Durham County demonstrates support of Downtown Development; progress, alliteration made

In a continuing effort to keep things moving in Durham, county officials publicly backed financial support of a hotel and mixed use project in the Bull City. With a focus on bringing and keeping people in the city’s interior core, County Commissioners (unanimously, mind you) knocked the gavel in favor of Greenfire’s renovation of the SinTrust tower into a luxury hotel and Chesterfield Partners’ planned revamp of (what else?) a tobacco building into a mixed-use business and residential property.

Sounds good to us. Downtown Durham has already become a terrific place to spend an evening out, especially when you work in a visit to the Durham Performing Arts Center, which is now the premier destination for the arts in the Triangle.

Quietly, Durham is climbing the southeast destination living charts. And with more residential available, especially more affordable residential, Durham’s urban center will become an even greater draw for new business.

Greenfire Development will see its $1 million incentive check only if it actually opens the planned hotel. Fair enough. And Chesterfield is seeing support through the county’s backing of a federal stimulus loan, called a “recovery zone facility bond,” which was created as part of the American Recovery Act. Greenfire has already taken advantage of the stimulus incentive, to the tune of $25 mill.