City life continues migration toward downtown

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."

But although the attention downtown may be great for Raleigh, it hurts Hillsborough Street businesses.

As Ritchey said, Hillsborough took one its biggest hits with the construction of Centennial Campus, taking one of the University's largest group of students away from main campus.

"That's about 3,000 students that now aren't near Hillsborough Street," he said. "People don't live around here like they used to, and they'd rather drive three blocks to shopping centers than walk off of main campus."

According to Ritchey, since he opened Global Village six years ago, Hillsborough has typically been busy during the weekdays, while increasingly more empty on the weekends.

"Most of our business is during the day, and Hillsborough really hasn't gotten much business over the weekend," Ritchey said. "I'd love to have an excuse to be open over the weekend, but it just doesn't work out."

Students such as Suarez maintain that Hillsborough is in need of the same kind of renovations Fayetteville Street underwent, and until that happens, it will continue to trail its downtown competition.

"Hillsborough will continue to decline until they do a new plan to change the street," Suarez said.

Apartments and condominiums already sit on top of many buildings along Fayetteville Street, and as the taller buildings finish construction, more people will be living downtown.

But just because more people will be around the street doesn't mean that's where they will do business, according to Carter Powell, owner of the Capital Room Bar and Restaurant on Fayetteville Street.

"There are going to be a lot of people living here, but they'll want to venture out and enjoy the rest of the city too," he said.

There are also students who contend that downtown may be too far to travel from campus on a late night.

"It really isn't within walking distance, and the whole DUI thing can make a difference when you're that far out at night," Emily Alridge, a senior in chemical engineering, said.

Students such as Alridge and Suarez said they will enjoy the new features of Fayetteville Street, but would still love to have a Hillsborough Street that would rival downtown.