Best place to grow

Durham, North Carolina is growing and the Research Triangle Park has contributed significantly to that growth. Its people are innovative and fun-loving, and the character of the city can be seen in the personalities of its residents.

Durham, North Carolina is more than home to the Research Triangle Park—a research area that houses corporations such as IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, Fidelity Investments, and RTI International. It houses a resurgent metropolitan community that is bent on growing through innovation and a downtown area that is electrifying. It is made of up baby boomers looking to rekindle the excitement of earlier periods and Millennials that are committed to experiencing their version of the mid-1900s.

The city’s character is reflected in the personalities and behaviors of its residents, all of whom take pride in the moniker, Durhamite. It is an eccentric, vibrant, and magnetic place. You can see this energy in the eagerness of its people, in the excitement in their eyes. Right in the heart of downtown Durham, you will find three hotels that offer accommodations and entertainment that embodies the culture and attitude of Durham and its residents.

In Durham, the stress of a day’s hard work can be alleviated by an enjoyable evening for adults and children all through the city. The rooftop lounge of The Durham Hotel offers an eagle’s eyes view of downtown, where you can find the city’s growing adult population dancing to good music on a Thursday evening. The 17-story 21C Museum Hotel entertains guest with galleries of unique artwork and a lounging area in a bank vault.

 The 75-room Unscripted Hotel which opened its doors on July 20, 2017, was formerly a motor lodge, and it also houses a rooftop pool with its own waiting list. In the City Center Plaza, you can find children freestyling in a huddle as their parents watch on the benches and drummers beating their drums to music that will give you happy feet. The Museum of Life and Science offers an exciting location for children with a flock of activities to enhance the inquisitive minds of young and aspiring inventors.

 Durham has a mixture of public and private schools from K-12 which offer competitive curriculums and access to learning programs at world class universities. The educational growth in the RTP, particularly, the Research Triangle Charter Academy provides a unique commitment to science, math, and the liberal arts. In addition to educational opportunities, RTP also provides spaces for innovators to collaborate and develop ideas.

 The RTP area offers incubators for innovation and growth such as the First Flight Venture Center, Frontier, and the Lab. The area that once started as a 500-acre economic development project in 1959 has evolved into a 7000-acre by 2017, that encourages business development and growth for individuals and corporations. This diverse list of industries has led to increased business opportunities in the area. They include:

(1)  45 percent—Biotech and Life Sciences;

(2)  17 percent—Information Technology;

(3)  11 percent—Business and Professional Services;

(4)  3 percent—Clean and Green Technologies;

(5)  2 percent—Education;

(6)  2 percent—Financial Services and Technology;

(7)  9 percent—Foundations, Institutions, and Scientific Associations;

(8)  7 percent—Instruments and Materials;

(9)  5 percent—Service Providers.

The growth in Durham has contributed to the increase in highways and residential building construction to accommodate its growing population. Although the size of its population has increased, its residential greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 7 percent since 2008. Its residents use 23 percent less water than the state average and city buildings are 13 percent more energy efficient than they were in 2009.

 Durham offers a business climate that is ecologically friendly and a social atmosphere that provides the best work-life balance. It provides the best pairing of an industrious economy and a community that grows leaders.  

Sources: City of Durham, The Research Triangle Park