Liggett & Myers extends westward from the 1897 Walker Warehouse, in the foreground, to the six-story 1948 Chesterfield Building which anchors the complex at Duke Street. During the summer of 2006, Blue Devil Ventures began to develop the old factory buildings into a mixed use neighborhood.

L&M Buildings are great examples of the elaborate brickwork that typifies Durham's tobacco architecture. The courtyard extends south from West Village to Main Street.

 
Preservation Durham's 2000 Old Durham Tour explored the tobacco factories around Downtown just at the beginning of the current surge of redevelopment activity. A free Walking Tour of Tobacco Heritage leaves the Durham Farmer's Market at 10:00am the 3rd Saturday of every month from April to November.

September 2006: The Chesterfield Building was the site of two Warehouse Interventions by French artist Geoerges Rousse. Thousands of people viewed the installations here and in three other Downtown buildings in a community-wide celebration of the arts.

August 2006: Blue Devil Ventures began their adaptation of the site by removing wings that had been added to the 1897 Walker Warehouse, the oldest building in the complex, and returning it to its original configuration.

May 2005: Blue Devil Ventures applied to the City of Durham and to Durham County for street imporvements, cash, and tax-increment financing for the development of the Liggett & Myers plant. They have also applied for Local Landmark status for the property, which would allow them more tax credits.

May 2004: Blue Devil Ventures partner Tom Neiman gave Preservation Durham members and friends a preview of the company's plans for the L&M site during the Preservation Durham Annual Meeting, held May 26 in the Chesterfield Building, the cornerstone of the complex.

March 2004: Blue Devil Ventures files plans for creating apartments, offices, and retail space in the Liggett Buildings.

January 2004: Blue Devil Ventures files a rezoning request for the site with plans to develop apartments, offices, laboratories, and retail. Plans call for space to be ready for occupancy by 2006.

July 2003: Blue Devil Ventures is in the process of purchasing the entire 835,00 sq. ft. complex of Liggett & Myers buildings at the corner of Main and Duke Streets. The cornerstone of the property is the massive 1948 Tobacco Factory on the southeast corner of the intersection, the last large tobacco building in Durham. The property lies between the Downtown Loop and the Brightleaf District, and is just south of Blue Devil Venture's West Village, a complex of five early 20th century tobacco buildings now filled with apartments, offices, and restaurants.

August 2002: The Liggett Group plans to build 100 apartments and condominiums; 100,000 square feet of retail space; 130,000 square feet of offices; and 50,000 square feet of research and laboratory space in its old tobacco factory buildings on Main Street, according to the August 14 News and Observer. Liggett hoped to get approval from the city by October for its request to change the zoning of the property to make it part of the Central Business District. The property lies between the Downtown Loop and the Brightleaf area on West Main Street. The development proposal also includes a 1200 space parking deck to be financed by the city.

The plans for the Liggett project were first announced on May 5, 2001, the day of Preservation Durham's Annual Homes Tour Living It Up Downtown!, which focused on downtown residential redevelopment, including West Village, tobacco buildings which also once belonged to Liggett.