State of the Economy

Durham continues to evolve. With strong citizen participation and a growing economy, Durham has built on its past and has looked to the future with inclusiveness and excitement. Durham and entrepreneurialism go hand-in-hand. Much economic progress has been made in the last year:

The $16 million Downtown Streetscape was completed.

Durham Rising – an event celebrating the completion of the downtown streetscapes was a huge success.

Construction of the $44 million Durham Performing Arts Center is on schedule and on budget.

West Village Phase II continues to be built out to the tune of $150 million. A $4 million Streetscape project connecting Brightleaf to the City Center will begin soon.

Historic Durham Athletic Park project was approved to include a $5 million renovation and a three-year operating agreement with Minor League Baseball (MiLB). MiLB will use the DAP as a national training facility for its 160 affiliated teams.

A project to renovate the Golden Belt industrial complex into a new campus for artists is now under construction.

Deal Points for a major new redevelopment of Heritage Square project were approved. The site has been purchased for redevelopment.

American Tobacco continues its revitalization. Construction of Diamond View II is now taking place.

Plans for Historic Parrish Street and the Cultural Master Plan continue to be implemented.

The County continues to move forward with plans for the new justice center and human services complex along East Main Street.

The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau continues to gatekeep and build on the overarching Durham brand.

Barnes Avenue, formerly a distressed community, has become a totally new and vibrant community.

North Carolina Central University, Durham Tech, and Duke University continue to grow, expand, and to plan for the future.

Implementation of the Neighborhood Assessment Plan began in five targeted neighborhood commercial areas.

The Hope VI project continues to make progress, providing well-designed, affordable housing for Durham residents.

As more and more people enjoyed Durham’s “New Era … New Place”, we continued to watch our economic indicators to spot strengths or weaknesses.

Population continues to grow at a very healthy pace, 11.8% since 2000.

Both the City and County tax base continue to grow and remain diversified.

Visitor-generated tax revenue to the City and County is approximately $40 million annually.

Durham’s lodging indicators are all up from last year.

Durham’s feature and events attendance increased more than 6% (indexed) from last year.

New construction in 2006 reached an impressive $919 million.

The number of new construction permits in 2007 (to date) maintained a very healthy ratio of 48% residential; 52% commercial.

Durham’s downtown continued its renaissance with more leasable office space, more residential units, and more office workers.

Durham continues to maintain one of the lowest costs of living in the US: Ten percent less than the national average.

Durham’s higher education institutions continue to have an enormous positive economic impact on Durham.

More workers are employed in Durham than ever before.

Durham’s unemployment rate remained low at 3.7%, the same as last year at this time.