To be honest I mostly get the sense that Durhamites are happy to keep to themselves and arenât worried about Raleigh. Feels like Durham has marketed themselves well in recent years
Durhamâs gonna pass a lot of milestones in the near future. Reaching 300k population, passing Greensboro to become 3rd largest in the state, getting an actual skyline, doubling the residential population downtown.
Durhamâs booming but in Raleigh we have stories like Raleigh-based NC Theatre going bankrupt and city leadership doesnât think we have a problem. Given that Cary is going to reach 200,000 citizens in just a few years is Raleigh going to roll over for Cary too?
Weâre bigger than both, growing rapidly, and generally get glowing reviews for liveability and economics, whatâs your point? Every growing city has its drawbacks - Durham has crime and mediocre schools/infrastructure, Cary is a bland suburb with no public transit, and weâve got Fayetteville Street going through a rough patch and generally unrestrained sprawl.
Weâre a long way from Greensboro (which is a nice enough town in its own right).
Live theater never really recovered after the pandemic (except maybe in key cities like NY). Not sure how the NC theater company declaring bankruptcy says anything about Durham booming and Raleigh rolling overâŚ
Raleigh is doing absolutely great. Also going to hit a lot of milestones. Reaching 500,000 people, also doubling its downtown residential population, getting the premiere urban park in the state, the convention center expansion, the history museum renovation will make it one of the best in the country, getting the stateâs first BRT system, possibly getting MLB expansion. All things Durham does not have.
Raleigh will jump up massively in perception. It will be seen as a major city and a very good one at that.
Durham is moving into that transitional range now. It is making very smart decisions, but it has a loooooong way to go before there is ever any danger of it leapfrogging.
I agree. I donât see Durham leapfrogging Raleigh in any of our lifetimes, if ever. the chasm in size is just too great. Even when Durham grows at a faster rate than Raleigh, the gap between the two cities continues to grow. This is a similar story to Raleigh and Charlotte. Raleigh (city) will never be as large as Charlotte (city). When Durham passes Greensboro, the pecking order of large cities in NC will likely be stable for decades. The next possible jump (presuming cities stay on their current paths) is Cary jumping Fayetteville. I just donât see that happening terribly soon.
I could see Winston-Salem jumping Greensboro in 2 more decades as it is growing faster.
Greensboro threads are depressing to read these days. I hope they pull out of their rut and get some residential density in their downtown like the other NC cities are doing.
greensboroâs bringing some great ideas to the table in its own right to be fair. it wants to be a car optional city by 2040 and is investing heavily in its buses and pedestrian infrastructure.
Iâve spent a lot of time in Greensboro the last few months and itâs changed my perception a bit about the city. I think it has a lot of potential, and there are a couple really nice bike and multi-use paths close to downtown that I wish we had here.
Durham is entering into a phase of growth we all know too well. Durham has a great stock of old industrial and warehouse buildings, but they are largely already rehabbed⌠As more wall-street backed development interest enters into DT Durham, gone will be the days of a cohesive gritty, bull-city vibe across the whole of downtown. As across the vast DT Raleigh area, Durham will soon have pockets of Kane-style development with shiny new retail spaces that will sit empty for long stretches of time. Eventually, we may see the demolition of 1-2 story brick buildings with lots of charm and grit, i.e. Brightleaf area, redeveloped into 5-1s and concrete mid-rise buildings with oversized retail spaces, parking decks, trash/loading zones, and mismatched sidewalk experiences. In that era of DT Durhamâs growth, the gold-days of Durham will be in the past in the eyes of many Durham die-hards, understandably.
Durhamâs vibe is no match for wall-street backed development pressure, and their branding may shoot them in the foot in some peopleâs opinion.
TL;DR: Durham is just beginning the sterilization process that rapidly growing sunbelt cities go throughâŚ
The question is: Will quality infill development, like Raleighâs Smoky Hollow and The Dillon, be able to blend into Durhamâs existing urban fabric? The main Durham condo building did a great job (where bulldega is), but that took some serious intentionality that not all out of town investors will go throughâŚ
I went for the first time a couple weeks ago - the battlefield is obviously fascinating, the whole area around UNCG is really funky and pretty in equal measure, and Elm Street is a better street than any in the Triangle in terms of a having great bones for a vibrant urban corridor. Machete is also a truly national-tier restaurant in food and vibes.
Flipside⌠itâs just a sleepy place. Itâs clearly not growing very quickly.
Durm