DURHAM, N.C. –
You would be forgiven for mistaking Durham’s newest hotel for an art museum.
That’s because the 21c Museum Hotel, as the name indicates, is a bit of both. In fact, the front desk alone is surrounded by more than 10,000 square feet of contemporary art.
“We love it when people walk in and don’t know what to expect or don’t know what they’re going to see next,” said Craig Greenberg, president of 21C Museum Hotels.
The hotel is housed in the 17-story Hill Building, built in the 1930s at the corner of Corcoran and Parrish streets.
Once the home to Central Carolina Bank and Trust and later SunTrust Banks, the building’s banking area has been converted into a ballroom and office space was transformed into 125 rooms.
“We’ve had the wonderful opportunity to restore it, preserve some of its best historical features and then add new life to it with contemporary art, great food and great hospitality,” Greenberg said. “To be able to put new contemporary use inside of this historic structure is really fun.”
The hotel is just the latest project to bloom in downtown Durham.
There were only 187 hotel room in all of downtown before 21c’s opening. and Mayor Bill Bell said three more hotels are expected to bring the total number of rooms to 455.
“There’s no question in my mind that it’s really going to be a centerpiece of downtown Durham,” Bell said. “It obviously gives a destination to people wanting to come here but it’s going to help our convention business and tourism business.”
Just across the street from 21c, construction is getting underway on a new skyscraper. Once open in about two years, the building is expected to be home to 24,000 square feet of new retail on ground floor, above that will be another four stories of office space and residential space will rise above the offices.
“When you drive down the freeway, downtown Durham still sort of looked the same. Now, as we start doing some of the build, there will be some different spaces occupied in the skyline,” said Downtown Durham Inc. CEO Geoff Durham. “This is architecture is done by the same people who designed the Empire State Building.”
Some businesses are already moving to make room for renovation on the other corner, where even more hotel rooms will come.
“It’s actually a complimentary project to the tower,” Durham said. “Now that we’re having more and more people live downtown, I think that our downtown clock is going to sort of turn to where we’re more of an 18- to 20-hour activity center as opposed to something that traditionally occupies regular business and happy hour time frame.”
Already, Shadoe Stewart said he’s seen an uptick of people new to the city.
“We’ve been here four years and we get people in everyday who have never been here before and are excited to eat here,” said Stewart, who manages Bull City Burger and Brewery. “The city is buzzing, which is really cool.”
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