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Durham Commission Approves Proposal For Downtown Tower

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Austin Lawrence Partners

Members of the Durham Historic Preservation Commission have voted to approve a 26-story mixed-use tower in the downtown area.  Colorado-based developer Austin Lawrence Partnersplans to incorporate about 60 percent residential units and 40 percent retail and business space into the building.  Plans would also incorporate facades of older buildings into the high-rise's design. 

One commission member voted against the plan saying a tower nine stories above the city's current tallest building would have an adverse affect on the Durham skyline.  The developer must go through the city's permitting process before breaking ground. 

Residents had a chance to speak at a community hearing Tuesday night about their support or concerns about the potential change to Durham's cityscape.  Austin Lawrence Partners could break ground on the project later this year.  They say the project could be complete by 2016.

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
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