text:
January 2020
15 Storylines to Watch in the '20s: Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
What's next for the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem? After, Bailey South, that is. Bailey South, the transformation of a bland 8,000-square-foot building by Front Street Capital into a visually stimulating 75,000-square-foot office/retail/restaurant development should be completed by the middle of next year.Read More
December 2019
New 'Responsible Tech' Company at Innovation Quarter Uses Art to Help People Disengage From Devices
There is a touch of irony with the newest addition to the Bailey Power Plant at Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem.
The company is using technology to help get children off technology.Read More
Want to Make Your City a Startup Hub? You'll Need to Befriend 25 Founders, 8 Investors, and 10 Experts First
Surge Cities, our second annual ranking of choice metro statistical areas for planting and growing companies, is ostensibly about places. But it's really about people.
For entrepreneurs, what matters is whom you know–also how many you know, how well you know them, how willing they are to help you, and how far you have to go to meet for coffee.Read More
November 2019
Triad City Strives to Be the Best Place in America to Start a Business
When it comes to the evolution of Winston-Salem's economy from legacy manufacturing to a knowledge economy, few possess the perspective David Mounts has on the subject.
After all, the chairman and CEO of data analytics and technology company Inmar leads the poster company at the epicenter of the decade-long paradigm shift at the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on the eastern edge of downtown. As a champion of the city's push to become known as the best place in the country to start a business, he told those in attendance at the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce annual meeting Tuesday that change is happening fast.Read More
Wake Forest Baptist, Atrium Sign Partnership Agreement
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Atrium Health have taken a formal step toward jointly "creating a next-generation academic health-care system."
The not-for-profit health-care systems said Thursday they have executed an agreement they called "one more step in a series of milestones."
The systems announced April 10 they had signed a memorandum of understanding.
The proposed strategic combination is projected to be completed by March 31. The transaction requires the approval of regulatory agencies.Read More
Musician Moves Boston-Based Medical Technology Business to Winston
At 21 years old, Kevin Clark had no idea what he was embarking on when he pulled out his Xbox Kinect motion capture camera.
All he knew at the time was that his older cousin had suffered a spinal injury due to a motorcycle wreck.
Clark thought his cousin might benefit from being able to incorporate music into his physical rehabilitation regimen.
Up to that point, Clark had been a music student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, learning to write and arrange music for large bands and orchestras.Read More
Governor Signs Historic-Rehabilitation Tax Credit Bill Into Law
A state House bill that would extend state historic-rehabilitation tax credits was signed into law Friday by Gov. Roy Cooper.
The House and Senate reached a compromise Oct. 24 on House Bill 399, producing a 93-8 vote in the House and a voice vote approval in the Senate.
Cooper did not comment specifically on HB399 in a statement covering the signing of four bills.
October 2019
A Tobacco Town Transformed: Winston-Salem
Just as the sun dips behind Winston-Salem's skinny R.J. Reynolds smokestack, a blanket of shade revives the 100 or so yogis moving into warrior pose on the grassy lawn of Bailey Park. Their Sunset Salutations class — a free yoga practice held every third Wednesday of each month — has been going strong for 10 minutes, but latecomers are still arriving on the scene and rolling out their mats.Read More
Bailey South development takes shape, pushing 60 percent occupancy
Bailey South is taking shape as the latest addition to Winston-Salem's Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, according to its developer. Coleman Team of developer Front Street Capital told Triad Business Journal that the 75,000-square-foot development is scheduled for completion in June, and should open with at least four tenants, including The Variable ad agency, which will occupy the top two floors. Food and beverage options will include a "marquis" restaurant with a 2,000-square-foot patio.Read More
[Spotlight] Lill Dipper and Tin Can
Located at 308 N. Patterson Ave. in Winston-Salem, Lill Dipper ice cream does things a little differently. Opened in May 2019, this window-service dessert hotspot offers only one soft-serve flavor: vanilla. But what Lill Dipper may lack in flavors, it more than makes up for in ice cream adornments.Read More
6 Paths to Innovation
Over several decades in partnership with state, local, and federal entities, we have invested in downtown Winston-Salem to create a physical environment for innovation called the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. It's several hundred acres that have been redeveloped in partnership with innovative private sector companies, as well as contributions from the Wake Forest Health System and School of Medicine.Read More
Modern Office: Developer Sees Inspirational Space in Innovation Hub as Powerful Recruitment Tool
Team's Front Street Capital is investing $22.5 million in Bailey South, the second phase of the redevelopment of the former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. coal-burning plant that once generated electricity for tobacco manufacturing. The project is part of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, home to more than a million square feet of space occupied by technology and biotechnology companies, advertising agencies and the downtown campus of the Wake Forest School of Medicine.Read More
July 2019
Our view: Winston-Salem in a clear light
Most significantly, the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter has been a huge success, housing businesses like Sunrise Technologies, Inc., Wexford Science & Technology and Front Street Capital. There's still room for more, such as Link Apartments Innovation Quarter, a $68 million residential, retail and parking complex currently being developed.Read More
In Downtown Winston-Salem, On and Around Reynolda, Wake Forest Plans for Growth
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter has been ranked by Preservation NC as the largest historic redevelopment project of its kind in the state, as well as among the largest involving major innovation districts in the country.
