Old West Durham Neighborhood Association


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 







    Duke's Plans for On-Campus Retail

     

    Update: On May 5, 2005, Duke officials finally commit to University/College zoning for Central Campus, something we in the neighborhoods have been asking for all along.

    We look forward to seeing Duke's Development Plans to see how university officials have addressed the numerous issues raised by different community groups.

    Durham's ordinance stipulates: "limited retail uses, such as university-related bookstores and dining facilities located within other buildings, shall be permitted, to the extent that they are designed to serve the on-campus population of the university and not to attract additional traffic to the campus."

    The questions now are simple: 1) Do all plans proposed by Duke support the academic mission of the university? 2) Are Duke's plans designed to serve the on-campus population of the university and not to attract additional traffic to the campus?

    We will continue to keep a watchful eye on Duke's Central Campus plans and will work with officials to ensure that campus retail operations don't hold an unfair advantage by not having to pay property taxes - thereby undermining nearby businesses that do have to pay taxes.


    This page includes more of Duke's own drawings, newspaper blurbs, quotes from neighbors, merchants, etc, and images of vacant storefronts near campus. Even though Duke officials have insisted they're starting with a "blank canvas" and are just now deciding what to do, you can see drawings of some of Duke's plans for Central Campus here and at the bottom of the page.

    The caption to this image in the 2/16/03 Duke Chronicle says: "Stylized sketches of the proposed renovations to Central Campus include a walking path with gardens and a street lined with shops catering to student needs." Duke administrators had the newspaper pull the drawings off their website faster than you can say, "Duke won't do anything to harm Ninth Street."

    "The point of all this retail has nothing to do with Duke's academic mission and everything to do with Duke making money -- by taking unfair and perhaps illegal advantage of their tax-exempt status. And it perpetuates what I call the Duke ghetto, wherein upper class Duke students spend their entire time in Durham exposed only to other upper class Duke students in an environment conducive to their heightened sense of status. Which I would think would not be an educational goal of the university, but then maybe it is?"
    -merchant near Duke campus

    "This is the kind of thing that would cause a slow erosion.
    One person would go out of business and then another person
    and then another. It would damage the whole persona of what
    has been a thriving area."
    -Carol Anderson, Ninth Street merchant

    "The provision of non-residential space has prompted concern on the part of nearby neighborhoods about how much non-residential space will be provided. This concern is commendable. No one is interested in seeing a project that will negatively impact nearby commercial areas along Ninth and Broad streets."
    -Durham Herald-Sun, letter to editor from Ted Conner, vice president for economic development, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce

    Central Campus in broad strokes: Duke officials offer general ideas on direction redevelopment will take
    -(News & Observer, Feb 17, 2005)

    Duke University Provost Peter Lange and Michael Palmer, director of Duke's Office of Community Affairs, spent much of the evening offering general answers to specific questions about the economic and social impact Central Campus changes could have on Durham. Some community members fear that a lavishly appointed Central Campus will create a cocoon for Duke students, giving them little reason to spend their money and time off campus...

    Kelly Jarrett, who is vice president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association and a Duke employee, compared the school's refusal to eliminate the possibility of mass-market commercial development to the behavior of a 700-pound gorilla...

    Duke has formed four committees charged with examining various aspects of Central Campus development such as housing and dining, academic programs and spaces, and community affairs. None of the committees includes Durham residents free of educational or financial ties to the university.

    Duke talks Central with its neighbors
    (Duke Chronicle, 17 February 2005)

    University zoning allows for "limited retail...to the extent that [retail facilities] are designed to serve the campus population of the University," according to a March e-mail sent by City Planning Director Frank Duke to neighborhood representatives. Businesses that open on a university zone are property-tax exempt, which some Duke neighbors have charged would provide retailers with an unfair advantage.

    Members of the audience also urged the University to add local residents to the planning committees, which currently consist of administrators, faculty and students.

    Duke tells neighbors outline of face-lift
    ( Herald-Sun, February 17, 2005)

    As a neighbor, Duke University is like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla -- that much was stipulated... "Some of you may not be totally pleased with the fact that you won't have a level of detail leaving the meeting that you want to have," Peter Lange, the university provost, said at the outset. "That is not an effort on our part to obfuscate the outcomes of this process."

