Durham, NC - Office Market Overview
The Durham real estate market includes the Cameron Woods, Copper Creek, and Stadium Heights commercial real estate office submarkets. With a population of over 550,000, the city is part of the Durham - Chapel Hill metropolitan statistical area. Part of the Triangle, the economy in Durham is driven in large part by research and development companies, which create a strong demand for white-collar office space in Durham.
As of mid-2017, the Durham office market encompasses over 12 million square feet of existing office space, in properties larger than 50,000 square feet. Home to Duke University and North Carolina Central University, the city's history dates back to before the U.S. Civil War.
Durham, NC - Office Inventory Description
As part of the Research Triangle, Durham attracts more than its share of venture capital and investment. Despite its small population, the city has a gross metropolitan product of nearly $37 billion annually, with strong white-collar office employment growth year after year. Over 50% of the office space in Durham is Class A or A+, with Class B office product adding another 45% of inventory to the commercial real estate market in Durham, NC.
The Research Triangle Park office space submarket in Durham sees some of the strongest demand for R&D Class A office space in the region. Located along I-40 between I-540 and Route 147, the area is home to investment-grade office buildings such as Imperial Center - Cambridge Hall & Canterbury Hall, Research Commons, and Central Park South at 5003 South Miami Boulevard in Durham.
Durham, NC Commercial Inventory Breakdown
Office Spaces
Total: 21,767,620 SF
By square footage range:
- 50k to 100k SF: 5,304,873 SF / 24.37% of total office
- 100k to 500k SF: 13,080,900 SF / 60.09% of total office
- 500k to 1M SF: 1,198,809 SF / 5.51% of total office
- > 1M SF: 2,183,038 SF / 10.03% of total office
By class:
- Class A: 10,990,416 SF / 50.49% of total office
- Class B: 9,000,507 SF / 41.35% of total office
- Class C: 644,156 SF / 2.96% of total office
Top 10 Largest Office Buildings
in Durham
| Office building | Address | Sqft | Year built |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Tobacco Campus | 318 Blackwell Street, 27701 | 1,138,960 | 1997 |
| Research Triangle Park - North Campus | 5 Moore Drive, 27703 | 1,044,078 | 1989 |
| Network Center | 100 New Millennium Way, 27709 | 676,000 | 1986 |
| Research Triangle Park - South Campus | 5 Moore Drive, 27703 | 522,809 | 1987 |
| One City Center | 110 Corcoran Street, 27701 | 424,000 | 2018 |
| Research Commons | 79 TW Alexander Drive, 27709 | 422,483 | 1985 |
| Research Triangle Park - IBM Buildings 500-503 | 4205 South Miami Blvd, 27703 | 363,306 | 1984 |
| Research Triangle Park - Ellis Research Center | 2400 Ellis Road, 27703 | 331,898 | 1992 |
| Hock Plaza I | 2424 Erwin Road, 27705 | 327,160 | 2004 |
| University Place - Buildings 400-800 | 4705 University Drive, 27707 | 307,158 | 1988 |
Most Recently-Built Office Buildings
in Durham
| Office building | Address | Sqft | Year built |
|---|---|---|---|
| One City Center | 110 Corcoran Street, 27701 | 424,000 | 2018 |
| RTI International Campus - Horizon Building | 3040 East Cornwallis Road, 27709 | 190,000 | 2018 |
| Golden Belt Campus - Mill No.1 | 800 Taylor Street, 27701 | 185,389 | 2018 |
| 300 Morris Street | 300 Morris Street, 27701 | 176,492 | 2018 |
| 200 Morris Street | 200 Morris Street, 27701 | 163,353 | 2018 |
| The Imperial Center - Churchill Hall | 5425 Page Road, 27703 | 151,579 | 2018 |
| Herald-Sun Building | 2828 Pickett Road, 27705 | 140,000 | 2018 |
| Duke Health Center South Durham | 234 Crooked Creek Pkwy, 27713 | 130,390 | 2018 |
| The Chesterfield Building | 701 West Main Street, 27701 | 286,000 | 2017 |
| Meridian Corporate Center - 2645 Meridian Pkwy | 2645 Meridian Pkwy, 27713 | 76,446 | 2017 |
Durham, NC - Green Office Space
Given the role that R&D plays in the economy of Durham, it's no surprise that the demand for energy-efficient, green office space is increasing every year. An excellent example of a LEED-certified office building in Durham, NC, is the Diamond View III. With 133,000 square feet of Class A office space, the building was constructed in 2012 and boasts a LEED certification.
