N&O: World Cafe Live envisioned for Heritage Square

Hat tip to the N&O's Jim Wise for his reporting from the Planning Commission meeting yesterday, where architect Eddie Belk suggested World Cafe Live as a possible tenant for the renovated Heritage Square:

Belk dropped the club's name during the Durham Planning Commission meeting this evening. He was there to speak in favor of an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that would allow nightclubs within 50 feet of a place of worship.

"World Cafe Live provides a broad stream of entertainment," Belk said, including "PB&J" afternoon shows for small children.

World Cafe is the long-running music program from UPenn-affiliated public radio station WXPN, a national pioneer in adult album alternative and world music.

There's currently one World Cafe Live location, in Philadelphia, where a partnership between the university and Real Entertainment Group built a complex including a three-tiered music hall accomodating up to 650, a smaller, intimate cafe, and retail space in a 40,000 sq. ft. Art Deco building. (Hey, who said universities were only good at monetizing the stuff happening in their research labs?)

Comments

[Andrew Edmonds]

Wow, that would be fantastic addition. XPN has been my favorite station for the better part of the last ten years. The station is top-notch quality, and WCL host David Dye is to music interviews what Frank Stasio is to all others. Clone them both!

[JaredW]

Great, but why THERE? Why not in downtown Durham, if we want to get a city full of life going here! The whole might never be greater than the sum of its parts in Durham if we continue to build cool things in random parts of the city (that require driving, etc.). We need more foot traffic, and that can't unless we nurture a specific area more, namely downtown Durham.

[Will]

@ JaredW - I don't think it will matter. Heritage Sq. is years from becoming reality and that was before the economic fallout of the last couple of weeks.

[Visconti]

Jared,

You will only have significant foot traffic downtown when people live downtown. Right now, the number of residents (and planned residence space) in the downtown area is minuscule.