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.

This can only be good news

The latest news from West Raleigh (that doesn't involve Tom O'Brien and Everett Withers) is that the Carolina Hurricanes have secured a couple of handfuls of new minority owners -- and almost all of them are from North Carolina. From the N&O:

Canes owner Peter Karmanos Jr., today announced a group of 10 partners in the ownership of the team. Nine of the team’s 10 new investors are based in North Carolina.

Eight of the ten partners are: Michael Kahn, Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (James Goodmon, A.J. Fletcher Foundation), Matthew Szulik, Ice Puck LLC (Orris Temple Sloan, Jr.), Clancy & Theys Construction (David Tim Clancy, Joel Thomas Irving Clancy, Kathryn Virginia Clancy, Robert Todd Clancy, Sarah Elizabeth Sturm), Jim Rutherford, Hurricanes Investment, LLC (Abel Zalcberg, Barbara Zalcberg) and Whitney Holdings Inc. (Frederick J. Whitney, Timothy M. Whitney).

For as much success as the Canes have had (often being labeled a model franchise in the NHL for ownership stability, its GM, and its fan support), one question has always plagued the franchise: what happens if Karmanos can't find suitable support in the North Carolina business community. Well, he has it. Nothing is ever certain in pro sports, but this certainly helps put to rest any scenarios where the Canes pick up and leave ... at least in the near future.

A newsstand coming to Hargett Street

DTRers can now have a spot to pick up the morning paper.

Cimos Newsstand is slated to open at 111 East Hargett Street, Suite 100, sometime in the near future. (The property is currently under renovation.) The newsstand will take up approximately 900 square feet.

And in not-necessarily-DTR-related news, there will soon be a new brewery over in Saxapahaw. Owner Ben Woodward is slated to open Haw River Farmhouse Ales in an undisclosed location in Saxapahaw. The brewery is targeting a May 2012 opening.