Counting the $65 million Bailey Power Plant renovations, the Link Apartments mixed-use project, $106 million Wake Forest BioTech Place, $75 million Inmar Inc. headquarters, and $60 million Plant 64 apartment complex, there has been more than $300 million in capital investment within the research park.
Hof Milam, executive Vice President at Wake Forest, said that while the university and Wake Forest Innovation Quarter are connected at the hip, they have distinct enough missions that they are not overly dependent on each other.Read More
Downtown Winston-Salem is a Hot Spot for Growth
Every area within downtown Winston-Salem is a hot spot for future growth and development, local government officials and business leaders say.
In addition, the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter will continue to have strong development from Third Street south to Salem Parkway, including the Bailey Park South project.
Innovation Quarter, which is one of the fastest-growing urban-based districts for innovation in the United States, has more than 170 companies, five local academic institutions, more than 3,700 employees, 1,800 degree-seeking students and more than 8,000 workforce trainee participants.
The site, which is a place for research, business and education in biomedical science, information technology, digital media, clinical services and advanced materials, has 1.9-million square feet of office, laboratory and educational space on more than 330 acres. There are about 770 apartments and condominiums within or close by the Innovation Quarter.
Businesses, Research, Residential Living Come Together as Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Continues to Grow
As Wake Forest Innovation Quarter continues to take shape as a hub of activity where people work, live, learn and play, its officials are exploring this urban-based innovation district's next phase of development.
The Innovation Quarter, an initiative of Wake Forest School of Medicine, which is part of Wake Forest Baptist Health, is in the eastern part of downtown Winston-Salem. It sits on 337 acres, of which 168 acres have been developed by Wake Forest Baptist Health or other entities.
It is home to more than 3,700 workers; more than 1,470 degree-seeking students; 776 apartments; lofts and condos; 142 service companies; 46 technology companies; and five academic institutions.
The majority of buildings in the innovation district sprang from revamped R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. factories and warehouses.
June 2019
Festival-goers Flock to Juneteenth Festival in Downtown Winston-Salem
In his motivational youth session on Saturday at the 15th Annual Juneteenth Festival in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, Geno Segers told his audience to stop dreaming, hoping and wishing.
Segers, a native of Winston-Salem, is an actor and voice artist. He has played the role of Mufasa in Disney's Australian stage production of "The Lion King" and is best known for the role of Chayton Littlestone in "Banshee" on Cinemax. He is one of the stars of "Perfect Harmony," an NBC comedy debuting in the fall.
His youth session was one of a number of presentations held inside Biotech Place or outside in Bailey Park during the Juneteenth Festival. Offerings included music, food, a variety of vendors, health information sessions, arts and crafts, book signings and sales, a fashion showcase and heritage displays and demonstrations.Read More
Editor's Picks: Sweet Spots For High Tech
The leading high tech hubs have developed a start-up ecosystem that nurtures entrepreneurs and plants the seeds for sustainable growth from innovators who bring scaleable products to life.
