305 South

Overview
305 South, or The 305 South Anti-Mall, was a performance and retail space at 305 South Dillard St. in Durham, NC. The performance space closed in mid-May after the City of Durham determined that the building had an insufficient number of bathroom stalls. Overhead expenses were apparently too high without the revenue from the performance space, so the owners decided to close entirely.

Queries

 * Just how many bathroom stalls short were they? (How many were needed, and how many did they have? What rules were used to determine how many were required? What was the deadline for compliance, and how many days did the establishment have between notification and the compliance deadline? Would port-a-potties have been acceptable?)
 * If the number of stalls they had was anywhere close to the number needed, couldn't an exception (even a temporary one) have been granted, given the desirability of music/performance venues and of attracting the "creative class" to Durham? Did the City offer to negotiate to work something out?

Official

 * web site

News

 * 2007-11-27 305 South Dillard / Durham Fruit and Produce: some history of the building, with photos
 * 2007-10-17 305 South to close by end of October