Duke in Durham

The pace on campus may slow down during the summer, but at Duke's newest facilities in downtown Durham, life is just starting to bustle.

This spring, Duke added more than 150,000 square feet to its already substantial downtown offices for a total of 528,000 rented square feet. In addition, 15 different university divisions moved into Duke's newly renovated Smith Warehouse on South Buchanan Boulevard.

These newest residents are changing the look of downtown Durham -- and downtown Durham is changing the way these Duke employees work.

For Duke arts outreach and communications assistant Beverly Meek, a change in office space has also meant a change in perspective. Meek lives within walking distance of her new office in Smith Warehouse, at the edge of downtown.

"I enjoy the walk into work," says Meek. "You see the world differently. You see people you don't normally see. You run into people you haven't seen in a while. You see a greater variety of things. You get another world view. Your world is less insular."

Another walker is web application developer Mary McKee, who works in the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) on Blackwell Street, where the university is the largest tenant. During her daily walks, McKee keeps in touch with the constant changes in the downtown landscape.

"ATC is close enough to my apartment that I can walk in to work," she says. "It is also within close walking distance of lots of new restaurants. You'll walk to one place, and see another one opening. By working here, we are really in touch with the growth that is happening in downtown."

McKee finds the benefits of working downtown extend beyond the shopping and dining options near her office. Being downtown has also made some of her projects run more smoothly.

"We just finished developing a new online map for Duke," McKee says. "We had to coordinate with the City of Durham for some of the GIS data for the map. It was neat to be within walking distance of the city offices that we worked with."

Some Duke employees are finding creative ways to take advantage of their new office spaces. For Senior IT analyst Rick Root and his colleagues, their move to West Village -- a mixed-use project developed by Duke alumni Christian Laettner, Brian Davis and Tom Niemann -- has meant weekly lunchtime cookouts in their office courtyard.

"When we heard there was a grill over here, we decided we would take advantage of it," said Root, who has also enjoyed other downtown amenities since moving.

"I like that we can walk to all of the restaurants and shops," he says. "For Valentine's Day, I just wandered over to Morgan Imports. I also bought some chocolate for my wife at Parker and Otis. It's been very convenient."

The shopping by Duke employees illustrates what Duke's vice president for Durham and regional affairs, Phail Wynn Jr., means in calling Duke an "economic stimulus package" for downtown Durham.

With almost 2,000 employees downtown, Duke University and Duke University Health System are helping to build that ‘critical mass' of employees necessary to sustain downtown businesses and attract new local businesses to establish downtown Durham as a unique retail and social destination," Wynn says.

Scott Selig, Duke's associate vice president for capital assets, says Duke intended to support the downtown economy when it began planning the direction of its growth.

"It has been a very conscious effort over the past ten years that has really borne fruit over the last three," Selig says. "As Durham goes, and especially as downtown Durham goes, so goes Duke."

"We know that Duke is only as good as Durham," Selig adds. "If we are trying to recruit the best and brightest students, the best and brightest faculty, the next Nobel laureate, we've got to show them that Durham isn't just a university town -- it's a thriving city -- and downtown is the place to do this."

Duke administrators hope both Duke and Durham will continue to thrive and grow. Wynn, whose own office is in the West Village complex, can already see downtown Durham becoming a shopping, dining and entertainment destination for residents throughout the Triangle.

Says Wynn: "I know that by the time this year's incoming class graduates, downtown Durham will be the place to live, work and have fun, all the while retaining the charm and distinctiveness that makes our city the kind of place that draws some of the world's most interesting and creative people."