In my opinion, Durham does not have a comparable site to penmarc. I don’t know where the opportunity zones are (somebody Google that lol) but that’s a huge part of this proposal.
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I Googled 
Take a look at census tract 23. It just so happens that DBAP is located within this tract. Of course, land acquisition is another story. I don’t want to stray too far off topic since this is a downtown Raleigh forum, but it would be an interesting tactic should things sour between Kane and the current council.
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I do want to point out that one big disadvantage for Kane (if Raleigh ever calls his bluff and things go south) is that most Opportunity Zones near downtown Durham are not going to be development-friendly…
Here’s a screenshot from the link @Avery put up, with a few important districts annotated as well as my personal suggestion for a Durham site in dotted yellow lines (though I’ll explain why it’s a bad idea).
So why is this a problem, Keita?
Translation: unlike the Penmarc/downtown Opportunity Zone, downtown Durham’s opportunity zone is the home to a rich culture and sensitive history -and it remains vulnerable today. It’s NOT something you want to mess with, unless you’re bringing up a real estate equivalent of slavery reparations, or you really just do not care.
A move to Durham would be an interesting bargaining chip, but I feel like a serious attempt at a Durham Opportunity Zone-based NCFC stadium would be nothing but suicide. I can’t think it would be a viable alternative to Penmarc.
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from today’s N&O in reference to the two tracks of land west of S.Saunders St outlined on maps.
"Kane and Malik said that they hope to use two separate parcels — on the other side of South Saunders Street — to alleviate concerns that the change will be bad for the area
On one of the parcels, the group said it hopes to build community soccer fields and on the other it hopes to work with the city to build affordable housing.
“That is a big topic, both for our county and our city, and something that we need to work with them on how to best approach,” Kane said, without getting into specifics.
Later, in an interview, he said that he hoped they could build workforce housing without tapping into the city’s affordable housing fund.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article231718588.html#storylink=cpy
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Workforce housing is a good description of the type of missing housing I have been trying to advocate for on here. I think both of these moves are both very helpful and necessary for the Kane/Malik project to move forward. This balances the ask of the community funding and the diversion of tax monies due to the investment in the opportunity zones. Hopefully it can help counter many of the objections to the project thus far. (Although many of the objections I’ve seen are due to ignorance on the part of the objector and there’s no real good way to convince someone of something if they refuse to know the basic facts. )
The only arrow left in the Kane/Malik quill, IMO, would be to prioritize stadium or facilities related job to qualified applicants near the opportunity zones.
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What? I mean there is a very real chance Kane fails in all three of these projects. If that is the case, why not build somewhere where the city council wants construction, and my child is setting up shop. Kane could put just as big of a mark on DT Durham as he could Raleigh.
Keita, OZ 23.00 is Kanes best bet. Closest to DT Core and the CBC American Tobacco projects. Depending on how development goes OZ 23.00 is going to be extremely dense in the next 10 years, and there is still a ample amount of empty land just sitting there next to 147. And I mean empty they tore down all of the buildings on the south side.
Edit: This is all to say, I am not sure Kane would do a DT South type project in Durham. I think Kane might consider focusing future investment in Durham. I don’t think there are many tracts of land big enough in the DT Durham proper to do a Stadium project. Maybe the Ford/Kia lot, but that is a CBC property.
Yeah sure he could. But are you basing any of this on any kind of inside information on his thinking / strategy, or is it pure speculation?
That was the point I was trying to make.
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This feels off topic but perhaps worth a new thread? May not quality given its Durham based but certainly possible since its Kane? “Will Kane leave Raleigh?”
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Why in the World would a community like this lay out a road map for Kane to abandon Raleigh. Sorry folks but I just don’t get it.
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I certainly think that if it’s easier to develop (do business) somewhere else, then it of course is more tempting. That’s tempting in a lot of cases.
I know we love to speculate but a thread dedicated to the idea of one of our biggest developers leaving town is way to speculative to me.
Positive energy people. If you have concerns, then vote, send emails, work it to help make it happen.
“The grass is greener where you water it.”
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Why not water it with a few fountains?
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Did you notice the water feature in this rendering
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Are you referring to the stream?
Is that part of the Raleigh Green-Way Trail?
Or a water retention “stream” feature?
Just thought that it would be interesting to share a narrative that is being pushed on another forum platform about this project. In the CityData forums, specifically the North Carolina forum and development thread, there’s a Charlotte participant who keeps pushing that this site is 3 miles away from the core of other downtown development. It’s no surprise to me because a lot of Charlotte folks on CityData do all that they can to diminish what’s happening in Raleigh, so much so that they often elevate Durham in the Triangle. Raleigh must be a real threat to their egos since they go out of their way to push negative, condescending and backhanded compliment narratives towards us. In any case, I really wanted to reply to them using my account but their site is not secure enough for me to do so.
That said, I unscientifically pulled distances to places in or near downtown and thought I’d share.
1 Mile to the Farmer’s Market
1.08 Miles to Duke Energy Center
1.2 Miles to Dix Park field
1.3 Miles to Raleigh Convention Center
1.45 Miles to Union Station/Warehouse District
1.5 Miles to the center of Fayetteville Street
1.7 Miles to the Capitol Building
1.9 Miles to the Hunt Library
2.15 Miles to Smokey Hollow
2.28 Miles to NC State Bell Tower
2.5 Miles to Cameron Village
3 miles takes you to Wade Ave @ Glenwood or to the west side of NC State’s campus.
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I see 3 I think, one north of stadium in plaza, the greenway and walnut creek guess counts at one as assume will be landscaped, and one in the “J” shaped building east of stream.
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There’s a grumpy person on the internet? @John, you can’t be serious??? 
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A grumpy Charlottean.
‘charlotte usa’ is the most insecure city in America and has been for decades. I lived there and was baffled by the napoleonic complex they seem to suffer from. Hugh McColl was the poster child of this. He’s a diminutive guy in stature, literally but was so obsessed with making charlotte usa the epicenter of the world. he had a board (that was rated one of the worst in corporate america btw) that wrote blank checks for him to build his banking empire…until it came crashing down in '08. BoA should not exist today except the federal government bailout. anyway, I digress. the charlotte crowd is literally the most insecure town I have ever visited or lived and I have been in virtually every major city in America a lot.
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Are these line-of-sight or based on available road metrics?