    Town and gown discuss, disagree about retail, dollars and Central
    (Duke Chronicle, 21 July 2004)

    The construction of Central Campus has not yet started, but already several of Duke's neighbors feel like the University is proceeding with steamrollers. Local businesses and neighbors are frustrated with their lack of information and input about the University's plans for developing Central. They are concerned that in its zeal to make Central Campus an appealing student destination, the University will overdevelop the retail offerings and overstep the bounds of its educational mission.

    "We have to be concerned with our neighbors on Ninth Street because we all sink or swim together," said Walter Cleary, president of the high-performance sports store 9th Street Active Feet. "If they create a retail district, that doesn't generate a lot of goodwill."

    "At Duke, language of security means control of resources, where Duke wants to keep students out of Durham and keep their money on Duke's campus."
    --Simon Hay, Duke graduate student (Herald-Sun, 3 April 2004)


    Vacant storefront, Ninth Street shopping district

    Group backs proposal
    (Herald-Sun, 24 June 2004)

    The InterNeighborhood Council of Durham voted Tuesday night to support a proposed university-college ordinance for Duke's Central Campus, which [adjoins] the Old West Durham neighborhood near Ninth Street.

    INC members agreed that the following businesses should be allowed: three restaurants, an on-campus bookstore with a coffee shop, a performing arts center, a 99-room hotel, a Duke apparel store and a bowling alley. Duke is exempt under state law from paying taxes, and some worry that will give on-campus merchants an unfair advantage.

    According to Karnes Research Co, a firm that tracks commercial real estate in the region, Durham's submarket (from NC 147 to the north) had the second highest rate of retail vacancy rates in the Triangle at 10.4 percent.
    --(Herald-Sun, 4 March 2005)

    Durham and Goliath: Some neighbors fear Duke's plan to develop its campus could encroach on local businesses
    (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 June 2004)

    This stretch of Ninth Street and the surrounding area just a few blocks from Duke University's East Campus has long been an off-campus outlet where Duke students and local residents socialize while supporting a business district that is an integral part of Old West Durham... Duke says it simply wants to serve its students better. But some merchants suspect that the university is pursuing a strategy to keep more student dollars on the campus while providing retail options that would also appeal to local residents... The tension recalls the days when Duke's neighbors and others in the city saw the university as an isolated, arrogant, and sometimes clumsy behemoth that had little outward regard for local folk.

    "Ninth Street has character, a quality sadly lacking in Duke's plans. I jumped at the chance to move my business to Ninth Street ... because it's the last place in Durham where you can walk up and down the street, window-shop, and chat with your neighbors and experience town life."
    -John Browner, Ninth Street merchant


    Vacant storefront, Ninth Street shopping district

    Letter: Duke's unfair advantage
    (Herald-Sun, 21 April 2004)

    Duke's neighbors have supported hospital and campus rezoning as well as a variety of creative, exciting projects for Duke. In return, the proposed Central Campus plans will establish serious, property-tax free competition to the business districts of Ninth Street, Brightleaf Square and Main Street. This unfair advantage for Duke, if allowed by City Council, would be even more outrageous than the contradictory statements and false promises Duke's neighbors have come to expect. No matter what university officials want us to believe, what's good for Duke is not always good for Durham.

    Letter: Apathy benefits Duke
    (Herald-Sun, 30 April 2004)

    While enough of us aren't paying attention, Tallman Trask can rest assured that Duke's demands will be met. If choking off the alternative and spillover parking from the Ninth Street business district and setting its sights on a private retail "Shangri La" on Central Campus under the city's nose isn't impact by Duke, please tell me what is.

    Letter: Duke's tax-exempt status affects all of us in city
    (Herald-Sun, 11 April 2004)

    The city does have increasingly desperate needs. Especially if Duke is going to compete with local businesses above and beyond the scope of its educational mission, then it ought to pay its fair share like everyone else. But whether or not they should pay taxes, it's clear that the fact they don't pay any has a big effect on the tax bill of those of us who do. What would Durham's budget be like -- meaning, how low would taxes be, or how big a surplus would we have if the biggest landowner and employer in the county paid taxes like other companies?

