As startup districts proliferate, city planners aim to build tech hubs with a community focus Welcome back to Property Lines, a column by Curbed senior reporter Patrick Sisson that spotlights real estate trends and hot housing markets across the country. Comments, tips, and suggestions on where Property Lines should head next are welcome at [email protected].
Silicon Valley may still be the center of today?s tech world, but if you want to see the future of American innovation, take a trip to Durham, North Carolina. In a restored factory complex near downtown, entrepreneurs are building companies inside warehouses where generations of workers once manufactured and packaged cigarettes.
The 13-year-old American Tobacco Historic District, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use hub of apartments, restaurants, and businesses has provided a massive boost to Durham?s rebounding downtown. But much of the action, in terms of new business development, happens in a basement. American Underground, a subterranean startup hub situated underneath one of the turn-of-the-century buildings, has become an anchor in the city?s tech resurgence, attracting more than $50 million in venture funding in the last two years But far more important to the area?s success are the 1,100 jobs and $1.4 million in spending American Underground has driven towards area businesses. Durham understands that for a city to build a foundation for the technology industry, it needs to think beyond the founders.
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