New Sandwich Place/Butchery coming to the area soon

The Durham Magazine Blog has an interesting article about a two budding entrepreneurs, Katie and Justin Meddis, who have recently moved to the Triangle from California and are looking to start a small organic butchery and sandwich/pastry  shop in Durham. They are calling it "Rose's Meat Market  and Sweet Shop." Between them, the couple has extensive culinary experience and deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and business practices.

The couple is currently looking at retail space on Ninth Street (the old Magnolia Grill space, anyone?), Watts-Hillandale or Trinity Park. In the meantime, they are doing a series of private dinners where you can check out chops

East Campus Wall gets two access points; creates greater connectivity to Ninth Street

Since the very beginning the relationship between Duke University and Durham has been a complex one, mostly friendly, but sometimes fraught with disagreement and, particularly in the late 80's and early 90's, strained by Durham's rising crime rate. I have often heard long-term residents joke that stone wall ("the Wall") that runs along the perimeter of the East Campus is the physical manifestation of Duke's reluctance to engage with a wider Durham community, and that the University was literally trying to wall itself from the city and regretted not making the wall a bit taller

Photo by Bryan Roth.

This new entrance to East Campus was constructed by the Buchanan Boulevard-Main Street intersection. Duke is adding two entrances for pedestrian traffic. Photo by Bryan Roth.

But this was all in the past. Since early 00's, Duke has emerged as the principal force behind the wholesale reinvention of Durham as a vibrant, diverse, and tolerant place to live and work. And nowhere is this relationship obvious than the widespread popularity of the East Campus Walk,  the 1.5 mile gravel pathway circling the Wall, which has become a magnet for joggers, strollers and walkers. Far from walling itself from the community, Duke's wall and the pathway that runs alongside of it, morphed into a public space.

Until relatively recently, however,  the access to the walkway was constrained by the lack of pedestrian access from Broad and Main streets. The University recently changed that when, taking advantage of the Water Main repair work on Main Street, it added two additional entrances  -- the first changes to the wall in over 30 years -- one at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets, and the other on Main and Buchanan Street. In addition to the existing entrance off Broad and Perry Streets, the West side of the East Campus is far better integrated into the Ninth Street  Shopping District.

While this is indisputably a very positive development, Duke and the City have additional work to do before the East Campus can be said to be truly integrated into its surrounding communities. The most obvious and lacking issue is the lack of sidewalks on the outside of the wall across large portions of Board Street, the entire length of W. Markham Avenue. The need to have such a sidewalk is obvious, as evidenced by a clear walking trail created by students and residents, as they navigate mud, grass, roots, stones and other obstacles.Here is to hoping that it will take Duke less than 30 years to recognize this need and build such a sidewalk.

Read the Duke Today article about the new enterances after the break.

New Proactive Rental Regime Begins in OWD

 A little over a month ago the City of Durham rolled out a new Proactive Rental Inspection Program (PRIP), designed to "proactively identify and remediate rental housing that does not meet the [code and related ordinances]. This program is the implementation of the March 5 resolution of the City Council enacting the PRIP ordinance. As described more fully in a previous post, this represents a significant change in the way the City investigates and enforces violations of the housing code in rental properties.
 

The city has designated several "priority zones," including a significant portion of the OWD and Trinity Park neighborhoods (see map below) in which all rental property owners will undergo periodic inspections to ensure compliance with Durham's Minimal Housing Code. Furthermore, landlords whose property registered three or more housing code violations in the past 12-month period will be required to register their property with the Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services (DIS). 

The trigger for proactive (i.e. unprompted) inspections will be something called "Reasonable Cause", defined as (1) a history of 3 or more violations in 12 months; (2) a complain has been received; (3) there is knowledge of unsafe conditions, or (4) violations of the code are visible from the outside of the property. Both single-family and multifamily buildings will be targeted, with penalties as high as $300 a month, and a maximum penalty of $5,000 for failure to register properties found to have more than 3 code enforcement violations.

This program is long overdue, particularly in the neighborhood like ours, where upward of 50% of all properties are rentals. While most neighborhood landlords have been diligent and conscientious in up-keeping their properties, a few bad apples have cropped up here and there.

Although this program is a great start, several areas for improvement immediately jump to mind:

1. Increase the maximum penalty - given potentially significant costs of repair, some proverbial "slum-lords" may make an economic calculation that it is simply cheaper to pay a $5,000 fine rather than fix up their dilapidated eye sore of a building. To change this calculus, DIS should have the power to fine $5,000 per violation. 
2. Create a publicly searchable database of all properties found to to have three or more code violations in a year, including the fines levied and the business address and telephone number of the registered owner. 

Still, this a step in the right direction, and I hope with time, the program will be revised and strengthened to improve the overall appearance and safety of our neighborhood. The full scope of the program is described in greater detail after the break.

Harris Teeter construction to start late summer; lots of other development to follow

The yesterday's Herald Sun has a good summary of all of the new development coming to Ninth Street, from the new Harris Teeter (which has undergone significant design changes in response to the neighborhood concerns) to renovating the space formerly occupied by George's Garage, and the shops along the west side of Ninth Street, including "Duck Shop" and 701 Ninth Street.

