In the free report available from the link on the sidebar I mention that I wrote much of the report during a period that I was also involved in a Rotary Club project to build a Habitat house in east Durham. Yesterday I attended a dedication ceremony for that house and one directly across the street that was sponsored by several Durham congregations. Everyone involved in these projects including the full time Americorp volunteers, are there to help folks struggling to realize the American Dream of home ownership.  However, it also became clear to me that a possibly unintended consequence is that it helps the whole community by giving it something to be proud of.

Anyone who hasn’t ventured east on Main Street from downtown in a few years might be surprised how the corridor is being transformed. These Habitat houses are on Franklin St. which runs parallel to Main for a few blocks on either side of Alston Avenue. The west end of Franklin ends at the old Golden Belt plant which is being transformed by Andy Rothschild’s Scientific Properties into a mixed use facility for an emphasis on the arts, especially studio space for artists.  For anybody interested in a very detailed review with pictures of what this is all about, I recommend another blog called “BullCityRising.” A link to the site is on the left sidebar and you can go directly to the post last month about Golden Belt by clicking here. If you explore the whole blog you will see that it covers this kind of development much better than either of the two local newspapers. It is this kind of information that must be reported over and over again to burnish our image and improve our real estate markets.  If you are interested in what else Habitat has going on in Durham, click here.