durham inc.
THE STATE OF DOWNTOWN OFFICE AND RETAIL SPACE A C L O S E R L O O K AT T H E C U R R E N T G R O W T H A N D M O V E M E N T I N T H E C I T Y C E N T E R AND HOW ITS BUSINESSES AND SHOPS CONTINUE TO FOSTER A L I V E -W O R K- P L AY L I F E S T Y L E F O R E M P L OY E E S A N D C U S T O M E R S A L I K E BY A N N A- R H E S A V E R S O L A | P H O T O G R A P H Y BY J O H N M I C H A E L S I M P S O N urham continues its upward trajectory as it re-imagines how to bring residents and workers back into downtown office spaces, urban dwellings, retail bars and shops. According to the latest report produced by Downtown Durham Inc., there are over 4,700 residential addresses in the downtown area, including 877 affordable homes, with another 4,200 announced for future development. There are 265 (and counting) retail shops, bars and service-oriented businesses, including close to 50 new ones. The city center has about 4.6 million square feet of office space with nearly another million expected to be added in the next year. Average occupancy rates over the last three years hovered around 86%. The city’s steady postpandemic growth is a healthy sign of recovery. Durham is “right on the heels” of three other biotech hubs in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Francisco and San Diego, California, said Casey Angel, communications director for Longfellow Real Estate Partners, which specializes in spaces for wet labs and offices for innovative bio companies. As of last year, nearly 700,000 square feet of lab space was
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built in downtown districts like the Durham Innovation District, one of Longfellow’s properties along Morris Street. An additional 414,000 square feet of laboratory space is expected downtown, per the DDI report.
“To see [Research Triangle Park] … and all of the creatives and scientists and engineers and innovators who come out of our great universities, people are moving here,” Angel said. “There’s a great quality of life
Duke Clinical Research Institute Facility Services Director David Sielaty meets with Kim Bowman, coordinator of space planning and a designer in one of the newly renovated community spaces at 300 Morris.
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here in the Triangle that I think a lot of people are recognizing. It’s inclusive. It’s exciting. It’s up and coming.” Duke Clinical Research Institute, which was established in 1996, was one of the first Duke groups to move downtown after considering many other potential locations in 2006, according to Facility Services Director David Sielaty. “We wanted a landmark location close to restaurants and the heart of the city,” he said about their office at Durham Centre on Morgan Street. DCRI currently occupies 105,000 square feet across seven floors in the building. In pre-COVID-19 times, the company occupied more than 310,000 square feet at Durham ID’s 200 Morris development, which is now subleased by Google. Sielaty said DCRI has about 1,000 faculty, staff and contractors, but the company allows both remote working and for people to come into the office – they mostly do so on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. “We’ve become proficient at Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other virtual platforms,” Sielaty said. “We will have occasional larger meetings in our building as teams host and encourage in-person meetings monthly or quarterly.” Office amenities include complimentary coffee, tea, filtered water, a massage chair station, pingpong and vending machines. DCRI’s landlord,