We at BCR couldn't make the mid-day Downtown Durham Inc. annual meeting last week, but BCR reader (and occasional marketing consultant) Phil Marsosudiro could. A longtime Durham resident, Phil attended the North Carolina School of Science and Math before heading to Brown University for his undergraduate degree; he also blogs at The Archer Pelican.
In this guest column, Phil shares his thoughts on last week's DDI meeting. Among the highlights: Tom Bonfield's strong statement in favor of a bus/trolley connector between Duke, downtown and NCCU -- something the new city manager describes as critical for bringing a "critical mass" of people to patronize the urban core's restaurants and shops.
I’ve attended several DDI annual meetings in the half-decade, and I’ve appreciated how they’ve changed the format from year to year. This year, they even changed location – moving from the Durham Convention Center to the Cotton Room at Golden Belt.
In many ways, the Cotton Room was fitting for the DDI annual meeting: an old space, long dormant, now not only rescued but improved as a part of a downtown that is not only reviving but also growing in new ways. After languishing for years as a property of the Durham Housing Authority, Golden Belt came to life after it was purchased and developed by Scientific Properties, which is led by former DDI chair Andy Rothschild.
The published theme of this year’s meeting was “The Year Cool Became Hot," but the real theme might have been “momentum,” which was mentioned repeatedly throughout the 2-1/2 hour event. Or put another way, “OK, folks – no one can doubt that we had a big run of success in 2009. Now let’s keep it up.”
Even the name itself seems to portend some of the evolved positioning of downtown over the years; DDI seems to have abandoned the word “funky” (a favorite of Rothschild) and now just uses “cool." They may have skipped right over “gritty."
Among the highlighted achievements of 2009 were: the Durham Performing Arts Center debut, the Durham Station opening, Burt’s Bees’ move to the American Tobacco Campus, the start of several major government construction projects, and a Triangle-leading office occupancy rate, with the papers noting last week that downtown's office space vacancy rate is about half that of the region as a whole.
Of particular note -- even if surprisingly so to those who spend too much time in the weeds of individual public hearings to notice -- was the heavily-stressed importance and quality of collaboration between City, County, business and DDI. It was a point made by Measurement Inc. marketing chief and DDI chair Wink Swain, DDI executive director Bill Kalkhof, and numerous panelists over the course of the event. Said one of the day’s speakers, “I have to voice my amazement and appreciation to the city and county. I’ve lived and worked in other parts of the country and have never seen anything like this.”
It didn’t used to be that way around downtown, but you could feel the love as Bill Kalkhof presented the 2009 Visionary Award to Alan DeLisle, former head of economic and workforce development for Durham.
One thing that struck me about Kalkhof’s sincere speech was that he never once mentioned that DeLisle no longer works or lives in Durham (he’s now in Louisville), or that DeLisle nearly died in a work-related accident shortly after he arrived in Louisville (he’s doing better now, thank goodness).
I think he didn’t mention it because he assumed everyone in the room was close enough that they already knew. I liked that. I also like that Kalkhof gave DeLisle one of the actual barstools from Tyler’s where they launched “many an idea over a glass of beer.”
Selected quotes from Kalkhof and Swain:
Paraphrased from Bill Kalkhof: Fifteen years ago we launched DDI at a meeting of eight people. Now look at all of you. And you all look so good, too!
Kalkhof also spoke strongly in support of downtown's new skatepark, which has emerged as a flashpoint in this year's election, but which the DDI head noted brought a very diverse crowd downtown for recreation.
Wink Swain: “Andy Rothschild [helped us] get past a feeling of inferiority – to be proud of who we are.”
(Intentional or not, this recalls Rothschild’s speech to the DDI meeting from the middle of the decade, when the developer urged us to realize that we weren’t keeping up with Raleigh, which, for example, had just killed-via-bureaucracy their plans for a major downtown art installation. Instead, Rothschild said, we were actually surpassing it -- with, for example, the fantastic Georges Rousse project which was done grassroots, without any need of government funding, motivation or debate.
“Let Durham be Durham” was the Rothschild quote I wrote down at that meeting. Beautiful.)
Swain added, “I’ve been around since way back when – when we thought a one-way loop and no on-street parking was a good idea.”
“Downtown is the heart and soul of Durham. As goes downtown, so goes the rest of Durham.”
Among the panelists, when asked if they had any one suggestion for how to continue downtown's revitalization, the ongoing theme was one of continuing a course of investing not just within downtown, but around it.
Dorian Bolden, owner of Beyu Caffe (soon to open at Five Points): “Spur investment in new small businesses. I know that many established funds have run out. But if the city can find that money for businesses with a business plan…”
Alice Sharpe, longtime downtown resident and leader: “I urge the county commissioners, city council, and managers to continue to take the risks of investing in downtown.”
Tom Bonfield, Durham City Manager: “It’s not only about out of towners coming to downtown, but also longtime Durham peole seeing downtown for the first time. What’s coming next to make a big difference? Public (construction) projects including Rolling Hills and Southside will extend the downtown to fill space that’s currently dark or dead. And the big one [that needs to come]? The Duke/downtown/NCCU trolley line is the most critical thing we can do to bringing life to downtown. If we can move that mass to downtown on a regular basis…”
Bob Klaus, general manager of Durham Performing Arts Center, added the importance of first impressions, and called for a team effort to work on improving the aesthetics of Durham's gateways.
Phil - nice post! My wife and I had lunch at Toast today, then walked around downtown. The lovely weather nicely set off some of the great things we've seen happen in downtown Durham in just the 2+ years we've lived here:
- Five Points has nearly a critical mass of well-attended retail establishments, with more on the way (we're thinking of you, Beyu Cafe!)
- Rogers Alley - so happy to see Dos Perros restaurant is up and running with a full daily schedule -- those are great buildings all.
- Parish St - we enjoyed the new historical sculpture/markers, now we'd like to see some current history being made, with more street-level activity!
I could go on, but you get the picture. Let's keep up the momentum, Downtown Durham!!
Posted by: Toby | November 03, 2009 at 04:23 PM