N.C. State's innovation initiative.

CAM six architectural design awards

CAM Raleigh announces that it has received six architectural design awards since opening in April 2011. A partnership between the community and North Carolina State University’s (N.C. State) College of Design, to date CAM Raleigh has received a 2011 AIA Design Award (Merit), an AIA Tower Award, the 2011 Carraway Honor Award of Merit from Preservation North Carolina, the 2011 Sir Raleigh Walter Award for Community Appearance, and a Downtown Raleigh Alliance Imprint Award.

Located in an early twentieth-century structure in the Depot National Register Historic District, the museum’s 25,000 square-foot home inside a downtown warehouse was designed and renovated by the architectural team of Clearscapes and Brooks + Scarpa.

Celebrated highlights of the building’s new design include a dramatic deconstructed roofline, new lobby, and state-of-the-art gallery spaces.

A doomed location?

Not unlike "The Cafe" episode of "Seinfeld," the fortunes of 410 Glenwood South seem to be, well, not good, no matter what people try. Hard Times seemed like a good fit and was really a pioneer for Glenwood South, but for whatever reason it didn't make it. Now the same goes for The Diner.

From The Diner's website:

Thank you for the support you have shown The Diner.

The dining room will be closed as of Monday, November 21^stas the restaurant is in the process of being sold.

The Diner Catering/Delivery Service is still operational at this location until the new owner/operator takes over and we move to our new catering kitchen. Call 919.614.1991 for information or to place a catering or delivery order.

All outstanding Diner gift cards will be honored at Hibernian Restaurant & Pub at 311 Glenwood Avenue (one block south of The Diner).

Should you have questions, please direct them to info@thedinerraleigh.com

Delivery personnel: The Diner is still receiving deliveries for our catering operation. Call 919.835.9010 if you need assistance.

Have ya heard? Colin Firth's in town!

My wife managed to snap this photo on her phone this morning along Fayetteville Street.

Despite the fact that Colin Firth's movie is being filmed in several spots in North Carolina (Raleigh, Fairmont, Alamance County), it actually takes place in ... Indiana. Go figure.