The Carolina Core stretches between Winston-Salem and Fayetteville at the heart of North Carolina, which is consistently ranked as one of the best states to do business with low costs and competitive incentives. Anchored by four new megasites of 7,200 acres of certified land, research parks and mixed-use developments, the corridor draws from a deep pool of manufacturing and engineering talent fueled by top-notch colleges and universities.
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem is one of the fastest-growing urban-based districts for innovation in the United States. Home to more than 170 companies, five leading academic institutions, more than 3,700 workers, 1,800 degree-seeking students and 8,000 workforce trainee participants, the Innovation Quarter is a place for research, business and education in biomedical science, information technology, digital media, clinical services and advanced materials.Read More
Innovation Quarter Named as Inaugural Member of Global Districts Group
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter has been selected as an inaugural member of the Global Institute on Innovation Districts — one of six chosen to serve on its initial steering committee.
The downtown Winston-Salem research park joins districts based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Melbourne, Australia, New York, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The impetus for the nonprofit global institute came from research conducted by Julie Wagner and Bruce Katz, authors of The Brookings Institution's "Rise of Innovation Districts" 2014 research, and research park expert Thomas Osha.Read More
The Chronicle Rolls Out the Red Carpet
The city's oldest and most respected community newspaper rolled out the red carpet and invited more than 1,000 people from all walks of life to come together and celebrate those in our community who go the extra mile to make a difference during The Chronicle's Annual Community Service Awards held on the campus of Winston-Salem State University.
For more than 30 years The Chronicle has held the Community Service Awards to celebrate individuals and organizations in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County who go above and beyond the normal call of duty to lend a helping hand to others and uplift the community.
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter was nominated for The Chronicle Innovation Award among winner IFB Solutions, Inmar and Sonoco.Read More
Free Kite-decorating Ahead of Inaugural Flight Festival
A new summer festival is about to take flight, kicking off with free kite-making workshops at Winston-Salem recreation centers. Winston-Salem's inaugural Flight Festival will be held June 15 and residents will have the chance to fly the kites they have created.
Through Friday, the free kite-making kits will be available at the city's 17 recreation centers along with arts and crafts supplies. Hours vary by location and people should contact their local center to find out when the workshop is available.
Council member Annette Scippio, who initiated the new event, said the festival aims to get people outside, showcase local aviation resources and teach people about flying. She said the festival, which is open to the public, was inspired by her childhood memories of a kite festival in Winston-Salem.Read More
April 2019
Activity at Former Bailey Power Plant Heats Up with New Tenants
The activity at a high-profile Triad property may soon get hotter than a wood-fired pizza oven.
Indeed, part of the new heat generated at the former Bailey Power Plant on the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is due to the opening last month of the Cugino Forno Pizzeria, next door to Incendiary Brewing.
Cugino Forno and Incendiary, which opened in September, both open out into a vast outdoor patio with spacious seating in the plant's former coal pit. With mild spring temperatures due, the patio soon should be a hub of activity in the Innovation Quarter.
But food and drink aren't the only newcomers to Bailey. Since its grand opening in February 2018 following $40 million in renovations, the former power planthas added several tenants, including Renfro Corp. and Javara Research, which combine to occupy about 10,000 square feet.
And more restaurant, retail and office offerings are under construction in the adjacent Bailey South project developed by Front Street Capital and scheduled for completion around the end of this year. Meanwhile, move-ins for the first of the 340 units at Link Apartments Innovation Quarter, directly across Patterson Avenue from Bailey, are scheduled for August.Read More
March 2019
Continuing Our Community's Success
Several years ago our community's leadership adopted the bold goal of making Winston-Salem one of the top-50 metro areas in the country. Since then we have provided an annual State of the Community update to assess our progress and report on other important issues facing Winston-Salem. We provided our most recent update at an event on Feb. 26 at the Hanesbrand Theatre. Although much remains to be done, there is also much to be encouraged about.
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter continues to grow and now has 174 companies employing almost 3,800 people. There has been more than $800 million in new investment in Innovation Quarter, including an 800-space parking deck and 1,100 residential units — with 340 more apartments under construction.Read More
Wake Forest Video Art Adds to the Cultural Landscape
People watch as Wake Forest University senior Will Fullerton's short film is projected against the wall of Bailey Power Plant on Wednesday along Patterson Avenue in downtown Winston-Salem. Fullerton's short film tackled the idea of how the city views itself in relation to cigarettes and art.
