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For those of you who have lived in the Durham area for a while, I wanted to get your perspective on efforts to bring more quality businesses to the North Durham area (nicer restaurants or shops, i.e. not fast food or dollar stores north of I-85). I love it up here (especially my house and am generally okay with what we have in the area (basically I knew what I was getting into), but I have been curious about the history of efforts to get more up here especially since the whole Publix debacle. Even though I was disappointed by even the promise of something like a Publix not coming in this area, I understood why residents reacted the way they did for that particular area (it was zoned residential and shouldn't have been considered for commercial). However, I wonder if people up this way are just generally opposed to commercial development? It seems there are some very heated opinions about it up this way although there are no lack of pawn shops, dollar stores and fast food places that go up every so often. I would love it if more quality restaurants, etc. came this way so we don't have to venture downtown for this. I couldn't imagine there is a lack of market for these places - Picnic and the likes do very well. Any thoughts on the matter are welcome!
I grew in the area, although I no longer live in that part of Durham. Still have plenty of family and friends who do. I also read a lot of the responses on Nextdoor. There are certainly many who had an issue with the whole re-zoning thing. But would probably welcome some development esp. if it was something similar to Picnic.
I do think are residents who don't want more development. They live in that part of Durham because of how quiet it is and like the lack of congestion. I certainly can see their concern if it's not done well. I don't know too many who want that part of Guess Rd. to start looking like it does further south around Carver.
I didn't understand why residents were against Publix going in there. Wasn't there a Harris Teeter there before? If so, how would Publix have made a differential impact? As someone who grew up in FL and a fan of Publix, I was disappointed by this decision by the area residents. It would have been nice to get a Publix on the west side of the Triangle.
Retail and dining go where the market is....but it takes a lot of time. There will always be those who want to keep the "character" of an area low density residential. I'm not judging them for that .... but it is something to consider when living further away from urban core areas.
I didn't understand why residents were against Publix going in there. Wasn't there a Harris Teeter there before? If so, how would Publix have made a differential impact? As someone who grew up in FL and a fan of Publix, I was disappointed by this decision by the area residents. It would have been nice to get a Publix on the west side of the Triangle.
No... this area is not developed and is currently zoned for residential. The developer wanted it changed to commercial.
The main concern was definitely the location of the grocery store, which would have been between Little River Elementary and Latta Road (which already gets congested) exacerbating traffic problems out that way. If they were to put it somewhere on Roxboro, then you would not have as many complaints.
Harris Teeter does have a store in North Durham, but its on a corner that’s a bit more friendly to commercial development. The current store was built on land that previously housed a movie theater. (EDIT: I heard that store got robbed this morning and the store is no longer 24 hours)
Last edited by Renownedtheworldaround; 05-31-2018 at 05:56 PM..
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and am generally okay with what we have in the area (basically I knew what I was getting into), but I have been curious about the history of efforts to get more up here especially since the whole Publix debacle. Even though I was disappointed by even the promise of something like a Publix not coming in this area, I understood why residents reacted the way they did for that particular area (it was zoned residential and shouldn't have been considered for commercial). However, I wonder if people up this way are just generally opposed to commercial development? It seems there are some very heated opinions about it up this way although there are no lack of pawn shops, dollar stores and fast food places that go up every so often. I would love it if more quality restaurants, etc. came this way so we don't have to venture downtown for this. I couldn't imagine there is a lack of market for these places - Picnic and the likes do very well. Any thoughts on the matter are welcome!
