Neighbors like downtown Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater, but not city’s plan to move it
The first thing Boylan Heights residents want you to know about the Red Hat Amphitheater is that they don’t want to see their sometimes noisy neighbor go away.
They hope the 14-year-old music venue remains downtown. And they understand that the city’s plans to expand the convention center will require moving the amphitheater a block south.
But they object to the part of the city plan that calls for closing South Street between Dawson and McDowell streets, severing a key link between the neighborhood and downtown. And they’re especially angry that the city came up with the plan to close South Street without consulting people who will be affected by it.
“We feel very strongly that we have, for one reason or another, until very recently, been excluded from the conversations,” said Mike Motsinger, president of the Boylan Heights Neighborhood Association.
More than 60 residents met with their City Council representative, Jane Harrison, for two hours Tuesday night at the Hartwell Raleigh market and event space on South Street. Harrison told them she agreed the city has not done enough to involve the public in the project.
“Just seeing all of you in the room today tells me that we need to do more to make sure that everyone is fully involved and that there’s buy-in about where we’re headed,” she said.
Raleigh spokeswoman Julia Milstead said Wednesday that city staff will ask the council to hold a public hearing about the future of South Street on Sept. 17.
City considering two options for relocation
There are no homes or businesses on the block of South Street the city wants to close. But the street connects Dawson and McDowell, the primary north-south arteries through the central city, and is the main thoroughfare between downtown and Boylan Heights, Heritage Park and other apartments and Lake Wheeler Road.
Harrison said she and other council members learned about the plans to close South Street in June. City staff presented two options, one that would close Lenoir Street, adjacent to the current amphitheater, and another that closes South.
The Lenoir Street option would result in a smaller venue — about 4,500 seats compared to the current 5,900. Closing South Street would give the city room for 6,500 to 7,000 seats as well as more space for concessions and backstage for performers and equipment. It would also be cheaper to build.
Boylan Heights residents say there are alternatives they believe the city hasn’t fully considered.
Jay Spain, who lives on South Street, says local architecture firm LS3P Associates came up with six options when it sought the design contract from the city and that none of them require closing either street.
“There’s so many things that could be done, if you had any creativity,” Spain said in an interview. “Yeah, some of them are going to cost more money. But is it going to do less harm to the community and the future of downtown?”
Harrison said keeping the streets open would require building tiered or bleacher seating and could cost as much as $40 million more.
“That is one of the barriers to going vertical,” she said.
Final decision rests with the City Council
Harrison said the city transportation department is trying to come up with a way for eastbound South Street traffic to get to McDowell Street and the rest of downtown. It involves creating a new “slip lane” connecting Dawson and McDowell streets just south of the relocated amphitheater.
The new lane would need the blessing of the N.C. Department of Transportation, which owns Dawson and McDowell. NCDOT has reviewed some of the city’s ideas but hasn’t signed off on anything, said spokeswoman Kim Deaner.
“We are not involved yet, other than just looking at what they’re conceptually considering,” Deaner said.
Harrison said the city has also hired a firm to study how closing South Street would affect traffic. She said that study would consider new and planned apartment buildings in the area, as well as longer-range plans to close railroad crossings at Hargett and Cabarrus streets and build a bridge to carry West Street over the tracks.
She said she hopes the council has the results before its meeting Tuesday, the first since early July, when it gets an update on the amphitheater project.
Milstead said in addition to setting a public hearing date, city staff will ask council members Tuesday to eliminate that block of South Street from the comprehensive plan and to approve the purchase of a sliver of land needed for the amphitheater relocation from NCDOT. She said in addition to the hearing, city staff will ask the council on Sept. 20 to decide whether to close South Street for the amphitheater project.
Boylan Heights residents think the city should slow down. Lyman Collins asked Harrison what harm it would do to delay expansion of the convention center a year, so the city could be more thoughtful about the amphitheater design and take into account the traffic study and public input.
“My fear is that we’re making a rushed decision,” Collins said, “and rushed decisions are not good.”
The Boylan Heights Neighborhood Association circulated a lengthy South Street position statement before Tuesday’s meeting. In the end, it approved a single sentence:
“Whereas the Boylan Heights Association supports the the Red Hat Amphitheater remaining downtown, the association requests that the City of Raleigh provide multiple plans with public input for the design of the amphitheater without closing South Street before development decisions are finalized.”
When it was over, as everyone walked out of Hartwell Raleigh, they could hear Still Woozy performing at the amphitheater.
This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 5:00 PM.