Much of this has been covered by this bog previously, but one significant piece of news is that the developers have secured all of the financing and now seem primed to begin renovations in late summer/early fall.

1. The look of the new Harris Teeter on Ninth Street
2. Redesign drawings for the former George's Garage Building
3. Suggestions for improving Harris Teeter parking lot 

For a look at the proposed designs, see my previous posts above. The full article is reprinted after the break.

Durham Homes Sales Up in May

 The Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) reports that the Durham Home Sales were up 38% this month compared to the same time last year. As can be seen on the chart below, this continues a positive trend that began in January and continues to accelerate. The Durham market performed better than the region as a whole (up 26%). The median sales price of a home increased by $2,250 from a year ago to $177,250 with the average price of a home at $197,639 (3.5% increase). The days on the market have gone down by 9 from 120 to 111. Finally, in another crucial detail, the months supply of inventory is sharply down from 11.2 months in 2011 to 7.2 months now, a decrease of 35.8%. 

The full breakdown is  embedded after the break

Local Indy's 2012 Best of the Triangle Winners

The Independent Weekly, an alternative Triangle weekly, is famous for many things, including outstanding music and entertainment reporting, groundbreaking investigative pieces and high quality and in-depth local news reporting.

But perhaps one of its most visible features is the "Best of the Triangle" series in which people vote for a broad range of best in everything - from a radio station to a strip club, with restaurants, bakeries, groceries, music stores, and anything-else-you-can-imagine thrown in between. And, as in most years, the Ninth Street and its adjacent area business did not disappoint.

In fact, it is striking how many of "best in the triangle" establishments of all sorts are located within a one-mile radius of Ninth Street. From a music venue to a pool bar, a jeweler to a fabric store, a dance studio, top-notch french food, fantastic breakfast, sea food, coffee shop, bookstore, B&B, cake-maker, and frozen desert, one cannot walk more than a few feet without bumping into an establishment of one sort or another that has been voted Best of the Triangle.

A full list, clocking at a staggering 23 different categories of best in the Triangle Ninth Street businesses is after the break.

City studies parking situation on Ninth Street; can new parking deck be in the works?

In the last year I have covered many planned construction and development projects around Ninth Street, including the controversial Harris Teeter, the Circle Nine apartments, the renovation of the space formerly occupied by George's Garage, and other miscellaneous projects. 

But while growth -- smart or otherwise -- is on the way, questions have been raised by local businesses and residents alike about the future of Ninth Street Shopping District, particularly in light of the attention the newly revitalized downtown Durham has grabbed in the imagination of the local leaders and the national media.

One such concern, expressed very clearly by several business owners of Ninth Street establishments, as well as  the commenters to this WRAL article about Ninth Street, is the lack of parking. Aside from street parking, shoppers can park at a city-leased lot directly across the street the Regulator Bookshop Shop. There are also some parking lots on Hillsborough Road and on Iredell St. but no clear guide or path to find parking for a person who is not familiar with the area. 

So it was with some interest that I have recently learned that the City Council has recently commissioned a comprehensive parking study for Ninth Street and Downtown, retaining Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to provide professional consultant services on the situation. 

If, as I suspect, the consultants determine that there is a lack of sufficient parking to attract additional shoppers to Ninth Street, the most logical remedy would be to build a well-designed and unobtrusive parking deck somewhere in the strip, perhaps replacing the surface parking lot. If designed and built correctly - this new parking deck can be a boon for business, giving new shoppers an easy and clearly demarcated way to park without subtracting from the overall pedestrian and small-town feel of the area. 

Several Ninth Street Restaraunts Featured in the New York Post

A few days ago, the New York Post has published a fairly extensive article  detailing culinary delights of the Triangle, with Durham restaurants getting banner treatment. Two-- or three, if you count the recently closed Magnolia Grill -- of the neighborhood restaurants were featured: Vin Rouge and Watts Grocery. The write commented on both the inventiveness of the food, the high quality of the ingredients, and the atmosphere.


The entire article is reprinted after the break.

New tenants for 721 Broad Street

Anyone driving down Broad Street will be hard-pressed to overlook a massive renovation that is taking place at 721 Broad Street, a former one-story building occupied by Triumph, a mental health counseling agency, that has now morphed into a striking two-story building with the help of BLOK architecture and its principal, Sasha Berghausen.

Well, it looks like the renovations are almost over and several new tenants are moving into the building. First, Sasha reports that a boutique shop will be occupying the front of the building. Next, American Dance Festival will be moving its offices into the building, together with a new bakery concept -- allegedly called Hummingbird -- the brainchild of Army Tornquist of Watts Street Grocery. And, finally, the Outsiders Gallery is growing and will be adding a second location, dubbed "Outsiders Too," projected to open on August 1. (While on the subject of Outsiders, check out their appeal for funds to refurbish the old space and add to the new space here)

Adding to the excitement, the former parking lot between 721 Broad and Nataraja Healing Arts will be turned into an outside patio and exercise deck.  Read more about this project here.

It is amazing how just one building has the potential to transform a formerly hum-drum stretch of Broad street into a vibrant community space!