Downtown rumor mill: the Durham Centre close to leasing up?

It's been a few months since Craig Davis Properties closed on the deal to buy the Durham Centre office tower at Morgan and Foster. The tower has suffered from a relatively high vacancy rate, with close to one-third of its square footage being available for lease. (The tower was originally developed by Frank Wittenberg, who had plans to build a luxury condo on the adjacent parcel -- the parking deck was built to support two twin towers.)

CDP's web site continues to list almost 80,000 sq. ft. of available space for lease, but the rumor in downtown development circles is that the remaining office space in the tower is close to being snatched up by a tenant. Which would obviously be a good thing for Craig Davis -- but also a good thing for restaurants and other businesses downtown, since one could ballpark a few hundred office-workers fitting in to that much square footage.

More on this as things develop.

Comments

[Ginny]

When I lived in West Village I used to walk over to that abandoned, withering garden on the roof of the Durham Centre parking deck. It's been a couple years since I ventured up the steps though. Do you know if it's still there?

Also, are you sure that Wittenberg has abandoned his plans for twin towers? Because his Web site says occupancy is planned for 2009. If that's the case, they better get crackin'

http://www.therenaissancedurham.com/intro.htm

[miles]

Ginny, I work there, and yes, the garden is still there and looking rougher than ever. I've thought about trying to start some kind of community effort to fix that place up, because it has some kind of strange appeal, but I've been too buried to take on one more project.

[Carol]

I heard that the Duke Clinical Research center might be going there. The lease hasn't been signed yet though.