Do you want a revitalized downtown Durham?

Do you want a revitalized downtown Durham?

It’s time to show up and support a transformative plan this Thursday night (July 12th).

If you attend, you’ll learn about a new project that will be gorgeous, sensitive to Durham’s unique character, and will not involve a single bed of undergraduate student housing.

But without demonstrated public support, it may not happen.

That’s why we need you this Thursday night.

Thursday, July 12th
7pm at the Oyster River High School
Multi-Purpose Room

WHAT’S HAPPENING THURSDAY NIGHT?

The town is hosting a “charrette” to discuss a new proposal to redevelop town-owned parking lots downtown.

You’ll hear a presentation by our development partner, and then attendees will have a chance to ask questions and discuss the project.

The event is called a “charrette” because we want to engage the public on several key issues regarding public infrastructure, traffic flow, architecture, and the types of uses proposed for the new buildings.

I’ll explain the project below in detail and on my website, which will have everything you need to know to participate on Thursday.

See: http://ideagreenhouse.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df8b7032d55a917a7a9f64e34&id=39a2c9de3a&e=d193c17b03

WHAT IS THE PROJECT?

Durham’s town leadership (including the Town Council and Economic Development Committee) is committed to making fundamental changes to our small downtown area to spur thoughtful economic redevelopment.

Our goal is to transform the downtown into a very adult and “family friendly” environment, with new services, restaurants, office space, and public spaces enjoyed by Durham residents and a much broader mix of ages.

The project to be discussed Thursday night includes:

- Multi-partner collaboration between UNH, the Town of Durham, Peoples Bank, and Tim Elliott of Durham Development Associates.

- UNH as anchor tenant in a new “venture/tech village” building, wherein UNH would relocate the InterOperability Lab (IOL), as well as many thousands of square feet of office and workspace for UNH’s growing commercialization efforts.

- Additional office space to accommodate large and small companies wanting to be close to UNH for many reasons, including access to student workers, research and resource partnerships, and the new Paul School of Business (50 yards away.)

- Significant amount of new parking spaces, likely in a structured garage, to support these new buildings and existing needs.

- Relocation of the UNH Bookstore to a Main Street location, co-located with People’s Bank and a cafe, with additional professional office and/or graduate student housing possible as well.

The Town of Durham must vote to sell or lease one or both of the Pettee Brook parking lots to make the project possible.

See a map of the project area and additional project info here:

http://ideagreenhouse.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df8b7032d55a917a7a9f64e34&id=ee99336510&e=d193c17b03

Tim Elliott & Durham Development Associates has already negotiated a option to purchase the existing Peoples Bank property on Main Street.

UNH has made a commitment to lease substantial space in the new buildings for its bookstore, the IOL, and additional uses.

Now the town needs to provide its publicly owned land, and this means public process.


HOW WILL THIS TRANSFORM OUR DOWNTOWN?

We are attempting to reorient our downtown toward the needs of adults and families, and away from an undergraduate-centric market. The goal is to create a more vibrant mix that everyone likes, including undergrads.

Here’s some background on how we got to this goal.

As a member of the town’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) for three years, and chair for two of them, I’ve been on a team of town leaders investigating how we could better catalyze redevelopment of our underperforming downtown core.

This group of leaders includes Yusi Turell, Ute Luxem, Jim Lawson, Chris Mueller, Doug Clark, Andy Corrow, and long list of other project-specific volunteers. Todd Selig is deeply involved and supportive of our efforts, as are many members of the Town Council.

We’ve produced a number of reports and research on all the major issues: traffic, parking, rising tax rates, student housing, resident dissatisfaction with our current retail mix, and many more.

We engaged UNH to ask how we could partner to spur redevelopment around the university’s strengths. We’ve talked to dozens of developers and property owners.  We surveyed over 70 Durham-based businesses and received their input.

In short, we’ve done our homework. We have a very strong grasp on how and why Durham’s business district does not meet the needs of Durham residents, and what we need to do to change it.

In my words, our work led us to the following conclusions:

1. To make Durham’s retail & services environment more appealing to non-students, we need an infusion of office workers to support businesses all day and year-round. No more seven month student-driven market, no more “pubs and pizza” paradigm.

