Downtown Durham might boast the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and trendy Brightleaf Square, but it is also home to confusing one-way streets and crumbling, faded exteriors. A proposal introduced earlier this month by Development Concepts Inc., a consulting group from Indianapolis, Ind., aims to attack these and other problems facing the center of the Bull City.
"We were happy to see that the consulting team saw the same issues that we have been advocating for the past four years," said Bill Kalkhof, president of Downtown Durham, Inc., a nonprofit downtown revitalization group funded partly by the city. "We're excited. This is a community plan that is taking it to the next level.... People will visually see things happen."
The proposed Downtown Master Plan tackles issues that will improve the appearance, economy and ambiance of Durham. Its main highlights include improvements to traffic flow and parking.
"The main goal [of the plan] is to map out a 20-year pathway for revitalization of downtown," said Ted Abernathy, the city's economic development director.
In the next decade, the county population of 212,000 is expected to increase by 16,000, with income levels of downtown residents growing at twice the rate of inflation. These factors have led to a strong demand for improvements and expansion.
"Once implemented, [the plan] will be a $1 billion investment," said Abernathy, adding that 80 percent of the funding will come from private investors with the federal, state and local governments kicking in the remainder.
"This plan is more than a bunch of pretty pictures," Kalkhof said. "It is an in-depth market study that includes a suggestion of where money will come from, a timeline of implementation and who should be in charge of [specific] projects."
A more detailed analysis will begin shortly after the Nov. 2 municipal elections, with the new city council attending a series of workshops examining the proposal before making any decisions.
"[The council] will be looking at all aspects of revitalization," said Howard Clement, a city council member. "I'm encouraged that something is on the table.... It will be a process of looking at the plan from a holistic point of view."
If the plan is passed, the projects will begin as soon as the beginning of the year 2000.
Kalkhof noted that for the plan to be a success, public investment must be frontloaded to spur private investment.
"Public dollars must come first to encourage private," he said. "For every dollar of public investments, it will be $3 to $10 of private investments."
Vacant storefronts, crooked streets and sidewalks and dangerous pedestrian crosswalks are only some of the things the plan hopes to mend. The lack of available and adequate parking has also affected development around the city.
"On-street parking construction will be an early project of the plan," said Abernathy, the economic development director. "Construction of a multi-modal transportation facility is also beginning in the next year." This facility will house various public transit services like buses and taxis.
The plan also contains many drastic measures to change the flow of traffic in the city. This includes restructuring the one-way loop and converting other confusing one-way streets into two-way streets following a grid pattern.
Officials said the renovations would will improve connectivity between different areas of downtown.
"Turning the loop to a two-way street with parking on both sides will actually be quite simple," Kalkhof said.
The plan also includes an elaborate pedestrian walkway to link the ballpark with rest of downtown.
With the success of Brightleaf Square and the new ballpark, consultants believe that Durham has good potential to attract the restaurant and entertainment industries.
Tourism in recent years has grown significantly, and preservation and capitalization of historic sites would also get funding under the master plan.
Kalkhof said one way to attract business to the area is to build off the flourishing tourism industry. "Durham loses a lot of overnight convention services to other neighboring cities like Greensboro," he said. "By expanding our Civic Center and building full-service hotels, we can compete [with other neighboring cities]."
The plan will decrease vacancies by attracting new businesses and non-profit groups.
Downtown has the potential to absorb up to 78,000 square feet of new office space per year over the next 5-10 years, officials said.
"I've spoken to many groups about the plan," Abernathy said, "and most of them have seemed favorable."
The first signs of more detailed construction plans will emerge within the next year and a half.
The city is close to implementing already-approved funding for parking deck safety measures and putting more police officers on the streets, Abernathy said.
The more drastic changes, however, are projected over the course of the next 20 years.
"The proposal will take years to accomplish the recommended procedures," Clement said. "It's no single bullet."
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