Commercial revitalization strategies for West Chapel Hill Street
Creators: name: Arnold, Andrea C.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The West Chapel Hill Street corridor is a short commercial district connecting downtown Durham, North Carolina to Duke University. While it may link these two important destinations, the corridor is not a thriving and attractive business district; both the city and the university, however, have demonstrated an interest in revitalizing the area. The city has designated the corridor as a gateway to downtown and Duke has prioritized the revitalization of areas adjacent to campus. The Economic Development Committee of the Quality of Life Project (QOL) has been focused on improving this corridor and one of their proposals is to recruit a drugstore to the neighborhood in order to serve the convenience retail and pharmacy needs of surrounding residents and commuters. The overwhelming response from representatives of national chains, owners of independent pharmacies, and real estate professionals is that this corridor is not the right location for a pharmacy. The most important site location criteria for national retail drugstores include parking, population density, and visibility in high-traffic areas. Retailers must be in a location that is convenient and accessible and where there are a lot of potential customers. While thousands of commuters drive along West Chapel Hill Street each day, they are unlikely to stop in the middle of their trip and are more likely to shop closer to their origin or destination. Without a destination along the corridor, commuters will have no reason to stop in this "no man's land." Additionally, the population is too low within a 1 mile radius of West Chapel Hill Street and the parcel sizes are too small for the required land size of national chains. Independent pharmacies are concerned with crime and competition and West Chapel Hill Street not only has the perception of the crime, but there are two locally-owned pharmacies less than a mile away. For chain drugstores and independent drugstores, the interest in locating along the corridor was very low. Even though there are not opportunities along this corridor for a drugstore/pharmacy, QOL can evaluate what can be done in the short term in order to accomplish long-term revitalization goals. Before these long-term revitalization goals can be accomplished, there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed, including underutilized and inadequate parking, small parcel sizes, a disorganized business community, uninvolved property owners, a random mix of existing retail, mismatched architectural styles, outdated zoning, and an unattractive streetscape. Moreover, these problems are being addressed by a small group of committed volunteers who may not have the expertise, time, or energy to adequately implement solutions. Three initiatives are currently in progress which could dramatically help the West Chapel Hill Street corridor, including a zoning effort, a streetscaping project, and neighborhood housing rehabilitation. With significant participation from other partners, there are other initiatives that the Quality of Life Project can undertake to prepare the West Chapel Hill Street corridor for future investment.