American Tobacco Plan Gets The Green Light From Durham
Both the Durham County Commissioners and the Durham City Council unanimously voted to fund $37 million dollars for the proposed American Tobacco revival in downtown Durham. This is just the beginning of the rebirth of Durham’s downtown, according to supporters of the plan.
Since April 1999, Capitol Broadcasting Company has spent over $1 million dollars finding out whether the project would work, according to Mike Hill, General counsel for CBC. The American Tobacco plant is very old and in serious disrepair and the City is deserted at nights, except when the Durham Bulls are playing. CBC commissioned market studies and proposed architectural drawings that brought the vision to life.
But Jim Goodmon, President and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company, sees this as more than just another successful Durham business venture. His vision is that this will help the entire Triangle, stating, “The regionalism thing doesn’t work unless all its parts are successful. We need a good downtown Raleigh; we need a good downtown Durham.”
Capitol Broadcasting sees the American Tobacco plan as the catalyst for more development in downtown Durham, bringing with it new life, new opportunities and new jobs for the residents.
Goodmon has worked hard behind the scenes on many projects that brought the Triangle closer together (sometimes referred to as regionalism) such as the 1987 Olympic Festival, a merged United Way Agency, the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games, the 2007 Pan AM bid, and the 2000 Festival Rodin.
