"At an average rent of $22 per square foot, Selig said, that’s $11 million a year that the university pumps directly into the pockets of local landlords."

Lots of money goes into the pockets of Duke administrators, too. Here's bonus data from the 2008 IRS Form 990 that not-for-profits must file:

Duke Health Chancellor Victor Dzau ($983,654 bonus)
Duke Health CEO William Fulkerson ($318,799 bonus)
Duke Health VP Kenneth Morris ($264,691 bonus)
Duke Management Company's Neal Triplett ($729,749 bonus)
Duke Management Company's Anders Hall ($434,804 bonus)
Duke Management Company's Andreas Ritter ($434,804 bonus)
Fuqua Professor Dan Laughhunn ($1,031,673 bonus)

Are the bonuses given for finding tax-free business opportunities? Additional property tax revenue helps our low-income children. Who benefits from the bonuses?

Duke has historically made some payment in lieu of taxes, but not anything near the tax payments they would make. Unfortunately the link that would display their impact seems to be broken: http://durham.duke.edu/

I'm disappointed that Duke is snapping up this building. Seems like some developer/entrepreneur could have a use for it if given the opportunity and time to know it would be available. 10 days isn't much time to put a deal together in the private sector. Who is Kalkhoff referencing that has expressed interest? Have they been given the time and opportunity that Duke surely was before making this offer. Seems very fast.

Duke will continue to lease space downtown, but their impact would be much greater if they only leased from private landlords who pay taxes and continue to develop new buildings. I suppose even Duke is having to show fiscal restraint in office leasing.

In the end anything Duke does to promote growth downtown is value add, but like payments in lieu of taxes it may only be a fraction of the potential benefit.

@Clif-
The co-op seems to be pretty settled on the location at Broadway and Mangum. They have an option on the property, initial plans, and their capital campaign is centering on that piece of land.

Re: PILOT-
Duke currently pays $300,000 a year for fire protection services. Duke is also currently paying around $350,000 a year for the Bull City Connector, and gives money to different neighborhood groups through the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. Duke also pays impact fees associated with new construction on campus.

Duke owns property with a value of at least $450 million--I only added up properties valued at more than 1 million.

I understand that both Duke and DUHS are considered not-for-profit, but the health system pulls in about $250 million in "surplus" (read: profit) each year. Perhaps Durham could give a little bit more to help downtown revitalization and safety & security efforts in neighborhoods that directly abut Duke's campus. Increasing funding to both of these will benefit Duke by making the university a more attractive place to study, live, and work.

[as always, my comments reflect my personal opinion and not that of my employer]

@Kelly-
I meant to write that Duke should give some money to downtown revitalization and safety, not Durham.

I didn't go to Duke. I don't work for Duke. I've always hated Duke's basketball team. But the notion that Duke University hasn't done enough for Durham is laughable. Durham wouldn't even exist without Duke. American Tobacco renovation wouldn't have happened without Duke. West Village wouldn't have happened. The DPAC wouldn't have been built without Duke's gift ($7.5m?) and the ADF would be in Raleigh, etc., etc.

Duke brings tens of thousands of people to Durham every year to teach, work, study, or receive treatment in the hospital. Those people all buy stuff here, eat at restaurants here, and pay a lot of taxes here. The University pays for the water they use and for City fire protection. They have their own police (who also patrol the neighborhoods around East Campus since the City wasn't doing it). They build and maintain their own utility infrastructure and streets. They have their own public transportation, and supplement ours. I really don't see what services the City is providing to Duke that aren't being paid for several times over.

@RWE: I did go to Duke. I do work at Duke. And I do love Duke basketball. But I also live in Durham--and while Duke is doing better at stepping up to the plate and being a part of the Durham community, your picture of town-gown relations is pretty one-sided. Just start by taking a look at how much Duke-owned property in Durham is off tax rolls. A LOT of acres--university, medical center, forest, hotel/golf-course--a LOT of property. You bring up streets--what streets do you think all those Duke employees drive on to get to their jobs on campus or to their parking lots (many of which are strewn about in neighborhoods around campus)? We just passed a bond referendum to maintain & repave Durham streets--that will be paid for by Durham residents . . . . Did Duke chip in? Public transportation? Bull City Connector aside (it is new, and there was a lot of internal pressure on Duke to provide transportation for its employees to its strung out administrative & financial offices--so it wasn't all motivated by a desire to serve Durham), Duke has done very little to support public transportation in Durham or to encourage & enable its employees & students to use public transportation to get to & from work. Public transportation subsidies? Staff discounts for public transportation? Parking: It used to be that Duke opened its gated lots at 5 PM and people coming to campus for events could park free in the gated lots. Now--those lots are closed all the time so people have to pay to park in the Bryan Center garage--filling Duke's coffers and making it far less attractive for residents to attend on-campus events. Meanwhile, they foist their lack of adequate employee parking off on surrounding neighborhoods, even as they're undertaking a massive building & expansion project at the hospital. Where will all those new employees/patients/visitors park? Probably in some new surface lots they'll create in neighborhoods around campus. So who will host the visual eyesore of acres of parked cars? You won't see it at Duke--it will be Durham neighborhoods. And who will pay for things like the degraded water quality from runoff from those lots, street maintenance from increased traffic to & from those lots. Right. Durham citizens. Despite repeated calls from Durham businesses & neighborhoods for Duke to revise its flex & food-on-points policies to allow students to spend flex dollars in restaurants & businesses around campus, Duke has resisted--so they could keep the 15-20% charge they make off of food on points deliveries to themselves and discourage students from frequenting businesses near campus and in downtown Durham. And Duke police? Please! They mainly police Duke events and run interference for Duke students so they're not prosecuted or punished for their actions.

