Central Park, a five-acre green space in the heart of downtown Durham and one of the city’s most vibrant community hubs, is the latest downtown mainstay slated to get a makeover in coming years.
The project is part of a broader comprehensive plan for the Durham Parks and Recreation department, which the city council will vote to adopt at its meeting on Monday, and other strategies in the works to make the most of downtown spaces.
In 2023, the city contracted with Raleigh-based civil engineering firm McAdams to provide planning and engagement consulting services, including the development of a plan for Durham Central Park (McAdams has worked on a number of projects across the Triangle like Gipson Play Plaza, and is also leading the much-anticipated Durham Rail Trail project.)
Most significantly, the plan, developed through a multi-year collaboration between the City of Durham, Durham Central Park, Inc., and McAdams, calls for leveling out the sloping green hill on the east side of the park that’s sandwiched between Liberty Warehouse and the Vega. Other than using it for a rolling cheese race, the hill’s steep incline has a restricted set of uses. Instead, the design team plans to create a “great lawn” with tiered seating and a space for a small stage to accommodate concerts and other events.
Reimagining Mount Merrill, the playground space that is often overrun with tiny tykes and toddlers every Saturday morning during the Farmer’s Market, is also high on the priority list. At a city council work session last week, Shweta Nanekar, a representative from McAdams, says the expanded play area could potentially include a water park feature and other natural amenities around the creek nearby that kids could play on.
“How can we create more of that nature play element for kids and families to experience the urban nature in this area?” Nanekar said.
Other improvements include making entry points at the north, west and south sides of the park more inviting, and redesigning underutilized areas like the Sister Cities Grove next to Glass Jug and the small trail and garden behind Foster Street Apartments.
Nanekar says the groups hosted a series of public engagements, including pop-ups at the park, open houses, site visits with subject matter experts, and a three-day charrette, all in service of designing the most dynamic 2.0 version of the cherished community space. Participants voiced a desire for more inclusive and flexible public spaces with better ADA access, integration of natural elements, and a more seamless and pedestrian-friendly transition between the various areas of the divided park landscape—particularly across Foster Street, which currently splits the park into separate zones.
The half-block strip of Foster Street between Hunt Street and Corporation Street is routinely closed to vehicle through-traffic due to the packed calendar of events hosted at DCP, notably the downtown Farmer’s Market. The new DCP plan calls for installing retractable bollards and possibly changing the street surface to give the section of street a “pedestrian-first” look and feel. Council member Chelsea Cook, who rarely shies away from trying to extract more from a development project, asked why the street couldn’t be permanently closed to motor vehicles. Nanekar said the design team is working with the transportation department to explore different options which include installing bike lanes as part of the city’s Bike+Walk Implementation Plan.
“If we’re really serious about encouraging pedestrian space,” Cook said, “I would lean toward cutting it down to no vehicular traffic and allowing other modalities but of course leaving space for emergency vehicles.”
But plans for Central Park are just one piece of a broader vision for transforming downtown Durham in ways that encourage people to get out, walk, spend money, and participate in the community. This year has been a season of reimagination for Durham leadership as they continue to try and right the ship post-COVID. In March, Discover Durham presented its annual report which expanded on the organization’s master plan, and shared updates on Durham Next, the new nonprofit created to facilitate big ideas like a new convention center.
And last week, Nicole Thompson, CEO of Downtown Durham Inc., and Scott Page, principal at Interface Studios, presented DDI’s Downtown Durham Blueprint 2035, a vision for how to re-revitalize the Bull City’s business improvement district. The plan laid out ways to engage the swarm of downtown residents who seem to be hibernating inside their apartments, simplify navigating the district by improving signage and making parking more accessible, and luring residents and visitors with attractive new and updated amenities.
During her opening remarks, Thompson acknowledged that downtown Durham is not what it was a decade ago. Many businesses came and went as the market changed, new construction erupted across the district, and COVID lockdowns altered consumer habits, with more folks working from home and ordering delivery, even if they live in a high rise within a stones throw of Durham’s best culinary offerings. DDI worked with Interface Studios and youth arts collaborative Blackspace to develop the blueprint and re-engage residents and visitors in the coming years.
Like their peers at Discover Durham and Parks and Recreation, DDI is prioritizing building more pedestrian-forward spaces for in-person gatherings, highlighted by redesigning a series of disjointed plots along Mangum Street that currently include a parklet next to Luna, swing set in front of a Black Wall Street historical plaque, and a city-owned surface parking lot. The new destination would be called Black Wall Street Gardens. The blueprint also looks at redesigns for Parrish Street and CCB Plaza, creating a wider, more cohesive pedestrian zone.
And of course, the plan examines the downtown loop.
“Is it really a master plan, a plan for the future of Durham, if we don’t talk about the loop?” Thompson said to a room full of laughter and jeers.
Changing the loop has been running around in our collective minds for decades.
“It continues to be a race track around the middle of our downtown,” Thompson said. “It prevents the movement of people from the center of downtown to things that we are now seeing in the north part …They got to cross four lanes of traffic, and if they want to go to the library, good luck. So it’s a challenge, and something that I would love to see movement on.”
For all the consternation about the loop, it’s not highly-trafficked. Page said about 8,000 cars a day drive on the loop, way less than what a four-lane roadway is designed for.
“This is fundamentally a trail project,” Page said, “and this is the opportunity to take something that is a highway and transform it into a trail.”
While the loop is the main focus, the blueprint also looks at strategies for the loop’s extremities: Roxboro, Mangum, and Duke Street, which have been at the intersection of many conversations with transit advocates, downtown business owners, city leaders, and other stakeholders in recent years. Page reminded folks that, like those streets, the loop is state-owned, making them a key decision maker in future loop plans, along with Norfolk Southern, the freight train company who owns and operates the railroad tracks that run parallel to the loop on Ramseur Street.
Durham now has an abundance of plans between its tourism agency, downtown business district, and city officials. But with the specter of economic uncertainty looming, how quickly can we expect to see shovels in the ground, or paint on the road? Durham has elected four mayors since changing the downtown loop was first discussed back in 2009. The land for the Durham Rail Trail was purchased in 2018, yet the project, barring any setbacks, isn’t set to finish until 2028; a decade later.
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