The revitalization of downtown Durham has been a passion for city planners, developers and citizens over the last 15 years.  Through the 1970's and 1980's the downtown area languished.  Retail stores and restaurants closed.  Central Carolina Bank (now Suntrust) held onto their anchor position in downtown, but other major banks left the area and The Durham Herald-Sun built a new headquarters in the suburbs and locked its doors downtown.

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The revitalization of downtown Durham has been a passion for city planners, developers and citizens over the last 15 years.  Through the 1970's and 1980's the downtown area languished.  Retail stores and restaurants closed.  Central Carolina Bank (now Suntrust) held onto their anchor position in downtown, but other major banks left the area and The Durham Herald-Sun built a new headquarters in the suburbs and locked its doors downtown.

But the 1990's and the new 21st Century have been very good for downtown Durham.  

Downtown Durham Restaurants and Dining

There are now 43 restaurants in the greater downtown area, with the true center of the downtown area picking up a number of high-end and eclectic restaurants just in the last five years.  Rue Cler, The Piedmont,  The Down-Under Pub, Revolution and Toast Paninoteca joined many others like Tosca, Chamas, Tyler's Taproom and others at Brightleaf and along Main St.  It is truly an exciting time for downtown Durham.

Office and Residential Spaces in Downtown Durham

Buildings like Golden Belt cotton mills, the American Tobacco Warehouses and the Liggett and Myers Tobacco buildings have been transformed from dilapidated old buildings to fresh and beautiful office buildings, and residential condominiums and townhomes.  Downtown Durham is becoming a destination for a new breed of urban livers in The Triangle. Projects are for significant residential growth in downtown Durham over then next few years, and it appears values are going up in that area.  The American Tobacco area and the West Village areas offer very nice residential living options. 

Downtown Durham Entertainment

Downtown is also a "happening place" for entertainment. The historic Carolina Theater was refurbished in the 1980's. Its quaint movie theatre shows first-run and art films nightly.  It 1,000 seat theater hosts music, plays and entertainment weekly.  The brand new Durham Performing Arts Center is considered the nicest large theater in the Southeast.  In its first full year of operation it was used by over 200,000 patrons and made a profit.  The 10,000 seat Durham Bulls baseball field is home for the national champion Durham Bulls.  The Bulls are a Division AAA baseball affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team.  

The Durham Performing Arts Center is a great place to watch major off-Broadway products, such as the following, which were in Durham in 2009:

• RENT starring Adam Paschal & Anthony Rapp*- January 20-25, 2009 
• Jesus Christ Superstar- March 6-8 , 2009
• Fiddler on the Roof starring Topol*- March 17-22, 2009 
• Legally Blonde The Musical- April 14-19, 2009
• Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple*- May 12-17, 2009 
• Cirque Dreams Illumination*- September 15-20, 2009 
• Grease starring Taylor Hicks- October 6-11, 2009
• Phantom of the Opera - December, 20009

During the first six months of opening DPAC sold out 25 shows including musical acts Willie Nelson, Steely Dan, and Harry Connick Jr., comedians Bill Cosby, Lewis Black and a number of the Broadway shows.
 

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