Durham Magazine Development Rundown

Durham Magazine did a really nice comprehensive update of current developments in their newest issue (viewable online).

A few observations:

—A cool small scale project in Brightleaf behind Maverick’s is going to renovate the existing building into a 2 story with an outdoor store and cafe on the first floor
—Confirms expectations that we should see some of the major projects (Five Points, GeerHouse) underway pretty soon
—Lots and lots and LOTS of residential (no surprise)
—Seems to confirm what elevatoroperator posted regarding advancing the Belt Line/Rail Trail

Very cool. Thanks for pointing this out.

I will be very interested to see the design for the Belt Line. I do hope that at least parts of it are woven into the urban fabric, with residential and commercial frontage to the belt line. I think the more people that use the belt line, the better and so you need to have:

- people that are using it for recreation

- people that are using it to get someplace useful (work, errands, etc)

- people that are not just using it as a transportation corridor, but as a "place" (getting ice cream at a shop that fronts the trail, overlooking their balcony onto the belt line, etc).


Also, I actually missed that the Hutchins Building announced a tenant.

There has been a lot of controversy over the Hutchins tenant already (coffee shop/church/co-working space concept). The group is getting a lot of blowback on their social media (and subsequently turned off comments) about whether their views align with the larger Durham community. For example, see this thread.