We Love Durham NC

Southwest Subs

No donuts yet. No Char-Grill yet. But the Jimmy Johns at Hope Valley Commons is open now. The guys had dinner from there; subs are $3.50. Hubby discovered if you get a “plain” no toppings (AKA kid-friendly) sub with just meat & cheese, it is only $2.99. Not bad for a “Actually, I didn’t make any dinner plans” evening. (Note, it’s located in the outparcel behind the Jiffy Lube, facing 751.)

Farmer’s Market at Your Door

There’s a new service for Southwest Durham folks… local and organic produce delivered to your door. The coordinator of all this goodness is Papa Spud’s. They set up a box from their supply on Friday, and you have until Monday to go online and make any adjustments, staying within your allotted credits. I looked at the offerings for this week, and saw a good variety of fruits (oranges, apples) and vegetables (green, squash). Maybe not as fun as pick-your-own or the Farmer’s Market, but it’s great to have another option for busy families.

Parkwood Community Center? Survey Says…

Forwarded from a friend… Please take a moment to read this if you are in South/SW Durham and might benefit from a community or recreation center in your area.
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Please consider filling out the survey and emailing it to the Parkwood Association office at pa.office@verizon.net

The Parkwood neighborhood has devised the survey to assess South Durham Citizens’ concerns and desires for the building which now houses the Parkwood Library (which has gone under foreclosure and WILL be sold soon). A couple of news articles have highlighted the fact that Parks and Rec may be considering this site for a rec center. It is important that they know that both Parkwood Residents and those in surrounding neighborhoods care about what happens to this building.

Especially since the library is destined to move to Alston Ave, a rec center (possibly including indoor swimming) would be a GREAT thing for Fairfield and other South Durham neighborhoods, particularly since it would engage and productively occupy S. Durham kids from pre-school through high school.

But whether or not you want to see a rec center there, please fill out the survey so that Durham does know what YOU want.

Parkwood Survey in Word Document
Parkwood Survey in PDF

Eye on University Marketplace: Middle of August 2008

Aaron Rents is gone, the pieces separated into recycling-friendly piles of rubble. The demolition company is hard at work on the old Kroger building now.

Sitar India Palace is still open, as reported. There are signs directing traffic around the fencing into the parking area.

Harris Teeter Opens at Hope Valley Commons

Harris Teeter opened yesterday as the anchor of the new shopping center at the corner of Highway 54 and Hope Valley Rd. (Highway 751), Hope Valley Commons, in the rapidly growing Southwest part of Durham.
The store is similar to the one on Martin Luther King Parkway, but newer and bigger than the one near the corner of 54 and Fayetteville.

Some features of note:

• olive bar
• salad bar
• large prepared foods / deli area
• order ahead and pickup groceries at scheduled time
• open 24 hours
• pharmacy
• Harry the Dragon ride for little ones*
• parking reserved for customers with children, beside a covered tent for buggies (like the Chapel Hill North Harris Teeter)
• rocket-themed buggies for kids
• Starbucks (looks like Durham increased the number of Starbucks while other towns were losing locations)
• large floral selection

As others have noted, the parking lot seems smallish, and I learned not to park in the main row coming off the entrance because of the number of incoming cars. We will probably continue to shop at the MLK location, but this Harris Teeter has a large market in the neighborhoods south of us.

The dragon ride is 50 cents and the song has changed. I miss the “Go Harry! Go Harry! Go Harris Teeter Dragon!” but it’s good to see he’s back in service.

Random Things on University Drive Today

A white van with “DUKE PRIMATE CENTER” printed on the side was parked in the right lane by South Square, while two people cut a few branches off of a short tree with heart-shaped leaves. I suppose their goal was animal enrichment, or that the tree leaves are a delicacy to lemurs.

Two front loaders scooped rubble from the Aaron Rents building at University Marketplace.

So many shopping carts deposited by the bus shelters! It has to be someone’s job to gather these. K-mart and Ross, particularly, take note.

Eye on University Marketplace: End of July 2008

Demolition was started this week on the Aaron Rents end of the existing strip. A chain link fence surrounds the demolition area front & back, though as of Tuesday the neon sign outside Sitar India was still glowing Open.

Looking back over 15-501, you see how close University Marketplace will be to the Rocket Building.

Hope Valley Commons Update

The sign outside the Hope Valley Commons reads “Harris Teeter Opening 10″ which we think must be a countdown to opening day. Workers are inside and out setting up the store. The parking lot held about 25 cars this morning, presumably of these employees.

We spied two new “coming soon” signs: Rita’s Ice-Custard-Happiness and Fast Frame. Construction continues on the other units, including Char-Grill and Japan Express.

Leasing information available from Weingarten Realty (866) 373-9437.

Eye on University Marketplace

With all the talk about Hope Valley Commons happenings, don’t forget about the development down the street. University Marketplace was set to begin construction this month. Hawthorne Retail Partners confirmed that interior work is being done in preparation for demolition, which should begin in the next few weeks.

Southpoint Play Area

We realized tonight that the boy has sized out* of the play area at Streets of Southpoint mall. Well, then.
*Must be under 48″ tall

Juggle Boy

Action at University Marketplace

In the future University Marketplace location, we saw a huge pile of trees. From the strong smell of pine, the landscaping trees had been cut down just this morning. Then a dumptruck came around the corner with another load of trees for the pile. Sitar India restaurant appears to be still open, but the other storefronts are covered from the inside with brown kraft paper.

Voting Evening

We drove out to our voting location right before the polls closed tonight. I had to wait in line! Yes, the Boy laughs, but just for a second because both voters’ names were in the second-half-of-the-alphabet book. It took us longer to get out of the parking lot onto the main drag, what with all the construction of townhouses and roads and shopping centers, than it did to vote.

While on that side of the neighborhood, we peeked into the Hope Valley Commons center. The Harris Teeter signage is up, along with a Now Hiring sign. Also hanging in one of the windows is a Japan Express Coming Soon! banner. The Girl looked and found trees in the landscaping…parents like trees, she said. Or maybe she said parrots. One never knows with that one.

Gourmet Grocer in Southwest Durham

This is exciting news: the University Marketplace developers have selected an anchor tenant for the project on University/Shannon, Poppies, a gourmet grocer with outdoor seating and garden space. A gathering place that the SW Durham folks could bike to! The grocery will be LEED-certified, apparently the first of its kind in North Carolina.

The Ark

We visited the open house at the Ark houses on Martin Luther King on Sunday.

I was surprised that:
- The two houses don’t seem too close when you are inside them.
- The floor is heated with water flowing past the solar panels on the roof, quite warm to the tootsies.
- The house can very easily be off the grid for most of the year, with the solar panels, angle of the roof against the windows, and air flow.
- The bottom level could easily be free-standing and rented out to help with the mortgage payment.
- Very few trees were cut down on the lot, with the small footprint of the house and building materials.
- The walls are well-insulated, made out of something that looks like styrofoam encased in two pieces of drywall.

New Music, Dance, Tae Kwon Do, Theater Camp