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Pettigrew Street Corridor Once a former powerhouse of economic activity in Durham, the Pettigrew
Street Corridor in Northeast Central Durham (NECD) is blighted with brownfields. The City is revitalizing this
community through a comprehensive approach.
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On October 2006, the City of Durham was awarded $200,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for
community outreach, environmental assessment, health monitoring, and cleanup planning activities to support the
redevelopment of several brownfields properties in the Pettigrew Street Corridor of Northeast Central Durham (NECD).
This region was an economic powerhouse that disintegrated as city residents moved to the suburbs and larger national
economic forces negatively impacted North Carolina's agricultural and manufacturing industries. This urban decline
has impacted local residents in many ways. Today, brownfields blight the community, residential areas are adjacent
to numerous chemical and industrial facilities.
The City, community leaders, and city residents have designed a revitalization strategy for NECD. The NECD
Strategic Revitalization Plan was developed through numerous public involvement sessions that varied from large
public forums to small, living room and front porch sessions. The strategic partnership between the City’s Office
of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is
now implementing a phase of the plan. At the core of the strategy is the implementation of several strategic
projects, one of which is the redevelopment of brownfields properties in the Pettigrew Street Corridor.
This area encompasses the planned TTA rail station (known as the Alston Avenue/NCCU Regional Rail Station),
which is one of eight initial stations that are being built in support of the new commuter train line for
Durham, Raleigh, and Cary. Residents want to make this station, scheduled to be operational in 2008, a magnet
for attracting residents and visitors into the neighborhood.
The City is redeveloping the 96-block area comprising NECD into
a viable, sustainable community that is completely integrated into
the City as a whole. More specifically, the City plans to undertake
the brownfield assessment and redevelopment effort in the Pettigrew
Street Corridor in conjunction with other current and planned redevelopments
projects. Besides the new regional rail station, these projects
include the planned pedestrian-friendly infrastructure changes by
the North Carolina Department of Transportation along Angier Avenue
and the innovative HOPE VI public housing development with its mixture
of rental housing and homeownership opportunities. All of these
projects are within a half mile of the vacant brownfield sites that
will be addressed under this project.
The ultimate goal of the Brownfields Assessment Grant is to take advantage of the strategic development advantages
and future growth potential as reflected by the City’s HOPE VI investment to return brownfield properties in the study
area to productive commercial and mixed-use. Besides safely restoring the brownfield properties to productive use, the
Brownfield Grant and HOPE VI investment will help to build stronger, safer, and healthier neighborhoods; generate jobs;
provide social sustainability, complement existing housing revitalization efforts; provide community-shopping
opportunities, and provide a catalyst for further development in NECD and the rest of the City. As an added bonus, by
bringing homes and jobs together, along with services like shopping and recreation, vehicle trips will be shortened
while walking and bicycling become more appealing.
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