Post #1456839
2025-07-23 16:28 UTC
@bkeegan @boulderreportinglab
The 2008 housing finance crisis convinced developers nationwide that spec houses in 1/3 acre parcels were now a bad investment, and in Durham as elsewhere they all turned en masse to the 5 story stick built deck wrappers that up until then had been like pulling teeth to get them to build.
Replies (1)
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@MichaelTBacon@social.coop 2025-07-23 16:34
@bkeegan @boulderreportinglab It's not really visible in this photo, but Durham actually went so far as to annex a section of the county on the opposite side of RTP that was completely disjoint from the rest of the city. (Google usually labels this area "Bethesda") It's now almost connected, though still disjoint, but doesn't look quite as ridiculous on a map as it used to thanks to ongoing annexation. Anyway, the point is, the ratio in your chart masks *heavy* suburbanization here.