City mulls future of century-old Durham Athletic Park
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Durham Bulls fans file into the Durham Athletic Park in 1980. Photo: News& Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
For nearly 100 years, the Durham Athletic Park, the well-known setting of the movie "Bull Durham," has been a dominant fixture in downtown Durham. It was for years home of the Durham Bulls and N.C. Central's baseball team.
- But with the Bulls no longer using the stadium and N.C. Central's team discontinued in 2021, the DAP is used sparingly these days for events like youth baseball and occasionally a concert.
Why it matters: The Durham Athletic Park, which dates back to 1926, now occupies a much different city center than before. The area around the park has grown tremendously and will soon be home to hundreds of new residents in the coming years.
Driving the news: The City of Durham wants to produce a new vision for what the DAP could be for the public. It hired the architecture firm Perkins & Will to publish a study next year about the park's future usage.
- The contract will require the firm to do public engagement with residents about the DAP.
Zoom in: Perkins & Will, which has a Durham office and has worked on the city's transportation center and Raleigh's Freedom Park, plans to present three options for the park that will "redefine and invigorate" the park and make it a "vibrant public destination."
- The City of Durham's request for the study calls for the firm to consider options that would "expand or significantly alter the current use of the facility" and present ideas for potential other uses of the property.
The big picture: Much like Raleigh, Durham has been contemplating what is next for its downtown, which has seen a population boom over the past decade but was also impacted by the pandemic emptying office buildings.
- Discover Durham, the city's tourism agency, has called for investing in new amenities for downtown, like a new convention center. In its most recent master plan, the agency floats the idea of making the DAP a multi-use facility and considering using those upgrades to make it an amphitheater for concerts.
- Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams told Axios he would love to see the park used more often as a venue for N.C. Central and community sports leagues. He also said he believes it can be a great multi-use venue for concerts and festivals.
What's next: Details about the public engagement sessions are TBD. Perkins & Will anticipates bringing its report back to the city as soon as next summer, and then city staff hopes to make a recommendation to the city council.