This is an excellent example of why we need to reconsider non-profit status across the board. The reality is that there is too much money to made at the upper echelons of the non-profit world for the executives to allow the change to happen.

We still have the same issues in the for-profit world of executives raking in the money but at least (tax breaks and incentives notwithstanding), there is a chance of the company paying some tax to the local city or town it's located in.

It's a tough argument to enforce against Duke when you have UNC-CH and its health system creating the same issues for our neighbors in Chapel Hill. Public or private shouldn't be the issue when both deliver the same products (education and healthcare).

>> "Durham wouldn't even exist without Duke."

While we may hear this sentiment from time to time, it's important to know that this statement is false.

In fact, one could easily say that Duke wouldn't exist without the generosity of Durham citizens.

Near the end of the 19th century, Trinity College president Braxton Craven was arguing strenuously for moving his struggling school from Randolph County to an urban center. Craven appealed to the Methodist Conference to "deliver Trinity College, this child of Providence, from the bondage of its birthplace and thus lead it out into the open world of grander opportunity."

According to William K. Boyd, Duke professor of history, the "college was in bad financial condition, and there was talk of closing its doors" in the late 1800s.

By 1892, Trinity's new president John Crowell shared the belief that if the school were to survive the rapidly changing conditions of the new South, it had to move from its old campus -- which was at least five miles from the nearest railroad, telegraph, and telephone.

Durham resident Julian Shakespeare Carr was one of those who "came to the rescue." Carr was perhaps the most important person in the early history of the college. In fact, Carr, along with two others, "assumed entire financial responsibility for the institution."

"In such a way," wrote Professor Boyd, "the institution was saved from complete collapse."

In 1892, Carr donated his racetrack and park for what is now East Campus. Durham resident Washington Duke donated money.

Thus, Trinity College arrived in Durham in a railroad car carrying the old college bell, clock, office safe, and several books. A handful of students and faculty also made the trip. (The college’s cow arrived later.)

Had the little school remained in Randolph County, it would likely not have survived the unexpected national economic depression of 1893. With a "newer outlook" and the generosity of Durham residents, the college grew. Its monetary value easily increased over ten times after its relocation.

After the move to Durham, the editor of the Trinity Archive wrote of the college's "incomparably greater advantage to all concerned than ever before."

Indeed, the faculty and student body expanded. As the college grew, Durham citizens took up a collection to pay for Southgate dorm, in memory of the Durham businessman.

Then, in 1924, another son of Durham, James 'Buck' Duke, gave the college $40 million and created the Duke Endowment. The college changed its name to Duke University and started building West Campus. The Duke Endowment continues to support the university to this day.

In recent years, thanks to funding from Buck Duke's endowment and others, the university has made efforts to improve its relationship with Durham. Many administrators (but not all) are working to improve town-gown relations, especially over the past 3-4 years.

From time to time, Duke puts out a press release about its economic impact on Durham. No doubt about it, Duke has grown and expanded -- and has taken advantage of its non-profit status.

It's worth noting the previous comment about Duke keeping a billion dollars plus worth of property off of the tax rolls -- which means Durham citizens have to pay higher property tax rates. (Duke doesn't pay property taxes on its golf course -- or on its hotel/conference center across the street, where rooms have been advertised to travelers at $99/night.)

So, while we may still occasionally hear that Durham wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Duke -- let us not forget that the struggling college was saved, and prospered, because of the generosity of Durham citizens.

Notes: The Boyd quotes are from his book, 'The Story of Durham' (Duke Press). The Trinity Archive quote is from 'Trinity College' (Duke Press).