To begin this shift, we need 200 additional adult workers compelled to spend their day downtown immediately, with a goal of 500 over the next few years.

2. Currently Downtown Durham has little to no office space to accommodate these workers and businesses.

3. Currently Durham has little to no all-day parking downtown capacity for them, either.

4. The regional market for office space is full of cheaper alternatives. Our best hope is to partner with UNH to both relocate their own workers downtown (i.e. IOL and related uses), and to serve as a magnet for businesses that want to have a partnership/relationship with UNH and its research, students, and business school, for whom proximity matters.

Given these realities, we sought out a project that leverages UNH to deliver new office space and parking, filled with high-wage workers who spend their days in town. And this project delivers all of those needs.

The benefits of the transformed market will quickly grow beyond the needs of our new office worker infusion. If we’re successful, we’ll make a new market for businesses that will cater to residents and adults generally, rather than to UNH undergraduates.

Over time, success will breed success, and visitors, UNH families, and the larger Seacoast population will see Durham as a great place to go out to eat, go for walk, enjoy the arts, and mix/mingle in a revitalized scene that includes a wide range of people and uses.

It all starts with UNH-driven office space and affordable all day parking to accommodate it.

WHO IS THIS DEVELOPER?

Our developer partner is Tim Elliott (no relation) from Maryland. Tim is experienced in university/town/private partnerships, and specializes in these projects. He is deeply committed to New Urbanist design principles, which includes walkability, bike-ability, and “park once and walk” strategies.

Tim is also an architect with a strong desire to build gorgeous structures that are high quality and “human scale.”

The best example of his work is at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. You can learn all about the Rowan Boulevard Project and see pictures here:

http://ideagreenhouse.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df8b7032d55a917a7a9f64e34&id=a9aeb8c3e1&e=d193c17b03


WHY SHOULD YOU COME THURSDAY NIGHT?

1. The project could add as much as $30 million to our tax base in the next three years, and more in the next six years.

This will be a meaningful contribution to the stabilization of our tax rate, which is projected to increase significantly if new development doesn’t broaden the tax base.

(Note that we could also choose to lower the school budget and/or not move forward with a new library, town hall, fire station, or other planned public investments. Personally, I prefer new development in our downtown rather than cut services.)

2. The retail, restaurant, and service mix downtown will be much improved. Expect better food, family-friendly spaces, and some classy options in beautiful buildings.

3. More parking for everyone, especially at night.

4. Possible arts/entertainment options, in partnership with UNH or other local orgs/entities.

5. New bookstore to serve all our media/music needs. A great places for all ages to hang out, especially our high school students.

6.New streetscapes and plazas, including space for outdoor concerts and/or a permanent home for our farmers market.

7. High paying “knowledge worker” jobs and high-growth companies, minutes from your door. For some of us who live near downtown, the possibility of walking to work at a non-university job!

8. Higher housing values. As we become a desirable place to work and have a business, housing values will rise.

9. This project helps UNH become a more active player in our town and regional economy, leading to a more sustainable university with diversified revenue and better industry partnerships.

10. We’ll make a statement that Durham is a vibrant, attractive, intellectually stimulating, and growing center of ideas, dynamic people, and smart-growth principles.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

Because the Town-owned Pettee Brook lots are the key to the entire project, our Town Council will have to agree to sell or lease them.

As residents, taxpayers, and voters, we need to show our Town Council that we support the project.

As you may know, there are vocal and influential residents in Durham who are reflexively worried about developers, development, UNH, “taller than one story” buildings, uncontrolled architecture, parking garages, and using public resources to spur private development.

You can be sure they will attend on Thursday, and their voices will be heard.

Until the Town Council votes to sell or lease town-owned land, nothing is certain. Durham is very good at saying “no,” “maybe”, and “only if...”

Let’s attend Thursday and help Durham say YES.

You may not love every aspect of this proposal, and may disagree with me in spots.

But keeping the big picture in focus, this project is our best hope for remaking Downtown Durham into all it should be, and all it could be.

Thanks for reading. If you want to forward this email or links to friends in town, please do. I’m happy to talk with any of them this week or anytime.

See you Thursday?

Tom Elliott
26 Edgewood Road
603-995-1666 or tom.elliott@manyspears.com