    "What happened doesn't make me feel so good. I love Duke. They're a good neighbor. But their neighbors and the city have reason to be interested in what they're doing."
    -Risa Foster, neighborhood leader


    Vacant storefront, Brightleaf Square

    Letter: No to Duke 'strip mall'
    (Herald-Sun, 13 April 2004)

    Durham's neighborhood associations and merchants have worked hard to accommodate Duke's needs and wishes. We support much of what Duke wants to do, vis-a-vis rezoning and redevelopment, new dorms, and many of the stores and buildings that have logical relationships to Duke's needs (performing arts, hotel, bookstore, and other college-related retail)... But we won't support a campus turned into a strip mall filled with property tax-exempt stores. What is Duke's mission? To educate students or to Wal-martize Central Campus?

    Duke 'closing itself off'?
    (Herald-Sun, 3 April 2004)

    Many of the panelists who convened to talk about the security measures that Duke University instituted after four armed robberies on or near campus last fall criticized the university Friday for walling itself off from the community.

    Duke's security measures have drawn the ire of folks like graduate student Simon Hay, who argued in an e-mail, signed by 60 other graduate students, undergraduates and professors, that Duke was closing itself off from the community in the name of security. "At Duke, language of security means control of resources, where Duke wants to keep students out of Durham and keep their money on Duke's campus," Hay said from the audience Friday.

     

    "Duke's campus has essentially been out of compliance for several decades. Over the years, the university has built dorms, classrooms and hospital wings in areas zoned R-10 or R-8, which allow for single-family dwellings."
    --Herald-Sun, 25 May 2003


    Vacant storefront,     Brightleaf Square

    Herald-Sun editorial: Duke needs to win back neighborhood's trust
    (Herald-Sun, 4 April 2004)

    The Old West Durham Neighborhood Association seems at the end of its patience with Duke University over development issues, and that's too bad for both parties. Old West Durham president John Schelp said last week Duke is more interested in what it wants to do than in fostering a true partnership with adjacent neighborhoods... Duke has raised justifiable ire within the Old West Durham group with its plans for rebuilding Central Campus, including more space for retail than Old West Durham says it agreed to. Schelp and others fear that too much tax-exempt retail in Central Campus would affect Ninth Street, Brightleaf Square and even Northgate Mall. These are legitimate concerns... Duke for its part needs to compromise with Old West Durham to the fullest extent possible, and win back the neighborhood's trust.

    "We are all concerned with the nature of the development and the apparent lack of clarity in what is being proposed, promised [and] planned."
    -Jean Fox O'Barr, Duke prof

    Duke Officials, Community Leaders Discuss Campus Security
    (Duke Dialogue, 9 April 2004)

    Donna Lisker, director of Duke's Women's Center, stressed that trying to keep people off campus wouldn't prevent most of the sexual assaults on Duke students. The Women's Center receives about 40 reports of sexual assault each year, she said, and generally only one report involves an attack from a stranger. Although trying to prevent stranger rape is important, Lisker said, women students should not ignore the greater risk they actually face.

    Prof. Lubiano said she understands what it's like to feel vulnerable: She is a rape survivor, her brother was killed in a liquor-store robbery and her sister-in-law worked in the part of the Pentagon attacked on September 11. Despite this, she said, she doesn't believe in trying to separate Duke from the community in the name of security.

    Duke and Durham debate isolation
    (Chronicle, 2 April 2004)

    Duke's neighbors said the University was slowly pulling into its own bubble, isolating itself from the city it calls home. "It appears from the outside that Duke has very much a fortress mentality and that they don't want to be associated with Durham," said Elizabeth Dondero, president of the Burch Avenue Neighborhood Association.

    "Duke is from all accounts trying to set up a retail cocoon for students and faculty and staff," said John Schelp, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association... David Smith, president of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association, said he has also heard concerns that Central Campus plans will allow Duke to become a community in itself, rather than remaining a part of the larger Durham community.


