Bull City Rising

I didn't get to see it. Did they end up focusing on the Food & Wine piece on restaurants in the area? (F&W is part of this CBS Early Show roadshow.) Interestingly, two-thirds of the establishments chosen for the magazine were in Durham/CH, not Raleigh. Wasn't sure if they'd broadcast that news from Fayetteville Street...

There isn't great info from Capitol Broadcasting on the current development work. The DV 2 (& DV 3?) work is underway with earthwork being done. Bovis is the contractor for this project. The performing arts center construction (Skanska as CM@R) is also underway next door by the City. The parking deck will wedge between the two. The apartments further up Blackwell towards downtown/Pettigrew haven't started yet and don't look like they will for a while. Methinks they want to get the residential in ATHD Phase 2 (Old Bull, Noell) and the wrapper residential around the parking garage leased up before sinking in more units -- especially since some new underground parking will be needed for that portion (at least that's the sense I get from web digging.)

Hasn't been in the paper yet that I've seen. Downtown Durham Inc. put a mini-release out on its listserv. I've seen it quoted at the following blog, but I'm not exactly an impartial source where that blog is concerned. http://www.bullcityrising.com/2007/02/durham_1_for_cr.html

I'm actually pretty bullish (no pun intended) on this, mostly given SBER's involvement. They've done a nice job in other cities, and the fact that they've opened an office in the ATC and are very active in multiple sites -- Rolling Hills, DAP, ATC -- I hope means they've got a vision for what could happen here. Current city government has been great about redevelopment; I hope we're lucky in the next election not to end up with Mayor Sith, I mean *Stith* (Durham's Art Pope Dope on a Rope.) The $4m vs. $11m gap worries me but I'm curious to see SBER's revised presentation. I can't make this week's session but will try to make it to their Feb. 12 session.

Interestingly, if you look at the ATHD web site, the University Ford lot is actually listed as Phase IV of the American Tobacco project, though no massings or layouts appear: http://www.americantobaccohistoricdistrict...tenants_map.pdf (Look over where the Ford dealer is, and underneath the labels, and you can make out the "4" in Phase 4.) The map also shows that residential is going into the Old Bull building (which I knew) and the Noell building (which I didn't -- thought initially that would be all office.) I think Capital Broadcasting did it right with the success of office and dining first before going to residential (now isn't that an obvious thing to say!) Frankly, once all of the AT work is done and the new courthouse is up, downtown Durham will look like a very different place.

Jones -- I hear where you're coming from. The funny thing to me is, _inside_ Durham, none of us who live in Forest Hills, or Watts-Hillandale, or Trinity Park, or Old North Durham, etc., are called "pioneers." People understand that they're tight-knit, family-friendly, attractive communities with lots of things to do in the neighborhoods. I actually was talking to a woman who's lived in a suburban/quasi-rural stretch of northern Durham for 20 years last week, who told me that she and her husband are planning to downsize their big house up there and move downtown. From the conversation up to that point, I would have pegged her as the last person in the world to "move downtown." Yet you go to... Knightdale, or Holly Springs, and people are literally afraid to drive into Durham. I agree that the media is a big part of the problem. Amusingly, the N&O publishes a weekly news section, _The Durham News_, that's filled with positive news, focus on neighborhoods, new developments, etc. Yet the "big" N&O rarely runs positive news from Durham, though if it "bleeds," it leads in the city. Even WRAL gets into the act; when groundbreaking was held on the massive new downtown theater last month, there was zero coverage on 'RAL that I could tell, despite the fact that Capital Broadcasting _owns_ the adjacent ATHD and Bulls. Not implying that corporate media cross-ownership should drive coverage (it shouldn't), but it was a big story that happened next door to the Fox 50/Durham WRAL studios. Ya'd kind of think folks would have walked across the street. To my mind, the region is hearing positive things about American Tobacco, and I've never heard anyone walk away from seeing that saying, "Gosh, that's really a lousy place." Brought my dad down there to see it two years ago, and he was astounded -- and he's been in commercial lending originating financing for major projects for three decades. Over time, the exposure that AT gets across from the DBAP has the possibility of introducing more people to the positives in Durham.

Dan -- hey, thanks for the tip, and I'd love to read that article if you ever stumble across it; I'll take a look at the N&O too. Funny you should say this. The Herald-Sun had an article y'day mentioning that Fishmongers is up for sale and claiming that some of the "older" Brightleaf restaurants have seen traffic go down. There *is* more competition in the restaurant market, and frankly some really awesome chefs and owners have come in and turned up the expectations. Fishmongers got some really mixed reviews on a Durham neighborhood listserv discussion lately concerning service, which probably hasn't helped their business. For my part, everywhere that the wife and I frequent is indeed _really busy_. Tyler's, Mt. Fuji, the Federal, El Rodeo... not so many crowds as to have a wait, but the places are brimming. Rue Cler, which we love, is quite busy most nights and increasingly even the cafe is busy in the mornings, and it's definitely an 'urban outpost' there on Chapel Hill St.

Thanks for the link. I'm pleased and a little surprised to see the Diamond View <b>III</b> plans; to date in the papers, they've only been talking about the Diamond View II building, which has an I-bank from Chapel Hill as its anchor tenant. Interestingly... I got a mailing from the Durham Bulls yesterday encouraging me to renew my season ticket mini-pass. In there, they talk about the Diamond View II building -- no mention of III. Things are booming around the ATHD. By next year, with the performing arts center open, it should be even more incredible. I work in the District and it's a fantastic place to have an office -- particularly on a D-Bulls game day. :-)

Thanks for posting; these are very interesting numbers. Looking back, the first two "peaks" have very clear causes external to that of rising population... the former AA hub leading to the first surge, and the tech boom probably being core to the second surge. The current rise, coming in a time of slower, more cautious growth, hopefully reflects a more sustainable pattern related to the metro area's overall growth trends. I can't wait to see the new Terminal C! Having seem some of RIC's re-construction-in-progress as well as the great new progress at Terminal A in Boston, the new trends in terminal design and construction are truly fantastic and something that Raleigh-Durham is overdue to have.