The 2017 National Green Building Adoption Index surveyed the top 30 largest office markets in the U.S. The percentage of energy-efficient green office space buildings increased from less than 5% in 2005, to 38% by mid-year 2017. While Durham doesn't rank in the top 30 major office markets in the country, its commitment to developing green office space is strong.
Durham, NC's Top Office-Using Sectors
The Durham commercial real estate market is largely driven by the top office-using sectors of R&D, healthcare, education, and large corporate office users.
- Research & Development – GlaxoSmithKline, Quintiles, RTI International, Cree, Syngenta Biotechnology, and AW North Carolina are a few of the companies in the R&D office space sector that create demand for skilled, white-collar office employment.
- Healthcare – Duke University Health System, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, and the Durham VA Medical Center generate consistent demand for office space in the Durham metro area.
- Education – Duke University and North Carolina Central University produce highly skilled workers and help supply the demand for white collar employees in Durham.
- Corporate Office – Fidelity Investments is one of the largest white-collar employers in Durham, along with IBM, BASF, and Cisco Systems.
Durham Demographics
Population
- Total Population257,232
- Male Population(47.0 %) 120,795
- Female Population(53.0 %) 136,437
- Median Age33.60
Income/Financial
- Average Household Income$77,357
- Median Household Income$54,284
- Median Income Under 25$27,848
- Median Income 25-44$54,988
- Median Income 45-64$67,103
- Median Income Over 65$46,708
News
2019 US Office Pipeline – NYC, the Bay Area and San Francisco Set to Deliver 33 MSF of Office Space
April 10, 2019
Since 2009, the U.S. economy has had more than 110 consecutive months of growth, making this the second longest economic expansion since the Great Depression. After a rather tepid 2017 performance, the U.S. office market gathered some steam in 2018, adding 76 million square feet of new office sp...
Over the course of 20+ years since the first shared office spaces started popping up all over the world, the coworking industry has gone through its fair share of changes. The first offices with flexible desks, which opened in the second half of the 1990’s, weren’t even called coworking hubs bac...
2018 Office Check-In: Top US Markets for Development, Largest Projects of the Year
September 20, 2018
We’re almost halfway through H2 2018, and it’s high time to check up on construction activity, as well as the state of the U.S. office pipeline when compared to previous analyses. Last year around the same time, we looked at top U.S. cities for office delivery during the fall-winter season, and ...
Cities near Durham, NC
Neighborhoods
- Ashley Forest Office Space
- Bennet Place Office Space
- Cameron Woods Office Space
- Central Park Office Space
- Chapel Hill Road Office Space
- Colony Park Office Space
- Copper Creek Office Space
- Crest Street Office Space
- Croasdaile Office Space
- Crooked Creek Office Space
- Darby Glen Office Space
- Downtown Durham Office Space
- Duke West Campus Office Space
- Eagle's Pointe Office Space
- Folkestone Office Space
- Golden Belt Office Space
- Knollwood Office Space
- North Carolina Central University Office Space
- Old West Durham Office Space
- Parc at University Office Space
- Parkwood Office Space
- Research Triangle Park Office Space
- Stadium Heights Office Space
- Summer Meadow Office Space
- Taylor Estates Office Space
- The Landing at Southpoint Office Space
- Valley Run Office Space
- Warehouse District Office Space
- West Murray - Broad Office Space
- Westgate Townes Office Space
- + More - Less