The decision to move the Durham School of the Arts (DSA) to a new location presents an immense opportunity for the community to think creatively about new uses for the property and a corresponding responsibility for local government leaders to move quickly and decisively to take advantage of this opportunity.

Let’s start with the responsibility to get moving. DSA plans to open the 2027 school year on its new campus. This means, to state the obvious, that two years from now a prime 17-acre, three-city-block parcel in downtown Durham will be sitting vacant. 

The former police station on Chapel Hill Street presents a case study in how long it takes local government to move (on anything) and the perils of demanding so much that nothing actually happens. As a neighbor of the present DSA campus, my fear is that we will be living next door to a giant empty lot for a decade. 

Steve Unruhe Credit: Courtesy of the subject

There is no reason why the process to determine future use of the campus should not start now. 

The ball is in Durham Public Schools’ (DPS) court—where it has been sitting for the nine months since a final decision was made to move DSA. For sure, the school board and administration already have their hands full just trying to run a school system, with years of neglect by the state and now federal governments.

As long as the site is used for education, it belongs to DPS. The school board has made it abundantly clear it would be prohibitively expensive to put a new school building on the property. So the broader community needs to be invited to participate in a conversation about appropriate uses.

The first step is to engage the community in a forum by which citizens can suggest uses for the site. Local governments do this all the time. They hire a community engagement firm to survey the community and bring the results back to the political leaders. If the school board and administration are not prepared to take this step, then it falls to our county leaders to pick up the ball.

At best, it takes six to twelve months to conduct an engagement process. While it is moving forward, the school board, city and county should also be looking at their own needs that could be addressed at the site.

The opportunity is immense. I am confident that we can do something fabulous and amazing at this site. Just brainstorming, and moving from north to south along the site, I can picture:

  • The current student parking lot—downhill from the rest of the property—hosting affordable housing (or housing set aside specifically for educators); a four-to-five story building would fit comfortably into the neighborhood.
  • Athletic facilities run by Durham Parks and Recreation or the Durham YMCA. The gym is a superb space, the largest in Durham outside of the two colleges. The locker rooms and weight room could be expanded, and heaven knows we need a community soccer field.
  • The historic central building could house DPS administrative offices and a school board meeting room, preserving the original architecture.
  • The previously renovated, and beautiful, middle school building could house a small middle or high school.
  • The “black box theater” or Weaver Auditorium offer excellent performance venues for local theater companies.

This still leaves several parcels of land—each of which is larger than any other available spot downtown—for possible uses. I am confident that others in the community would have many other ideas. Let’s hear them.

Many of the costs of this renewal of the site could be covered. Market housing could be built as part of the affordable housing site or at one of the several other parcels on this large piece of property. DPS could sell its current site downtown to offset renovation costs. 

The point here is “Let’s go!” Seventeen acres in the heart of Durham—this is a dream come true. Durham can prove that local government can act decisively, that as the last school bus pulls out two years from now, construction crews are waiting to pull in and get to work.  

We can do this. Let’s go.

Steve Unruhe retired from a career teaching math and journalism at Northern and Riverside High Schools. He served four years on the DPS school board. He currently is on the boards of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association and Reality Ministries, both of which are adjacent to DSA. The opinion expressed is strictly his own.

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