Joel Tauber, associate professor of art at Wake Forest, gave his Filmmaking and Video Art class an assignment to go outside campus walls and find a location or a person's story that they felt had not been told enough.
The seven students produced short films with themes ranging from an analysis of social media anxiety and depression to a focus on four individuals and the stories behind their tattoos.Read More
February 2019
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Holds Town Hall Event
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter's mission is still to drive economic development and build a vibrant community, Graydon Pleasants said during the town hall event at the innovation district in downtown Winston-Salem on Tuesday.
"The physical environment here has changed rather quickly," said Pleasants, who is head of real estate development at the Innovation Quarter. "Everybody wants to know what's coming next."
He said that the Link Apartments with its 245 residential units will open this summer. He also said the Bailey Power Plant South, a project under development by Front Street Capital, will have nearly 100,000 square feet of office and retail space.
He added that the future of the Innovation Quarter will be its property farther south of the Inmar Inc. building in the district as well as south of Third Street in downtown Winston-Salem.Read More
January 2019
The Bailey Power Plant – The Heart Of The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Threading through our recent story of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, images and anecdotes are the Bailey Power Plant were consistently used to illustrate the overall story of how this area of Winston-Salem, North Carolina has been resurrected from an abandoned industrial site to a vibrant live-work community. The story behind the renovation of this historic building is compelling, as is the level of detail and commitment to bring this project from concept to fruition.
Initially constructed in 1947 as a coal-fired power plant for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the Bailey Power Plant is reincarnated as a mixed-use workplace and entertainment hub in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in Downtown Winston-Salem. The core and shell design honor the building's historical industrial past by retaining original elements such as distressed concrete structures and blue stenciled camels; while simultaneously looking to the future with a contemporary glass and metal facade, and a north-facing rooftop addition. Slated to receive LEED Silver certification, the Power Plant comes full circle from a coal-first plant to a restored, resource-saving icon of sustainability.Read More
November 2018
Triad-Based Clinical Research Firm Eyes Rapid Growth
Through its partnership with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem-based Javara Inc. is growing its footprint in the region by connecting patients in need with care that might not otherwise be available to them via clinical trials.Read More
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter: A Transformation From Industrial Area To Vibrant Community
A team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has been successfully redeveloping a former tobacco manufacturing district in the city to create the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Innovation districts are a recent development in the evolution of specialized areas that are focused on providing vibrant communities where interaction and collaboration are fostered. Situated in what is called the Piedmont Triad in North Carolina, the three major cities which also include Greensboro and High Point, it is one of the major manufacturing and transportation hubs of the southeastern US.
The transformation of a formerly industrial area into a vibrant new community has not happened overnight. Like most successful endeavors, the changes in this area started on a small scale that evolved into a much larger entity. Wake Forest has served as the primary instigator of the metamorphosis.Read More
Change Your Socks: One of the World's Largest Sock Makers Innovating Design Out of Winston-Salem
Renfro Corporations, a privately held sock manufacturing company headquartered in Mount Airy with offices in major cities around the globe, recently occupied a 5,000-square-foot space within Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem. The office is inside the repurposed Bailey Power Plant, once owned and operated by R.J. Reynolds.
The symmetry of a near century-old company reinventing itself in such a space is not lost on Renfro CEO and President Stan Jewell.
"Where we are going with this transformation of our company, a really deliberate transformation of our company, I think being in Bailey Power Plant is really important both symbolically and actually the space itself has been transformed from an old power plant for a tobacco facility into this beautiful space," he said.Read More
The Opportunity Zone Firehose
Author Bruce Katz spent the past several weeks visiting six separate cities — Albuquerque, Cleveland, Dayton, Madison, New Orleans and Winston-Salem. Here are a few observations about cities hoping to realize their full economic and social impact.
Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem has been the driving force behind the Innovation Quarter at the periphery of downtown. In Winston-Salem, for example, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is the private driver behind an Innovation Quarter that is both remaking historic power plants, tobacco facilities and rail lines while innovating on new medical productsRead More
East End Plan Envisions Transformed 5th Street, MLK
The East End Master Plan envisions the prosperity of downtown extending to East Winston with Fifth Street playing a major part.
