Duke to demolish "Duke Mill Village" ??

As seems to be standard operating procedure for Duke, a confusing item in the list of site plan submittals to the planning department is the only public communication that they may have restarted their central campus plans - but without the previously agreement to allow the public to move mill structures that they plan to demolish.

I wrote about Duke's plans to demolish multiple mill structures on Central Campus as part of their ever-ambitious expansion plans ~ 2 1/2 years ago. At the time, a compromise was hammered out with Duke which would allow the public to move mill houses with a $5000 per house defrayment of moving costs coming from Duke.

Duke's shift away from Central Campus as the focus of their Big Plan, combined with the recent economic unpleasantness, seemed to shift Duke's attention away from the mill house demolitions for awhile.

But things appear to have restarted - a news item out of Duke recently noted that they planned to close their "Uncle Harry's" store and reopen it in a nearby older grocery structure, which many have presumed would be the former Garden Street Grocery - exciting adaptive reuse, should it happen.

The random find in the DRB pile, though, seems to indicate that Duke plans to do quite a bit more:

"Application # D0900172 (DRB)

Application Type Simplified Site Plan Small
Application Date 07/13/2009
Project Name Duke Mill Village

Physical Address

1919 YEARBY Avenue
1913 YEARBY Avenue
1921 YEARBY Avenue
1907 ERWIN Road

Project Description: 
Removal of 13 structures (11,350 square feet) on 3.24 acres and adding 8200 SF of gross floor area and reducing impervious area.
 
Susan Hatchell Susan Hatchell Landscape Architecture, PLLC Applicant
DUKE UNIVERSITY  Registered Owner"

So what is it that Duke actually plans to do, and whither their promise to provide assistance for movement of mill houses they intend to demolish? What do these addresses correspond to, since they seem mismatched with actual structures? Officials are mum in response to inquires. The only clue is a new chain-link fence surrounding the structures at Yearby and Anderson.

It's baffling to me why Duke consistently chooses the as-clandestine-as-possible road for its plans, when they always eventually come to light - but with a much more annoyed community, who feels that Duke has once again tried to sneak around. The incentive to try to do exactly what they want in the way that they want must be much greater than the incentive to create a good relationship with the community. I recognize that there is an inherent tension between universities and their surrounding communities that requires compromise by both parties. Duke just seems consistently resistant to that compromise - allowing the public to move historic structures, and paying them the money you would have spent on demolition to defray moving costs isn't exactly a hard line by the community. Further, Duke seems resistant to communication in general, which generates further distrust.

Update:
Duke officials now state that they are trying to demonstrate to the city that the Garden Street Grocery is structurally unstable, so that they can demolish the building and build a new "Uncle Harry's" Grocery that in some way resembles the original store.