More than $1.5 Billion

There is more than $1.5 billion in revitalization going on in Downtown Durham, and that includes many businesses and facilities that are visitor related.

This amount would be significant for any community, but it is astounding for a community the size of Durham and especially in light of the geographic size of Downtown.

Even more astounding is that most of it is generated by local developers and organizations. Greenfire, Scientific Properties, Hank Scherich are all locally owned and grown.

I can see the day nearing when Durham will have 800 lodging guest rooms Downtown and more than 100 restaurants, nearly double the number now.

Obviously, Durham’s emergence as a visitor destination has played a role, either generating demand to help justify the increase in supply or creating compression elsewhere in the community.

The big job, though, is marketing to draw more visitors to help play a role in making all of this development viable. We’re up to it.