The Winston-Salem City Council on Monday, Nov. 5, unanimously approved the plan, which was created through a partnership of the city, the City-County Planning Department and S.G. Atkins Community Development Corporation. The plan is designed to give a direction for future development in the area and was developed after holding numerous workshops to get public feedback.
The East End encompasses numerous major institutions that can act as anchor points for development like downtown, The Innovation Quarter, Career Center, Winston-Salem State University, Forsyth County's Human Services campus and Union Station, which the city is currently turning into a transportation center.Read More
How Much Did Front Street Capital Pay for Former RJR Buildings?
The total was $400,000, according to Forsyth County records just obtained by Triad Business Journal. The sales had not closed and the price was not revealed in June when TBJ broke the story that Winston-Salem-based Front Street Capital would develop the buildings.Read More
October 2018
Developer Provides Updates on Bailey South
Securing The Variable ad agency as the tenant for the top two floors isn't the only new involving Bailey South, the new building planned in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Coleman Team of developer Front Street Capital provided other updated information to Triad Business Journal Wednesday.
First of all, the 75,000-square-foot building–9,000 from the original R.J. Reynolds building–will have six floors. When Triad Business Journal broke the story about the estimated $20 million building in June, Front Street Capital said it wasn't sure whether the building would be five or six floors.
Plus Team said a second bridge–original plans called for only one–will connect foot traffic directly to the second floor retail and restaurant space. The first bridge will be on former rail track, and the second will connect the sidewalk on 4th Street.Read More
The Variable Takes Anchor Tenant Spot at Bailey Power Plant South
The planned Bailey Power Plant South project has landed an anchor tenant in local marketing agency The Variable, the developers said Tuesday.
The developer of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, Wexford Science & Technology, sold in June a portion of the plant property and a neighboring building to Winston-Salem commercial real-estate firm Front Street Capital.
Front Street Capital is redeveloping what is referred to as Building 23-1/Bailey South, along with the Morris Building, into nearly 100,000 square feet of office and retail space.
The Variable focuses on business innovation, marketing consulting and advertising services.
The agency will move from downtown neighbor Plant 64, where it has nearly reached capacity for its space. It will occupy the top two floors of the new building upon completion, which is scheduled for January 2020.Read More
September 2018
The Carolinas: No Boundary to Growth
Winston-Salem has always been a city of progress. From its origins as an early Moravian settlement nearly 250 years ago and the merger of towns of Winston and Salem over 100 years ago, the community has grown to be a center for business and technology in North Carolina and the Southeast.
Winston-Salem has also seen exponential growth in the community's life science and healthcare sectors. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Forsyth Medical Center, Winston-Salem's two local hospitals, are the city's major employers with over 26,000 employees between them. In addition, the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, a 240-acre research park in downtown Winston-Salem, is one of the fastest growing urban-based research parks in the U.S. and continues to attract a talented workforce of scientists, engineers and other professionals to the area.
The newest project to be completed within the Innovation Quarter is the renovated Bailey Power Plant.Read More
Triad Programs Match Women, Minority Businesses With Opportunities
Recently, Wexford Science & Technology and the Innovation Quarter announced that they will award $200,000 and office space in the Bailey Power Plant to a local nonprofit to support minority and women-owned businesses in Winston-Salem.
"Our mayor and city council has place a high premium and priority on focusing on the development of women- and minority-owned businesses. It's a demographic that we as an organization have been very much supportive of," said advisory council member Evan Raleigh.
The council has received proposals from various organizations and Raleigh hopes an announcement will be made in the next few weeks.
Raleigh said he envisions "a place where businesses can come and have any of their resource needs met — whether that be mentorship, whether it be a source where they can make connections to other resources in the community, a central gathering space for businesses in that community — to some extent a home base."Read More
August 2018
Businessman Don Flow Pursues Momentum for Growth, Not Legacy, with Vision for Winston-Salem's Future
Winston-Salem businessman Don Flow embraces the role of a community visionary at a time and an age —62 — when most successful leaders are contemplating retirement.
Flow is perhaps most known as owner of Flow Automotive Cos., which operates car dealerships in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Raleigh and Charlottesville, Va.
