Developer Tom Niemann has his eye on a piece of Golden Belt, and he wants the city to cut his taxes. The City Council is going to talk about it tonight.

Niemann has applied for local historic landmark status for a portion of the old factory complex currently owned by Julio Cordoba. If the council grants the designation, tax value of the 7.1-acre site drops from $2.14 million to $1.07 million, cutting its annual property taxes to the city and county by about $13,000.

According to the application, Niemann has an agreement with Cordoba to buy the building, which abuts the Golden Belt complex owned and renovated by Scientific Properties. His intention is to redevelop it for market-rate apartments and some commercial use.

Cordoba bought the Golden Belt Complex II in 2002 for $369,000. Current tenants include The Scrap Exchange, Liberty Arts and ReUse Warehouse.

Niemann is a former partner with Brian Davis and Christian Laettner in Blue Devil Ventures in West Village, the mixed-use redevelopment at the former Liggett & Myers cigarette factory. The partnership dissolved in 2006. Currently, Niemann is in a partnership to renovate an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco complex in Winston-Salem.

Where the reviving Golden Belt neighborhood and the growing Durham Rescue Mission meet, there is a basic conflict (maybe that's too strong a word) of interests: residential interests on one hand and institutional interests on the other.

That was the esstential conclusion the two sets of interests, in the form of about 45 people, came to after an amicable get-to-know you meeting that ran two and a half hours last night.

The idea was to come up with plans to accommodate both and please both sides. They're getting together again, with assistance from the Durham Area Designers, on July 30.

The Rescue Mission, an addiction-rehab and emergency shelter institution at East Main Street and Alston Avenue needs to expand its campus to accommodate sharply rising demand for its services, founders Ernie and Gail Mills said.

Golden Belt, at the same time, wants to protect the historic character and "fabric" of the century-old mill village that extends from the former textile mill east across Alston Avenue past Rescue Mission property.

"We want input from the neighbors," Ernie Mills said several times. "We want to be a good neighbor."

Residents said they respect what the Mission does, and want to make it more a part of the neighborhood in a social sense, as well as a part in the sense of geography.

See more on the blend of issues and interests in Sunday's Durham News.
 

Golden Belt is getting two new tenants come September: Shodor, a math-science education nonprofit and Republic of Fun, a social-game designer.

Shodor, currently quartered in the Durham Centre building downtown, is taking an 8,500-square foot, custom-built space in the renovated factory complex on East Main Street.

The firm picked Golden Belt over a location in the Research Triangle Park.

"Shodor was born in Durham, and remaining at the center of such a vibrant, entrepreneurial area was important," said Executive Director Robert Panoff.
Republic of Fun, a 4-year-old company whose employees originally worked from their homes, is moving into an official office of 3,000 square feet.

“We thought Golden Belt was a perfect match for the growth of our game company.  This is  becoming a hub of creative, technology-based companies,“ said company President Mike Rasmussen.

Golden Belt was originally a factory manufacturing cloth for the small bags in which loose smoking tobacco was sold. Built in 1910, it was bought in 2007 by Scientific Properties and remodeled for residences, art studios and office space.

The InterNeighborhood Council is considering whether to weigh in on the Alston Avenue widening controversy.

Alston Avenue, a.k.a. N.C. 55, is a major corridor north-south corridor through East Durham. NCDOT considers the street congested and has plans to widen it from the Durham Freeway to Holloway Street.

But neighborhood groups and others interested in the long-depressed area's revival see DOT's plan as splitting their neighborhood in two.

"A four-lane highway is just a wall lying on its side," INC President Tom Miller said at the council's meeting this week.
 

If you'd just as soon not be one of the 4 million people expected to jam the District of Columbia for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, you can celebrate right here in Bull City.

Golden Belt, the remodeled textile factory off East Main Street, is hosting a "Durham for Obama Inaugural Celebration" on Inauguration Day.

Two city departments are taking up permanent residence at the remodeled Golden Belt factory.

As of Monday, Neighborhood Improvement Services and Community Development will reside on the third and second floors, respectively, at 807 E. Main St.