Financially troubled since its construction in the mid-1980s, Heritage Square is a 69,000-square foot strip mall shopping center at what was formerly the heart of Durham's Hayti district.

Heritage Square Associates, a development company, bought the property on Lakewood Avenue between Roxboro and Fayetteville streets from the Durham Redevelopment Commission with help of a $962,000 loan from the city. The center was able to retain a major supermarket anchor until the Winn-Dixie chain went out of business in the mid-2000s, after which an independent ethnic and foreign food grocers took over the space.

In 2007, the Durham redevelopment firm Scientific Properties bought Heritage Square for $4 million and announced intentions of rebuilding it as a larger, mixed-use project. Rebuilding has yet to begin.