However, that's just the tip of the iceberg of Flow's community involvement.
Location, Location, Location Gives Forsyth County Advantage
Forsyth County may be moving into an age of high-tech industry, but its place on the map will continue to be a major growth influence.
The county's central location in both the state and region are strong selling points to encourage growth, said local officials who work to promote Winston-Salem and the county.
They're not the only ones: Bob Leak, who promotes economic development here as the president of Winston-Salem Business Inc., can talk about education, quality of life, taxes, utilities and other factors when he sells Forsyth County. But location is big.
How Will the Triad Look in 50 Years to Children Being Born Now?
Winston-Salem and the Triad will look to the interstates and the skies for its short- and potential long-term prospects for economic growth, according to local officials working to find success.
How successful the city and 10-county region are at attracting logistics and transportation companies, along with bolstering its niche in life-science research, could be the key factor in how close their economies stay in range of rapidly expanding Charlotte and the Triangle.
The 10-county region has about 1.65 million residents. The population is projected to increase by 25 percent, or a net gain of 412,000 residents, between now and 2050.
Pierrakos Sees Value in Keeping Local Talent
Olga Pierrakos and her family have lived in Winston-Salem for a little more than a year now, and she is the founding chair to Wake Forest University's Department of Engineering, which is a part of Wake Downtown.
In her time here, Pierrakos said she has asked residents what makes Winston-Salem unique, and the frequent response is that it is a city that reinvents itself.
"I think that's so true when you think about what the Innovation Quarter represents," she said. "This tobacco empire has reinvented itself to serve as a hub not only for Winston-Salem, but I think a hub for the state to represent growth and to represent kind of a reviving and revitalization of the community through an investment really in technology and the sciences and engineering."
Downtown Growth Benefiting Education in the Area
The school districts, colleges and universities that call Forsyth County home are seeing effects from the recent growth in downtown Winston-Salem in their programs and their workforces.
There are currently thousands of faculty and staff at employed both full- and part-time, between the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and various higher and post-secondary education institutions. Some see the recent growth and interest in the city as a factor for recruiting outside talent, as well as retaining them.
"The growth and development of the (Wake Forest) Innovation Quarter has had a positive impact on our ability to recruit and retain faculty who work here at (Winston-Salem State University)," Revonda Reed, faculty affairs manager for WSSU, said in a statement. The university currently employs 996 faculty and staff.
From Manufacturing to Technology: Future Depends on Training Residents for New Economy
Andrea Harkey, who is working on her master's degree in molecular genetics, works in Gloria Muday's biology lab at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Throughout most of the 20th century, Winston-Salem was a manufacturing city with the tobacco industry serving as its money machine.
In 1986, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. opened its Tobaccoville plant, which processed daily 450 tons of tobacco into 500 million cigarettes, according to the book, "From Tobacco to Technology: Reshaping Winston-Salem for the 21st Century."
July 2018
Businesses owned by women, minorities will get funding, office space in Bailey Power Plant via public-private initiative
A public-private sector initiative will provide funding and office space in Bailey Power Plant for local minority- and women-owned businesses.
Wexford Science & Technology LLC, developer of much of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, said Monday it will provide $200,000 over two years toward the initiative, as well as between 1,400 and 1,600 square feet in the recently renovated facility off Patterson Avenue in downtown Winston-Salem.Read More
Books offers look into formative years of the Innovation Quarter
The needs for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to grow, and for downtown Winston-Salem to reverse a downward socio-economic course, were the biggest catalysts to developing one of the country's largest urban life-sciences research parks.
A 300-page book written by Dr. Richard Dean, a retired executive of Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which debuted last week, documents the pivotal 2002 to 2012 stretch that took Piedmont Triad Research Park from proposal to reality. The book, published by Library Partners Press, an affiliate of Wake Forest University, is available on Amazon.
City Bike Rental Could Expand; Riders Can Borrow Bikes from Sites Around Winston-Salem
A local bicycling advocate says the Zagster bike-rental program here could expand by another 10 bikes, thanks to an encouraging growth in the number of people using the bikes.
