what is going across from the new hotel on Magnum Roxboro Connector

Right next to or replacing the Self-Help Credit Union
https://goo.gl/maps/vUuHxMsyWFxMhMtt5

Hotel almost looks finished as well....

oh no.... https://www.abacuscapitalusa.com/2020/12/abacus-capital-and-wdm-family-enterprises-acquire-land-in-downtown-durham-for-self-storage-development/

what the fuck is this?

"Class A multi-story climate controlled self storage facility at 355 Morehead Avenue in downtown Durham, North Carolina."

"Located at a signalized intersection along the Durham Freeway (Highway 147), at 75’ in height once delivered the project will offer commanding views from both the freeway’s 68,000 average vehicles per day as well as from the adjacent Tobacco District, downtown Durham’s most dynamic and fastest-growing neighborhood. Durham’s Tobacco District is anchored by the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, immediately across the freeway from the site, as well as several million square feet of recently delivered or currently in-process commercial and multifamily development located only steps from the future facility"

A 7 story self-storage facility?

Self storage? UGH!

There's another one proposed on the Durham Freeway at the Ellis Road exit.

https://durham.mysocialpinpoint.com/land-use/map#/sidebar/tab/2104___2112_ellis_road__z2000042_

Just what we need as the face of Durham in these high visibility locations. Not.

Yeah I can’t imagine anyone is happy about this, though I’m not sure that site has enough usable space to do much else. The only positive is that it won’t be as prominent because it’s at the very bottom of the hill. So hopefully it looks much less than the actual 7 stories.

If I may wildly speculate a bit, it looks like this plan was originally approved in 2015. My wild guess is that the developer did not have the foresight to pivot to a higher and better use now that the switch has flipped on development interest in Durham. They just went forward with a plan they knew worked and had site control at a land cost that makes sense for self-storage. Too bad.