A $5.25 million economic development incentive package approved by the Durham City Council this week will help fund the first phase of the the planned 1.7 million square foot science and technology “Innovation District.”
The Raleigh News and Observer reports that the Longfellow Real Estate Partners and Measurement Inc.’s plan to develop 15 acres between Duke Street and Durham’s Central Park will have 126,000 square feet of lab space and 145,000 square feet of offices, an 820-space parking deck and a public park along Morris Street.
The Central Park area, home to the old Durham ball park where the movie “Bull Durham” was filmed, once a warehouse district, has been gentrified with unusual shops, restaurants, and coffee shops in former garages. The whole of the Durham downtown area is experiencing a renaissance, with new apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants, shops and the American Underground’s startup incubators.
The first phase will cost $87 million. The incentive $5.25 million will be paid out of a 15-year period when the project is completed with the promished private capital invested.
Construction should be completed by 2019 and payments would begin in 2021.
