New life near old ballpark

Measurement Inc. is expanding its footprint in downtown Durham's Central Park district. The test-grading service, which in the 1990s gave the area a jolt by moving its headquarters from North Durham to renovated tobacco warehouses near the Durham Athletic Park, paid $757,500 -- 2.2 times the tax value -- for the former Nu-Tread Tire Co. property at 601 Foster Street, records show.

The brick building sits on half an acre at the corner of Foster and Corporation streets and backs up to the ballpark. It's unclear what Measurement will do with the property.

It's the latest deal to foreshadow changes in the district. Developers are snapping up nearby properties as plans to restore the ballpark for baseball games and festivals gain momentum and the city continues to build its five-acre Central Park.

Downtown has been reviving from sluggish years after the decline of major tobacco manufacturers. But investment near Durham Central Park has been slower than in the city's core.

Losing the Durham Bulls, who moved a few blocks south to a new stadium about a decade ago, pinched traffic to the area. Auto dealers, gas stations and other businesses shut down in the district bounded by Rigsbee and Trinity avenues and Morris, Washington and Morgan streets.

But activity is picking up.

In October, Greenfire Development bought Liberty warehouses on 2.6 acres catty-corner to Nu-Tread and bordering Durham Central Park, with plans to eventually redevelop. Greenfire also owns warehouses beyond the old ballpark's outfield. And in September, Denny Clark paid $190,000, or 67 percent above assessed value, for 0.4 of an acre just south of the property that Nu-Tread sold to Measurement.

Bids on a weathered downtown Durham building continue to inch up. County officials put the 6,900-square-foot Eligibility Building and an empty lot next door up for bid last month after declaring it surplus. The three-story brick building at Roxboro and East Main streets has been empty since 1992.

The first 10 days of bidding ended Dec. 22 with a high bid of $215,300. A second 10-day bidding period ended Jan. 12 with a top bid of $280,800. A third bidding period ends 5 p.m. Jan. 29. Bids have to be at least $294,890. The process will repeat until a bidding period passes without any new bids.

Five years ago, the property, which is on 0.3 of an acre, had an assessed market value of $130,000 -- less than one-quarter the tax value.