“This is the neighborhood,” he says, splaying his fingers across a homemade grid of orange, green, gray and yellow rectangles. “Here is the Durham Athletic Park and Durham Central Park in green. Everything in orange is owned by members of this eight- to 10-block planning area who are participating in our planning group.”

Checkmarks indicate the parcels that already have been developed or currently are under development. Clark's 539 Foster, a partially mixed-use condominium development on Foster Street, will be at least 90 percent residential and is one of several neighborhood projects on the horizon. W Architecture's Trinity Lofts building preserves the bones of an old tobacco warehouse to accommodate trendy Soho and Tribeca floor plans. But Clark fixes his gaze on a large, gray rectangle.

“Craig Davis bought not only the tower, but because he bought the tower he got this parking lot across the street from the YMCA,” he says. “I suspect he's going to build something rather large, because he's a big thinker, big builder — much bigger than the rest of us combined.”

For now, one project stands above the rest. Clark and other property owners recently founded Durham Athletic Park Area Planning Associates to collaborate on how best to develop the parcels surrounding a downtown treasure, and the focus of a $5 million, city-funded renovation project: Durham Athletic Park.

Diamond in the rough
Twenty years after the 1987 movie “Bull Durham” wrapped, and 12 years after the Durham Bulls baseball team moved from Corporation Street to Blackwell Street, residents still relish the days when game beers cost 50 cents and the “Snorting Bull” reigned supreme among crowd pleasers. Original box seats still accommodate fans of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) baseball games and attendees of other events held there, such as the Bull Durham Blues and World Beer festivals. But residents say the park, known affectionately as DAP, doesn't buzz with activity the way it had in the past. Fading paint, yellowing grass, and rusting stands expose a lack of use and decline in maintenance standards.

All that is about to change.

In 2005, Durham residents approved a $4 million DAP renovation. City leaders asked Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, a full-service construction and development company based in Baltimore, to create the revitalization plan. The addition of several features and improvements took that sum up to $5 million, but the city council readily approved the increase.

As part of the renovation, an interactive Minor League Baseball fan experience concept is developing, which would be located near DAP. According to Womble Carlyle partner Don Etheridge, the concept led the city council to request his firm's client — Minor League Baseball — to operate the newly renovated park as a complement to the fan-experience plan being developed by the organization. It simply made sense.

“The city wanted a professional organization to operate the park, so in tandem with the dialogue going on with the Minor League Baseball fan experience, it was agreed for them to come in and operate the park once the renovation work had been done,” Etheridge says.

“This also provides Minor League Baseball with an operating baseball park for training use,” he adds. “From cleaning seats to maintaining the field, we're basically going to have a major league baseball-quality playing field there.”

The city's agreement with Minor League Baseball entails the organization's ongoing management and maintenance of the field and stadium, thereby providing a laboratory for training ballpark personnel, broadcasters, and umpires.

“We're ecstatic about this opportunity,” says Alan DeLisle, assistant city manager for Durham's economic and workforce development. “We've always had it in mind to renovate DAP, but one of the biggest question marks was, 'Who is going to operate it?' When the Minor League Baseball opportunity opened up, our dream came true.”

DAP also will serve as a venue for NCCU baseball games and will remain the site for several city festivals.

“They've been there in the past, and they will continue to be there,” Etheridge says. “This will be a challenge for Minor League Baseball, but it will also be an opportunity for them to train and show baseball owners and other municipalities how to have non-sporting activities on the field with no damage.”

Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse will serve as the project's contract manager at risk. Boston's DIAQ Architects, which was involved in the renovation of Fenway Park, will create a design, development and review process for the renovation.

“The goal is to begin construction this spring, and we'll try to have all of the renovation work completed — including a brand-new field with a state-of-the-art irrigation system, new clubhouses and other modern features ” by the end of 2008,” just in time for the 2009 collegiate baseball season, Etheridge notes.

Other proposed improvements include a patched and recoated concrete grandstand featuring new restrooms and clubhouses below, groundskeeping building, new right-field batting cages, picnic area, and improved parking lot.

George Davis, who owns Stone Bros. & Byrd and serves on the Durham Athletic Park Area Planning Associates committee with Clark and runs his business just across the street from DAP, anticipates first-class results and a retro “Bull Durham” look.

“The scoreboard will be moved from left field to right field and will no longer be electronically operated,” he says. “It will be hand-operated, such as it was in the early days.”

The proposed fan-experience facility likely will be located in close proximity to the ballpark and should connect the Minor League Baseball dots.

