Downtown Durham Development
The Bull City is growing, no doubt about that. The past two decades have seen our city almost double in size! Naturally, our infrastructure, housing, and services have required serious upgrades.
We’re doing our part at the Brannan! But we aren’t the only downtown Durham development project in the city, not by a long shot. Here are some of the biggest developments you can expect over the coming months and years.
JB Duke Hotel
A hotel on a college campus isn’t a new idea; Appalachian State once housed the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, now scheduled for demolition. But in the Triangle – where numerous universities intersect with the Research Triangle Park – the practicality of JB Duke is undeniable. Its location on Duke’s historic campus belies its Scandinavian-inspired architecture, state-of-the-art meeting spaces, and modern guest rooms. The hotel opens in January 2017.
Jack Tar Hotel Renovation
Durham is filled with the corpses of old brick buildings. They give the city a distinctive, Southern character, and are popular for reclamation and renovation.
The Jack Tar is something different. Its wacky architecture speaks the language of the year it was built: 1962. It served as a sort of auxiliary building to the upscale Washington Duke hotel across the street (whose namesake relocated elsewhere), supplying a pool and parking. The renovation will serve a similar demographic with mid-priced, contemporary rooms. It will open as Dream Hotel in spring 2017.
Ball Park Development
Once the site of a car dealership, about 18 acres of concrete between the Durham Bulls Stadium and the downtown freeway sit unused, old, and gray. Two projects are set to transform it into a collection of high-rise office buildings and retail space, one of the few projects in downtown that is entirely new construction. The necessity goes beyond aesthetics; office space downtown is seriously limited, a big problem for the Triangle’s otherwise ripe startup climate. Completion dates have not been announced yet.
Various Center City Projects
The heart of Downtown Durham is the site of a $284 million, twelve-block renovation project that brings a mixture of office, residential, and leisure spaces. The centerpiece of it all is a shiny, 27-story mixed use building that will change the skyline forever. Construction is well underway, and should be completed by Summer 2017. The tower’s presence near downtown hotspots will make it impossible to miss.