Winston-Salem, N.C., was once known as “Camel City” because it was the home of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes. But tobacco’s heyday in North Carolina is long gone, and Winston-Salem–like other locations in the state that had economies based on the tobacco, textile or furniture industries–has had to reshape its economy and image. Today it bills itself as the “City of Arts & Innovation”. Not coincidentally, much of that innovation is taking place in a complex of former R.J. Reynolds factory buildings on the eastern edge of the city’s downtown.
The ongoing transformation of the district, now called Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, from industrial ghost town to burgeoning hub for cutting-edge work in biomedical sciences, information technology and other fields, hasn’t been quick or simple. It has involved private-public sector collaboration, state and federal tax credits, respect for the past and vision for the future—and more than a little patience.
Development History
The idea of establishing a research park in the downtown area left moribund by Reynolds’ closing of manufacturing, warehousing and other operations first surfaced in the early 1990s. Wake Forest University Health Sciences, now part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, took the first step in that direction in 1994 by moving Wake Forest School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology into a converted RJR warehouse.
In 1998, medical, academic, business, community and government leaders in Winston- Salem and Forsyth County formed a coalition to promote a local economy anchored by technology-based businesses. The group adopted a master plan, calling for development of a park focused on biotechnology research in a five-block area of downtown to be called Piedmont Triad Research Park. That spurred the 1999 construction of a new building that Wake Forest Baptist ultimately bought and leased to a pharmaceutical company.
In 2002, Wake Forest Baptist set its sights much higher, announcing plans for a 25-year build-out of the park to cover more than 145 developable acres and offering 6 million square feet of mixed-use space. A key element of the land acquisition vital to the expansion was R.J. Reynolds’ donation of a 10-acre tract containing vacant factory buildings.
Wake Forest Baptist advanced its goal of establishing a research campus in the downtown district by erecting three structures–a 180,000-square-foot biotechnology research facility, 30,000-square-foot research building and 5-story parking deck–that opened in 2006.
There were other positive developments in the succeeding years, including Reynolds’ donations of an additional 34 acres and the buildings on them plus $2 million in cash, and state and federal funding of infrastructure work. But, due to significant infrastructure work and a variety of other factors, the park’s visible growth stalled.
Then, in 2010, Wake Forest Baptist partnered with Wexford Science & Technology, a Baltimore-based development and real-estate company, to revitalize a cluster of abandoned tobacco buildings at the park’s northern end. Wexford, a specialist in building and managing facilities for universities, research parks and health-care systems, is well versed in using tax credits to help finance the rehabilitation of old industrial sites. Wexford purchased two old RJR warehouses from Wake Forest Baptist and went to work on them.
By qualifying for North Carolina’s Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credits–available to developers of income-producing spaces in former industrial structures certified as historic and at least 80 percent vacant for two years–and the federal New Markets and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs, Wexford was able to significantly reduce its net expenses and attract outside investors, such as U.S. Bank and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, to the project. The city and county, meanwhile, kicked in with $6.2 million in infrastructure upgrades around the site.