The Central Park Historic District topped Preservation Durham’s annual list of Places in Peril, as developers have swooped in to either buy or redevelop several key buildings, with a plan to build condos and apartments.
The most notable landmark in the district is the historic Liberty Warehouse, which is scheduled to be demolished. Roger Perry of Chapel Hill plans to build apartments on the site.
Here are the other endangered spots:
1. Cemeteries rarely rank near the top of budget priorities, and the state of the city-owned Maplewood and Beechwood cemeteries reflect years of underfunding: Broken gravestones, rutted roads.
Cedar Glasgow, the city’s cemeteries administrator, has asked City Council to budget $6 million to fix up the cemeteries; some of the repairs are 50 years behind schedule.
2. Historic streetscapes: Durham could lose at least 13,000 trees to over the next 20 years, according to a 2013 report by the Environmental Affairs Board. And that doesn’t count the thousands mowed down by development.
3. Durham Police Department headquarters on West Chapel Hill Street: DPD is planning to move its HQ, possibly to East Main Street, near the Government Services District and historic Golden Belt mill. An example of modernist architecture, the building was designed by Milton Small.
4. The South Gregson Street corridor makes a repeat appearance on the list. The Medical Arts Building and the Eloise (designed by architect George Watts Carr), are both owned by Bill Fields.
Boarded up, the Medical Arts Building has been disintegrating for years. Considering the development happening in that areathe new 605 apartment complex for exampleFields could be holding out for the highest bidder.
This article appeared in print with the headline “Duke can’t expel senior.”
