INC NEWS - Duke wants any number of 1/2 acre stores (letters in today's Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

Letter: Ask Duke questions
Herald-Sun, 10 October 2006
 
As a Duke employee, I know that Duke does try to
adhere to its commitments. When Duke pledges "to make
sure its Central Campus redevelopment won't include
any retail stores that are larger than 20,000 square
feet," we need to be clear about what this entails. 

First, there is no commitment to the precise number of
stores that will be located on Central Campus. Thus
three stores of this size will amount to 60,000 square
feet, the equivalent of three Eckerd's. In other
words, any planning commission considering Duke's
rezoning application for Central Campus needs to ask
questions about the total square footage that will be
devoted to retail, and not just the size of individual
buildings earmarked for this purpose. 

Second, Duke now has just under 23,000 square feet of
retail space in the Bryan Center on West Campus. From
this it already generates several million dollars of
profit, mainly from the sale of Duke paraphernalia.
This is due in large part to a captive market of
students as well as visitors who come to the West
Campus stadiums for sports events. 

If Duke envisages a significant increase of total
retail space on the remodeled Central Campus, this
will have to involve targeting a larger market,
meaning Durham residents. Or else Duke will need a
massive increase in the size of its student body. 

If Duke is going to have to target this larger Durham
market as a matter of simple economic sense, the
merchants on nearby Ninth Street need to start asking
some hard questions. 

Kenneth Surin
Durham

The writer is a professor of literature at Duke. 
 
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Letter: Duke gives runaround on new central campus
Herald-Sun, 10 October 2006
 
As a taxpayer and local merchant I am just outraged at
the runaround Durham and its citizens are receiving
from Duke University regarding the rezoning of Central
Campus. After nearly four years of stonewalling,
Duke's rezoning request at tonight's Planning
Commission will allow the university to build any
number of 20,000 square-foot stores on campus. This is
a major departure from Duke's earlier statements to
the community that new retail on Central Campus would
not exceed 10,000 square-feet total. 

Why won't Duke work with the community? Why is it that
a wealthy, tax exempt organization that has
consistently opposed payment in lieu of local taxes
now wants to compete, at a tax free advantage, with
local retail businesses? What is going on here? 

Competition is fine. As a local retailer I welcome it,
but only if the playing field is level. To grant the
possibility of such massive retail space to an entity
abusing its tax status puts small local merchants at
the bottom of a very steep hill. 

As presented today, Duke's request has the potential
of undermining local business for miles (this is not
just about Ninth Street) while lining their own tax
exempt pockets. 

I hope the days of Duke calling the shots in Durham
are over and the Planning Commission will send Duke
back to the table to negotiate honorably with the
community stakeholders who've been working on these
issues. 

Carol Anderson
Durham

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