Technician Online

Issue date: 8/3/06 Section: Features

Media Credit: Pete Ellis

For those students in attendance at downtown Raleigh's opening of Fayetteville Street, they were able to see a newly refurbished road packed to its capacity amidst the city's version of skyscrapers.

If those same students traveled back by campus down Hillsborough Street, they would see a more barren scene, while the familiar lights across from N.C. State shined across the street.

While still receiving a large breakfast and lunch crowd during the weekdays, Hillsborough Street nightlife has given way to the Glenwood South area of downtown.

"We don't have the cache of Glenwood South or Fayetteville Street," Michael Ritchey, owner of Global Village coffee house on Hillsborough, said. "But there are some really good businesses on Hillsborough Street that I sometimes underestimate."

Businesses continue to close down on Hillsborough, such as the former Hillsborough treasure Brothers, due to the rising rent prices of the street, making it difficult to earn much of a profit off the business.

"Rent can definitely be challenging," Ritchey said. "I've been working more hours because of it."

A few Hillsborough eateries declined to comment on the situation.

Now with the possible emergence of Fayetteville Street as an active area for Raleigh citizens, with the city's tallest buildings beginning to clump around the street, the push toward downtown and its new bars, restaurants and shopping areas, continues.

"It should be the first of many things to come," Leo Suarez, a senior in electrical engineering, said about the renovations on Fayetteville Street. "The new renovations really add to the human element of the street."

Glenwood already lays claim to most of the city's nightlife, and city officials hope to continue to shift activity toward downtown.

"It's great for Raleigh to have attention downtown -- it's a neighborhood that should be buzzing 24/7," Ritchey said.

Mark Seagle, a 1971 State alumnus and father of one of the owners of The Big Easy, a New Orleans-style eatery on Fayetteville Street nearly ready to open, is already a fan of the street.

"I knew it was coming," Seagle said of the renovation. "I knew it would be a great area and I'm glad we [started the business]. I don't know how the street could not help this area."

Continued...

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