The Trust Building is home to Durham businesses that reflect the rich history of the building’s original investors, including major tenants: Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau, Windsor Circle and American Underground. Built in 1905, the Trust Building was reported to be the tallest office building in North Carolina at the time, and is notable as Durham’s first multi-story office building with the city’s first elevator. With a history of being a “bank building,” the Trust Building was home to major tenants including Fidelity Bank, led by Benjamin Duke, and the Home Savings Bank, led by George W. Watts and John Sprunt Hill. Watts and Hill were the two entrepreneurs responsible for investing in a significant portion of the start-up businesses and buildings that made Durham what it is today. 

With a focus on reactivating Durham’s Central Business District, Forty/AM, together with a diverse team of real estate investors, managed redevelopment plans for the historic Trust Building.