Northgate gets a 'do

Editorial

Dating from 1949, Raleigh's Cameron Village is a pioneer of the shopping mall genre that took hold in American cities after World War II. Another is Durham's Northgate Mall, which dates from 1960. Like Cameron Village, Northgate has been through several iterations, and last week it announced another one costing $13 million.

The trend in shopping centers today is a blend of indoor and outdoor space. Southpoint Mall is almost an extreme example, going so far as to recreate Durham's downtown cityscape.

Northgate Mall doesn't intend to reinvent the wheel, but the renovation slated to start in February will give northern Durham a shopping venue unlike anything it has now. The renovation stems from Belk's decision to close its 104,000-square-feet home store, freeing Northgate to add a multiplex cinema, an outdoor plaza and other amenities. The changes will give what is now an enclosed mall a lighter, more expansive environment.

That Northgate Mall is alive and well when so many others have fallen to the wrecking ball is a testament to creative thinking. Northgate has a chameleon-like ability to adapt to change. The most recent makeover came in 1994 with the addition of Hecht's and a parking garage.

Nothing as large and costly as renovating Northgate occurs in a vacuum. The remade mall will complement the revitalization being done in nearby neighborhoods by the Duke-Durham Partnership. Together, the synergy generated by Northgate and the neighborhood initiative will strengthen a part of Durham at risk of genteel decline.

In short, spending $13 million on Northgate is a vote of confidence in the viability of those neighborhoods. And so far as Southpoint Mall is concerned, imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

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