Data storage company EMC Corp., which last month announced plans to expand its Triangle operations, has purchased a 450,000 square foot distribution center near Research Triangle Park in Durham.

The company bought the property, called Essex Center, for $22.6 million from Crown Realty and Development of Irvine, Calif. The distribution center is in the Imperial Center business park.

Crown Realty paid $113 million for 1.58 million square feet of office, flex and industrial space in Imperial Center in December 2007. Essex Center had a tax value of $19.45 million as of Jan 1.

The company said last month that it plans to add 397 jobs in the Triangle and build a $280 million data center in Durham County.

EMC, which has existing facilities in RTP and Apex, was offered more than $8 million in state and local incentives to expand its Triangle presence. Of the 397 new jobs created, about 280 are expected to be located in RTP and at Essex Center.

Sanmina-SCI, an electronics manufacturer, currently leases 315,000 square feet in Essex Center. The remaining 135,000 square feet is vacant.

View 4-way stop: Cheek Rd @ Burton Rd, Durham in a larger map

This week NCDOT will convert a rural intersection east of Durham -- Cheek Road (SR 1800) @ Burton Road (SR 1818) -- to a 4-way stop.

Drivers on Burton now stop at that corner. New signs will be installed to make drivers on Cheek stop, too.

Who goes first at a 4-way stop? It depends (first) on who gets there first and (second) on who is to whose right. DOT offers helpful reminders on the proper etiquette at 4-way stop intersections. ... [MORE]

It's not quite a Mini Cooper, but the Mangum 506 condo project in Durham is offering buyers a $2,500 IKEA gift certificate if they put a unit under contract by the end of the month.

Susana Dancy, a co-developer of Mangum along with Andrew Philipps and Scott Harmon, said nine of the development's 21 units are still available.

Mangum 506's units are small, 672 to 1,220 square feet, with big windows and 10-foot ceilings. Remaining units are priced between $159,000 and $299,000, Dancy said.

Mangum's model units are designed by Nicole Baxter using almost all IKEA furniture. Dancy said the popularity of the model units--and IKEA's affordable prices--made the promotion a good fit.

Mangum is also hoping to get potential buyers attention while they still may be eligible for the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. The tax credit is set to expire Dec. 1.

Mangum 506's two buildings were completed in August. Dancy said one of the building's has received Fannie Mae approval, while the other needs a few more owner-occupied sales to qualify.

As for offering Minis, Dancy admitted "that would be a little decadent for us."

Durham's American Tobacco Campus has inked one of its original anchor tenants to an additional seven years.

Ad agency McKinney announced this week that it has extended its lease to 2021. The company moved from downtown Raleigh to American Tobacco in 2004 and now leases 55,000 square feet in the complex.

The agency, which has hired 60 people over the last six weeks and now employs 230, was halfway through its original 10-year lease.

Joni Madison, McKinney's chief operating officer, said the agency's lease terms didn't change but it did receive other benefits that she declined to name.
“It's not necessarily in the lease, but we were able to gain things that made it worth our while to extend the lease,” Madison said.

McKinney’s extension comes at a time when office demand is waning as the recession causes companies to shrink or close. Many tenants are hunting for discounts or trying to renegotiate existing leases. 

Madison said the company's American Tobacco space helps the agency compete for national clients and employees. 

"If your single motivation is I've got to reduce my overhead and my leasing expense, then great," she said. "But if you feel that your space is key to your culture. Is key to your ability to attract clients, those types of things. Then you really have to look at the whole picture." 

Michael Goodmon, vice president of real estate for Capitol Broadcast Company, which owns American Tobacco, said Capitol was able to retain a key tenant and ensure that McKinney’s lease wouldn’t expire at the same time as other tenants.

Goodmon said 97 percent of the 800,000 square feet of space in the entire American Tobacco Historic District is currently leased.

Unofficially speaking, 5,988 Durham voters exercised their franchise in yesterday's municipal election.

Unofficially then, the election cost Durham taxpayers $29.23 per vote.

The number of foreclosure filings in North Carolina this year was 46,363 at the end of September, the N.C. state Administrative Office of the Courts reported today, and are on pace to exceed 2008 filings.

There were 873 September filings reported in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties. Foreclosure filings increased in Wake and Durham over the previous month.

Durham County had 176 filings in August and 187 in September, while Wake County's filings totaled 527 in September compared to 468 in August.

Foreclosure filings between June and September in the four-county region were up 35 percent from the previous four-month period.

Foreclosure filings in North Carolina totaled 53,961 in 2008.

According to the city's public-information office, Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service have reaffirmed Durham's AAA credit rating -- the best that it can be in the eyes of the three main credit-rating firms.

Some schools show Obama; others want parental consent

Duke University's volleyball team will host a free volleyball clinic for middle school girls in grades 4-6 on Monday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Open to players of all skill levels, the clinic will start with an open
practice session from 3 to 4:30 p.m. that will allow participants to
watch the Blue Devils practice.

Then, Duke players and coaches will be on hand from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. to provide instruction as campers go through drills.

The recession has hit lots of folks hard, and among the hardest, are children.

Kids, after all, are one of the most economically disadvantaged groups; more than 13 million are poor by the official poverty standard, and nearly 30 million live in low-income families, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

You can imagine, too, how scary it is for a child to see a parent lose a job, and struggle. It can cause feelings of instability and even anger.

Which is why it's so great that there's journalist Linda Ellerbee. On Sunday night at 8, Ellerbee and Nick News present "$tressed Out! The Economic Crisis and You," a show in which young people talk about how they and their
families have been affected by the nation's economic woes.