Inside once crumbling walls, a high school, rec center, clinic

BY MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- Four years ago, the Holton School was on the verge of being sold or given away by the Durham public school system.

The building, in service since 1939, was crumbling. "I used to substitute teach here," school board member Omega Curtis Parker recalled Tuesday evening. "And I would hate to come into some of the classrooms" because of poor lighting and other conditions.

Along with hundreds of other Durham residents, Parker was able to roam the 70-year-old building freely and without fear Tuesday evening. That's because what is now the Holton Career and Resource Center is bright and shiny following a 14-month renovation.

Holton now houses a vocational public high school, a city recreation center and a Duke-sponsored health clinic. All will open to the public Aug. 25.

Mayor Bill Bell was one of several speakers at the center's ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday. "I want you to learn while you are here, make many pleasant memories, and most of all play more with the Durham Department of Parks and Recreation," Bell said.

Along with law enforcement programs and housing revitalization efforts, Holton is helping to rejuvenate North-East Central Durham, Bell said. "I think you can feel currents of change that are occurring in this community."

County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow noted that the business, beautician, computer, electrician and landscape-management classroom facilities being run by the Durham school district could soon be used during off-hours by instructors from Durham Technical Community College and the Durham Workforce Development Board. It will house other community initiatives as well.

"I envision this center being open from early in the morning to late at night with a beehive of activity," Reckhow said.

The Holton project started when the Rev. Melvin Whitley and other neighborhood voices in Partners Against Crime District 1 urged local officials to revitalize the Holton building. The $17 million effort was mainly funded by the city and county, but the school district and Duke contributed to renovations.

All the speakers praised the partnerships that produced the Holton Center.

"What happens in Durham does not happen in other communities," said Minnie Forte-Brown, the school board chairwoman. "I am extremely thankful for it, and I think you should be proud."

MaryAnn Black, the associate vice president for community relations at Duke University Health System, noted that Duke will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat anyone who makes an appointment at the Holton Wellness Center. The crowd of perhaps 300 people in the center's auditorium applauded when she said no one would be turned away for inability to pay.

The facility, a venture with Lincoln Community Health Center, is Duke's largest community clinic.

Although the building appears to be filled with shiny new things, including a child care center and a senior center, some of them are actually shiny old things. Skanska USA, the contractor, refurbished the original bathroom tile, gymnasium bleachers and auditorium seating.

Douglas Morris, a 50-year-old furniture salesman who lives near Holton, welcomed the reopened building. "It'll probably cut down on crime some because they'll have a place to go and something to do," Morris said before the ribbon-cutting ceremony began.

His fiancee, Anita Thorpe, said the building had already made people feel safer thanks to security and lighting at the construction site. More old people now walk the neighborhood streets.

"That's a big positive thing that I've seen," said Thorpe, 54.

"This area used to be dark, and now it's got more light."