To anyone who has lived in Raleigh for the past three decades, and certainly to natives who grew up in the City of Oaks, a trip downtown these days is simply enough to take one’s breath away.

Amazing. Utterly amazing.

From the gleaming, towering PNC skyscraper’s spike that seems to reach the clouds (if you look straight up, as I did on a bright, beautiful, chilly Tuesday morning) to refitted, restored buildings dating back to 1900 or before …

From the still-gleaming Convention Center to the anchors of Fayetteville Street (the historic capital and the transformed arts complex) …

From Red Hat’s new (certainly jarring) red-roofed tower complete with Fedora to a former bank building being gutted to host a new wave of companies …

Yet to come is the new headquarters for Citrix Sharefile, and HQ Raleigh is reaching to the Warehouse District …

There’s a home renovated into shared living space called ThinkHouse in historic Boylan Heights …

Wow.

Downtown has become a roaring engine for new jobs – and a lot more.

Yes, Raleigh has been reborn, and it continues to grow into a thriving urban center of which North Carolinians should be very proud – even transplants from high-tech Dallas like me who was stunned by the city’s downtown decay in 1986 after accepting a job at The News & Observer. 

Restaurants, bars, retail outlets abound. People are moving downtown.

From ghostly neighborhood at night to a city that almost never sleeps.

Who would have ever thought that would happen – even 20 years ago?

The New Underground

What triggered all these thoughts – and hometown cheerleading, I have to admit – was a visit Tuesday morning to 213 Fayetteville Street. (Be sure to see the photo slideshow accompanying this story.)

There is the latest addition to the new Raleigh is nearly 5,000 square feet of renovated space in a 100-year-old building on Fayettevillle Street Mall.

There, more than 10 companies are building apps, software and technology on which many of us may rely in our daily lives.

High-tech being developed in shared office space known as American Underground @Raleigh. 

There, pieces of our collective futures are being created, from photo apps to multi-media delivery; a new way to fund real estate deals to software-for-hire; mobile commerce tools to creative design; work on the Firefox operating system to new ways for companies to regain lost customers.

Underground @Raleigh hosts a grand opening party Wednesday night, but WRALTechWire is previewing the third of three such shared office projects launched by Capitol Broadcasting (WRALTechWire’s parent). Will @Raleigh provide an urban spark as it did at The American Tobacco Historic District (The American Underground) and in downtown Durham (Underground @Main)?

Only time will tell. But know this: @Raleigh is almost completely full already.

How long before @Warehouse District?

Telling the Story

The Skinny has been challenged to find different ways to tell stories, so let’s try this.

Accompanying this post is a slideshow of 15 photographs. The individuals featured in several of those will be identified. But what they had to say about their new office homes – well, let’s save that for tomorrow.

Guess what you think they are going to say.

Wednesday, we’ll feature a story where @Underground tenants and visitors get to have their say about the new Raleigh in an old building.

As for me. let’s conclude with a costly anecdote.

I got so caught up in reporting and taking photos that I forget the parking meter.

The City of Raleigh’s “thanks” for my efforts? A white ticket on the windshield.

But, hey, to see another part of a new downtown was worth the price.