Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

CREative Thinkers Awards 2016 Congratulations! Jim Goodmon

18 Jan 2016 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:49

The video honors Jim Goodmon, former Capitol Broadcasting president, for his pivotal role in transforming the abandoned American Tobacco Campus in Durham into a vibrant mixed‑use district. The narrative begins with a 1995 spark—Goodmon’s observation of a SWAT team’s tear‑gas drill at a nearby Bulls game—that inspired him to pursue an option on ten historic buildings. Through a collaborative public‑private partnership involving the city, county, and existing businesses, the project secured a deck and financing to preserve the 1874‑era structures using only historic materials, repurposed machinery, and artistic installations. Ten years later, the million‑square‑foot campus is fully occupied with a waiting list, hosting a YMCA, college, advertising agencies, a performing‑arts center, a hotel, 13 restaurants, outdoor concerts, a craft brewery, and an innovation hub called American Underground that houses 250 startups. Business Insider recently named Durham among the top ten hottest cities for entrepreneurship, underscoring the campus’s role as a new economic engine. The video concludes by congratulating Goodmon as a 2016 Counselors of Real Estate Creative Thinker.

Chapters

The spark of a good idea. 1995, Capitol Broadcasting President Jim Goodman, at a Bulls game, caught a whiff of tear gas. A SWAT team was practicing next door at the abandoned American Tobacco campus.
I said to our general counsel, Mike Hill, I said, Mike, you know, I don't have any idea that we can do this, but why don't you see if you can get an option 10 buildings and a million square feet dating back to 1874.
Goodman's spark ignited.
I'll take the credit for sort of pulling the wagon along, but I sure had a lot of folks in the wagon. We got a lot of help in this public-private partnership routine. The city agreed to build a deck. The county agreed to build a deck. I had great support from existing businesses. companies that agreed to move in if we could do this. So it's just a matter of getting folks to see the vision and convincing them we can do this if we all work together.
Renovation utilized only historic materials, no plastic, art sculptures, repurposed machinery, and a water feature with a stepping stone crosswalk that lets a guy in a business suit Put play into his day's work. And it has worked in a wildly successful way. 10 years into the project, and this million square feet is occupied with a waiting list. There's a YMCA, college, advertising agencies, performing arts center, hotel, 13 restaurants, outdoor concerts, even a Bull Durham craft brewery, and perhaps most importantly, the beginning of a new economic engine.
Now let me tell you what else has happened. This week, Business Insider named Durham as one of the top 10 hottest cities for entrepreneurial and innovation activities. We opened in American Tobacco a place we call American Underground. We have 250 startup companies over there right now. It fits with the old buildings. It fits with the funky. It fits with Durham's diversity.
Funky and diverse with an eye on the future, it all fits together in the American Tobacco Campus. Congratulations, Jim Goodman, 2016 Counselors of Real Estate Creative Thinker.