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In This Issue...
How Durham Stacks Up · Mez Opening
Crowded Weekend · MLS Ranked · Art Studio's Returning
End of Tobacco Rd. · 1.5 Billion Investment · Online Patrol
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Famed
Restaurateur Opens In Durham
 Mickey
Ewell, co-founder of Squid's Spanky's and 411 West in nearby Chapel Hill and his
crew have opened a unique new restaurant concept in Southeast Durham.
Located on 5400 Page Rd., Mez is an upscale, Mexican restaurant that will
soon open this month and serve regional Mexican cuisine in a casual
environment. This part of Durham will soon have nearly 1,000 hotel rooms,
surrounding Durham's second largest meeting facility, the Sheraton Imperial Hotel.
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1.5 Billion
Investment
 The NC Department of
Commerce Travel and Tourism DivisionThe public
private partnership under consideration by the City and Greenfire Development will take the
overall amount of capital investment to help revive Downtown Durham to more than
$1.5 Billion, substantial for any community but virtually unheard of for
a community the size of Durham.
Greenfire
is taking on the most difficult part of Downtown revival, the City Center. Different
than adaptive reuse of factory projects, this proposal involves a couple
of dozen buildings but also with a mix of retail, commercial and
residential along with new restaurants and a full service hotel.
Greenfire
has already invested $50 million up front. While the proposal is the same
in square footage as American
Tobacco,
it involves a fraction the amount of public dollars and a much greater
commitment to the minimum amount of overall investment
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Blues Festival
and Centerfest to Share Same Weekend
 Displaced for a
year while the Historic Durham
Athletic Park
is overhauled, the Bull Durham
Blues Festival will move to the same weekend as Centerfest. Centerfest,
the state’s first street arts fair occurs Downtown in Durham Central
Park Saturday Sept 20th and Sunday Sept 21. Bull Durham Blues
Festival will be at the DBAP on the other
side of Downtown, Friday, Sept. 18th through Sunday, Sept. 21. To
subscribe or help other subscribe to a weekly Durham eCalendar, click here.
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Artist Studios Coming Back Downtown
 Artists'
studios used to dot Downtown Durham, but many were pushed out as its
resurgence began. While overall, Durham now has 28 art galleries, many still
Downtown, with the revival of Golden
Belt by Scientific
Properties, artist studios are returning and this time, they will be much
more accessible to visitors and residents.
The
old factory complex on the eastern edge of Downtown, where tobacco bags
and foil wrappers for chewing gum were manufactured will open in June with
living spaces for artists as well as a ring of 35 working studios
centered around a gallery. Artists as they work, along with the gallery,
will be visible to visitors. On April 5th and 6th, the Durham Artwalk will showcase
many of the art galleries Downtown and in the Hayti district.
For
information on space and leasing availability call (919)
967-7700.
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Online
Patrol
 Collaboration
between DCVB and the Durham Police Department isn't new, nor
is the idea of officers participating on listservs, e.g. Partners Against Crime.
But what is new is that DCVB and DPD have tested and are now expanding
listserv's that are organized around various types of businesses rather
than geography.
The
first has been a successful listserv for the nearly 70 general managers
of Durham lodging properties and on which several Durham officers now
participate both to share tips but also to monitor reports of suspicious
activity. Now at the request of DPD, DCVB is
organizing and deploying listservs for retail (including convenience
stores,) restaurants, features and events and transportation.
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The End of
Tobacco Rd.
 A new web exhibition chronicles the
last year of Liggett & Meyers in Durham, North Carolina. An adaptive
re-use of the complex of unique factory buildings and warehouses will
soon open, expanding West Village, overall the
largest adaptive reuse of historical buildings ever in North Carolina.
The
exhibition was created by Lynn Richardson, head of the North Carolina
Collection at the Durham County
Library,.
Photographer
Laura Drey says about the exhibit: "In these photographs I have
sought to chronicle every aspect of Liggett to provide people with an
inside look and a greater perspective...Because of Liggett & Myers
Tobacco Company's enormous significance to Durham's history. Liggett's
leaving marks the end of the era of cigarette manufacturing in Durham."
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Frommer's
Recognizes Museum of Life and Science
 Frommer's
Budget Travel Magazine - a guide highlighting the best travel
destinations and deals nationwide recognized Durham's Museum of Life and Science as one of
North Carolina's top ten visitor features from a ranking provided by The NC
Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Division.
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