“When fans leave, they will feel like they've experienced everything about minor-league baseball,” Etheridge says. “They will be able to sit behind a catcher's mask, hit 90-mile-per-hour fastball pitches, and sit in a booth where they can call a game and then take home a DVD of it. They'll learn how baseballs are made, and all of the other physics associated with baseball.”

The experience also will allow for children's birthday parties.

A walk in the park
Durham Central Park district's namesake, established in 2001 by the nonprofit Central Park Inc., will sprawl five acres of urban green space and mingle walking trails with art, recreation, and local business. Governed by a volunteer board of directors, Central Park partnered with the City of Durham to reclaim green space under demolished buildings and parking lots.

Citizens planted a garden in memory of former Durham resident Grace Richardson, constructed a natural trail with assistance from student volunteers, and planned a creek restoration and stormwater treatment project that controls erosion and contains a naturally vegetated filter system.

The Pavilion at Durham Central Park, located across the street from the great lawn on the corner of Foster Street and Hunt Avenue, accommodates the Durham Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon from April through November, and 10 a.m. to noon from December through March.

At the producer-only market — which features more than 50 vendors located within a 70-mile radius — local farmers and craftspeople can connect with and educate the community, says Erin Kauffman, market manager.

“We do that by both offering a retail outlet for locally grown food and locally made crafts, and by providing educational opportunities for the community to learn about local food and craft production,” she says. “The market also hosts events such as cooking demonstrations by local chefs, who are well-known for buying local and cooking with the seasons.”

The pavilion also is available for private functions for $350, or $250 for nonprofit-related events.

“We want this to be something people make use of, with lots of activities going on,” says Camille Berry, executive director of Durham Central Park. “This facility is not just for the Durham Farmers Market. It's also user-friendly for parties, family reunions or picnics.”

The Liberty Arts Pavilion, located at one end of the great lawn, is operated by the nonprofit Liberty Arts Inc. and accommodates castings and other art gatherings.

Future plans for the park's great lawn include adding landscaping and a trail to level it out and make it more walkable, constructing a stage for outdoor concerts and performances, installing a playground, and embellishing the area with more works of public art.

“We are an open-air gallery, so we're always on the lookout for public artwork,” Berry says.

Central Park hopes to obtain future funding for a spray garden with water features, as well as to remove the asphalt from Roney Street, which currently is closed, so it can be filled with dirt and reconnected with the landscaping for a more contiguous feel.

“On the immediate horizon, we will be installing benches and picnic tables,” Berry notes. “We've been told, 'We'll come, but there's no place to sit.' ”

Benches crafted by area artists will be used as another way to infuse more art into the park, and many will be available for sponsorship by individuals, companies, or groups. Berry hopes to have several benches and picnic tables in place this spring.

The district's retailers include Claymakers Studio, Durham Farmers Market, Manbites Dog Theater, The Scrap Exchange, Yoga Spot, Cricket Forge, Stephen Peters Design Works, Durham Brazing and Common Ground, a green building and supply company located at 326 W. Geer St. that recently opened and will offer kitchen-design services.

“Everything we're selling is green — counters, cabinets, flooring, tile, paints, plaster, air and water filtration systems, composting toilets, and more,” says Paul Toma, owner of Common Ground.

“The work with the revitalization in the Central Park district is like what we do at our business — it will re-use the area, recycle it, and bring it back to where it was and better,” he adds.

Down Foster Street is the Central Park School for Children, which business owners say helps engender a sense of community and comfort as the charter school's classes walk through the park. Vicky Patton, president of the school's board of directors, is pleased with the area's prosperity and hopes it will continue to supply a portion of the diverse student population the school currently accommodates.

“We know from our school that diversity in the classroom makes for a richer education for all, and we believe that diversity in our neighborhood will ensure a more vibrant experience for all,” she says. “We hope the powers that be will try to ensure inclusiveness for all as the area continues to prosper.”

Davis is familiar with this pattern of prosperity. He has observed the district's cyclical ups and downs since arriving on the scene in 1976, but is quick to note its stubborn survival.

“We've seen the good, we've seen the slide, we've seen the bottom and then we began to see the growth,” he says. “Now we're in the growth cycle of the revitalized downtown area.”

As Clark's scraps of paper transform into brick and mortar, business owners, city leaders and developers who savor downtown Durham's good old days will usher in an era of good new days for residents.

Davis, who plans to develop his property within the next five years, believes the cycle is on the upswing for good this time around.

“We're excited about the neighborhood and the way it's coming back,” he says. “This is what needs to occur, and we're starting to see the upstart of a lot of things around here. It's very exciting for us especially. We never gave up on downtown.”

Elizabeth Shugg is a freelance writer based in Apex.

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