Durham has an especially rich stock of old commercial buildings and warehouses awaiting a renaissiance, and indeed some signs of transformation are already underway. There's some attractive brick warehouses that have become an entertainment and shopping center, but it's fairly small considering the number of other attractive structures -- mostly brick -- still waiting for some adaptive reuse. The Durham Bulls minor league baseball team has a great home in Downtown, flanked by another ongoing project to convert a former tobacco company complex into a mixed-use redevlopment. However, it is surprising that a metro area like this, widely considered an economic engine in America, has seemingly only begun to rediscover its charming old urban commercial centers. Both Raleigh and Durham felt quiet and empty on my visit, and looked like they have seen better days. Apparently, a lot of the growth is centered on the Research Triangle Park, which guidebooks here indicate 'was carved from Carolina pine forests' in the 1950s. In other words, sprawl.
Raleigh has signs of urban housing development in its downtown, and they recently built some family-friendly museums near the State Capitol. However, new regional facilities like the RBC Center (arena) are in the middle of nowhere, as is the NC Art Museum and its impressive collection. Again, given all the growth this area has experienced I would have expected that the downtowns would have been more flourishing. However, now that there is a nation-wide trend to rediscover downtowns and thinking green is in vogue, the Triangle should be well-positioned with all these universities, affluent white-colar sorts, and new arrivals in its favor. I think the region will join other American cities in recreating their downtowns as memorable anchors, and they have some good building blocks to work with.
Chapel Hill is a college town with pleasant, leafy quadrangles and a vibrant street offering an abundance of sky-blue Tarheel merchandise and pizza slices (and it seems that a higher percentage of residents -- students and otherwise -- are actually wearing their merchandise.