    Closed storefront near Duke campus

    National: Duke Explains Plans for Central Campus Redevelopment in Durham, N.C.
    (Miami Herald, 11 March 2004)

    Duke University administrators spelled out long-range plans for the redevelopment of Central Campus at a neighborhood meeting Wednesday, repeating one message over and over: Duke doesn't want to hurt businesses on Ninth Street or other commercial districts. But many of the merchants in Duke's formidable shadow were not convinced, after looking at 50-year plans for a hotel, auditorium, restaurants, offices, shops and new housing in the 200-acre wedge between East and West campuses.

    "It doesn't benefit students to stay closeted in what I'm calling 'Dukieland," instead of Disneyland," said Skip Anderson, owner of the Zola Craft Gallery on Ninth Street. He thought the new Central Campus would further isolate Duke students and visitors from the rest of the town. "It's a mental wall created by Duke, by providing for every single student need on campus," he said.

    Letter: Duke needs to keep its promises on new retail
    (Herald-Sun, 28 December 2003)

    On-campus retail would have an impact on the business districts surrounding Duke. Vacant storefronts along West Chapel Hill Street in the West End, Brightleaf Square, downtown and Ninth Street would harm the very neighborhoods Duke is trying to help. Also, existing small businesses would be at a disadvantage because Duke's on-campus retail shops wouldn't have to pay property taxes. Finally, creating an on-campus retail cocoon would further isolate Duke students from Durham... So Duke faces a decision. Will it violate its agreement with the partnership neighborhoods? Will it exceed its academic mission and pursue on-campus retail that would harm small businesses in Durham? The ball is in Duke's court.

    "Although there has been some improvement in Duke's relationship with the "broader Durham community, many of us think there is still a long way to go before Duke is doing its full share."
    -Rom Coles, Duke prof



    Closed storefront near Duke campus

    Zoning request to get city review: Duke planners consider neighborhood concerns about character, open spaces
    (Duke Dialogue, 5 September 2003)

    After months of discussions, university officials and neighborhood representatives have worked out zoning proposal amendments that should preserve an attractive campus perimeter for years to come... One issue yet to be resolved is a possible university plan to replace Duke's two-story apartments complex on Central Campus with a development that might include a limited number of retail shops. Initially the university asked for the ordinance to allow unlimited retail uses that would not be restricted to students. After Old West Durham and Watts-Hillandale leaders (representing the 12 Duke-Durham partnership neighborhoods) expressed concerns that such a development could hurt nearby businesses on Ninth Street, the university decided to remove Central Campus from the university zoning district.

    "We're not going to give up our tax-exempt status."
    -John Burness, Duke public affairs

    "I think it is inherently wrong for an institution to make money off retail and be in competition in a city where they pay no taxes."
    -Carol Anderson, Ninth Street merchant


    Vacant storefront, Northgate Mall

    Column: Duke can do better
    The Independent Weekly, December 15, 2004

    Lured by dollar signs, senior officials at Duke University have been talking about rezoning the university's Central Campus in a way that goes beyond the academic mission of the university.

    Since February 2003, the Duke-Durham Partnership neighborhoods have worked hard to support rezonings for Duke's Medical Center, East Campus and West Campus. Leaders of the neighborhoods around Duke supported the redevelopment of Central Campus, an area between West Campus and the medical center. We worked out with senior Duke officials a list of retail uses we felt would be compatible with the neighborhoods--including three new restaurants, a performing arts center, a 99-room hotel, a bowling alley, a Duke clothing store, new dorms and an on-campus book store with coffee shop. The partnership neighborhoods then voted to support this agreement. The list has remained unchanged ever since.

    Duke then asked the partnership neighborhoods to acquiesce on looming construction projects, such as an eye center, an addition to Perkins library and new East Campus dorms. We did.

    We feel we've been quite reasonable in supporting Duke's needs. In response, Duke has been less than neighborly.

    Retail use supporting the academic mission of the university, such as student restaurants or a campus bookstore, is appropriate. But the partnership neighborhoods voted to oppose retail on Central Campus that goes beyond academic retail, such as general clothing or jewelry stores. This sort of retail would have an unfair advantage over nearby businesses because they wouldn't have to pay property taxes and would undermine the surrounding community.

    Duke, however, hasn't been working in good faith with the community. At a March 10 forum in Trinity Heights, Duke officials acknowledged they're looking at more retail than the list we had worked out.

    Duke's intentions were confirmed when Duke executive vice president Tallman Trask III said at the forum that Duke might ask that Central Campus be zoned "general commercial" by the city. A general commercial designation, which would allow unlimited retail, would be consistent with Duke's actions a year ago, when the university architect went behind the partnership neighborhoods' backs to actively lobby the city's planning department to remove the term "limited retail" from Durham's University-College ordinance.

    For months, university officials have refused to share details of their retail plans with the community. Why the secrecy? Instead, Duke accused the neighborhood partners of spreading rumors that Duke wanted to build more retail. Lo and behold, it appears we were right.

    Bowing to community pressure, Duke is now saying it might offset the loss of property taxes by working out some sort of payment. Why create a special status for Duke retail? Why not just pay property taxes like all other Durham businesses? Why is Duke trying to deny local jurisdictions revenue?

    Creating an on-campus retail cocoon would exacerbate the town-gown tensions that prompted the creation of the Duke-Durham partnership initiative, further isolating Duke students from Durham by discouraging students from patronizing off-campus businesses. A self-contained retail center at Central Campus would transform the Durham Freeway into a physical barrier between Duke's main campus and the bustling commercial strip on Ninth Street. Why venture out to Ninth Street, Brightleaf Square or Northgate Mall when you can shop right on campus?

    A graduate student recently said at a campus forum that "security" at Duke means control of resources--keeping students out of Durham and their money on Duke's campus. The university has now lowered its parking lot gates during off-hours and closed campus streets. The inconvenience and expense of parking at Duke sends a message that outsiders, such as Durham residents, are less welcome.

    Reinforcing this message, Duke recently erected an eight-foot fence and gates along sections of its southern boundary in order to, they say, protect parked cars. And a 45-year-old woman walking her dog on East Campus was recently stopped by a Duke police officer who asked her: "How long do you intend to be on campus?"

    All the while, Duke officials insist they have no intention of isolating the campus.

    With Duke, don't listen to what they say, look at what they do. Throughout the retail discussions, Duke repeatedly claimed they care deeply about the Durham community. Yet, Duke got out of $596,000 in impact fees for their new construction and paid $847,000 less than requested to help Durham cover local costs (figures represent what the city said Duke should pay minus what Duke eventually paid). At the same time, Duke had no problem finding $500,000 to buy iPods for all incoming students.

    Duke contributes far less than Princeton, Harvard and Brown universities pay to their host cities. This money could have funded important projects in our community.

    And while Duke says that all this new campus construction won't have an impact on local traffic because it'll be offset by regional rail, Duke repeatedly resisted a regional rail station at Duke Medical Center.

    Their wish came true when the Triangle Transit Authority recently announced that the medical center station had been dropped from its plans for this stage. Since Duke is Durham's largest employer, including thousands at the medical center, the station could have helped keep cars off area streets.

    With the loss of the TTA rail station at the medical center, Duke's excuse for paying less to the city is no longer valid. So, Duke's check to help cover the local costs associated with its new construction must be in the mail.

    Despite assurances by Duke officials at the March forum that they'd try to better communicate their Central Campus plans with the neighborhoods, we've heard nothing from Duke for nine months. We then read on Nov. 29 in The Chronicle, the student newspaper, that Duke's Board of Trustees was set to approve proposals for Central Campus. Duke officials say the article was wrong.

    Duke could have set the record straight. One thing this episode shows is that Duke doesn't yet get that they need to be proactive in contacting and sharing information with its partnership neighborhoods.

    Since the March meeting, Duke officials have started inviting new presidents of partnership neighborhoods to meetings. The exclusion from this meeting of those with whom Duke had been negotiating Central Campus plans for months raised suspicions that Duke was trying to foster divisions between the partnership neighborhoods they say they want to help.

    There is good news. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently wrote an excellent article describing Duke's retail efforts. The Herald-Sun wrote an editorial saying Duke has raised "justifiable ire" with its plans for Central Campus and needs to win back the neighborhoods' trust.

    And, after months of discussions, the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham, a group that links neighborhood associations from across the city, voted this summer to support the position that the new University-College District is the most appropriate zoning designation for Duke's Central Campus. The INC also supported the list of limited retail uses that was worked out with Duke and endorsed by the partnership neighborhoods in 2003.

    Just before the vote, Michael Palmer, Duke's director of community affairs, tried to have the sentence supporting the retail list removed from the position statement. He failed, and the measure was passed. Despite Duke's effort to manipulate the INC's decision, the vote wasn't even close.


    Vacant storefront, Northgate Mall

    The INC vote represents a setback for Duke's efforts to build on-campus retail that goes beyond the academic mission of the university. We know the City Council is paying attention. We hope Duke's Board of Trustees is, too.

    This year, Duke welcomed a new president, marking a new beginning. Hopefully, Dr. Richard Brodhead will use this opportunity to clear the deck. Fulfilling two simple requests would help move things in the right direction:

    * Have Duke stick to the list of on-campus retail uses the partnership neighborhoods worked out with the university and later was supported by the InterNeighborhood Council.

    * Move the Neighborhood Partnership Initiative out of the Public Affairs office (more concerned about Duke's image than finding real solutions to problems) and into an area of the president's office with more substance. Then, maybe we can bring the word "partnership" back into the mix.

    And maybe we can clear the air and move forward. Then, maybe Duke can go back to focusing on academics and not undermine Durham with its on-campus retail schemes.

    John Schelp is president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association, a Duke-Durham partnership neighborhood that includes Ninth Street.

    At the moment [the Univ-College ordinance] does retain
    the language I showed the neighborhoods and Duke. Duke
    is actively lobbying to change it. They want to change
    the next to last sentence of the permitted uses
    section to read:
    "Retail uses, such as university-related bookstores
    and dining facilities located within other buildings,
    shall be permitted, to the extent that they are
    designed to serve the campus population of the
    university and not to attract additional traffic to
    the campus."
    This proposes to delete the qualifiers of 'limited'
    retail and 'on-campus population.' The effect of these
    changes would be that any retail designed to serve a
    population between the ages of 18 and 65 would be a
    permitted use.
    In effect, Duke is requesting the language be changed
    to permit a Streets of Southpoint as a permitted use
    on the campus.
    -Frank Duke, Durham Planning Director

    "By increasingly closing itself off, Duke is training its students to be closed off from the rest of the world."
    --Wahneema Lubiano, professor of African and African-American Studies,     Duke University (Herald-Sun, 3 April 2004)

    In March 2004, Duke's Tallman Trask suggested Duke may seek "General Commercial" re-zoning for CentralCampus. In ensuing media interviews, Duke switched and started using the term "Mixed Use" instead. While "Mixed Use" makes for better for public consumption, it's still a zoning category that allows heavy commercial/retail use. The photo above shows a "Mixed Use" retail center in Durham.

     

    "The work done to date to determine the space and its
    assets and limitations, was the equivalent of
    "stretching a canvas" and it was now time for the
    university to begin a process to decide what kinds of
    programs might be "painted on that canvas" over the
    next 25-75 years."
    -John Burness, Duke's senior vice president for public
    affairs (12/04/04)


    Duke officials insist they're starting with a "blank
    canvas" for their Central Campus plans. These drawings
    say otherwise. To reiterate, we support Duke's plans
    to redevelop Central Campus. Our concern rests with
    Duke's retail component -- that is retail above and
    beyond the academic mission of the university.

    "You haven't cared what Duke has done for 75 years,
    why should you start now?"
    -Duke official John Pearce (talking on February 19, 2003 to presidents and representatives of 12 Duke-Durham partnership neighborhoods)

    "We're not looking to become a destination for
    non-Duke people."
    Tallman Trask III (March 2004)

    "This is our project, our goals, our principals."
    -Provost Peter Lange, Duke University, May 5, 2005


    "Whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible in one way or another."
    -Richard Nixon, August 17, 1960, Greensboro NC

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