Parked at strategic spots downtown and elsewhere, the bikes can be rented by the hour by riders who then are able to drop the bike off at another rental stand after taking a ride on city streets or a growing network of greenways and bike paths.Read More
KeraNetics Agrees to Merge with Mass. Biotechnology Company
KeraNetics LLC, a Winston-Salem biotechnology company, said Friday it has agreed to merge with a biotechnology microchip implant manufacturer.
KeraNetics and Microchips Biotech Inc. of Lexington, Mass., will operate as Keratin Biosciences Inc.
The companies will maintain current operations. KeraNetics has 23 local employees at last count, including at least eight with doctorate degrees.Read More
June 2018
A Former Power Plant Carries Creativity and History to Winston-Salem
The eastern part of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, owes its beginnings to the tobacco industry, but today bio-technology and innovation rule the roost. The Bailey Power Plant, a brick-and-metal industrial building built in 1949 and revamped in 2018 as the final piece of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, is one of the newest examples that embodies the city, then and now.
In February of 2018, the Bailey Power Plant re-opened as an 111,479-square-foot office, entertainment, retail, and restaurant space. The developer, Wexford Science and Technology, has been one of the forces behind the revitalization of the Innovation Quarter, along with other academic and government groups. Each week, nearly 4,000 employees and 1,500 students take advantage of the district's 145 acres, which is home to companies focusing on biomedical research, information technology, and clinical services, as well as several academic institutions, all housed in a mix of historic and new infrastructure.Read More
Front Street Capital Plans Nearly 100K Square Feet of Retail, Office at Innovation Quarter
Front Street Capital is planning to make the final two pieces of Winston-Salem's former Bailey Power Plant — two old, forgettable structures — into showpieces that could add almost 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and offices at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Two buildings remaining from the coal-fired plant that had powered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco's vast complexes are now poised to deliver energy of another kind in the center city through defining features such as rooftop terraces, an elevated, restored rail line and an outdoor entertainment venue in the former coal pit.Read More
May 2018
Rain Not Stopping Gears & Guitars Festivalgoers
Rain and music festivals have a long history.
Gears & Guitars has by no means dissolved into Woodstock, but it has been wet.
The third annual music festival, held at Bailey Park in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, continues today with the headliner Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. Doors open at 5 p.m., with music beginning an hour later.
Today's forecast from the National Weather Service calls for a 50 percent chance of rain, and there is little to no place to stay dry at Bailey Park.
The festival, which ends Monday with a free concert by local bands, is rain or shine. It is run in conjunction with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic.Read More
Developer Outlines Timeline for Delivering Nearly 600 Downtown Apartments
Progress remains ongoing and on schedule at a pair of prominent downtown Triad apartment communities under development by the same company.
Seun Falade, development associate at Charlotte-based Grubb Properties, said Link Apartments Innovation Quarter on target for early 2019 completion despite the industry-wide shortage of construction workers.
Meanwhile, work on design and financing for Grubb's $48 million Link Apartments — Fourth Street project is preceding as expected as well, with work underway on design and financing — though groundbreaking has yet to occur. Those apartments are on land at the GMAC tower that auto dealer Don Flow bought last year, and cater-cornered from several parking lots he recently purchased.Read More
Music and Pro Cycling? Downtown Winston-Salem to Have Both This Weekend
The Winston-Salem Cycling Classic takes to the streets of downtown this weekend for its sixth consecutive year, with a slate of events geared toward cycling fans — and music lovers.
Bailey Park is the epicenter of the events. Here's a breakdown of what's going on this Memorial Day weekend:
Pizza Restaurant Slated for Bailey Power Plant
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and Wexford Science & Technology announced Thursday the addition of Cugino Forno, a family-owned Neapolitan pizzeria and Italian eatery, as the newest tenant in Bailey Power Plant.
Cugino Forno will occupy 5,800 square feet on the first floor of Bailey Power Plant in downtown Winston-Salem and will feature family-style seating for 150 to 200 people, including outside seating in the former coal pit, the Innovation Quarter said in a statement. The restaurant will have approximately 16 employees and is expected to open around October.
Streetcars Proposed in Winston-Salem
A proposal to put streetcars on the abandoned train line beside the Long Branch Trail is getting some traction.
- DOT owns the line
- Could possibly be extended to the Coliseum and Wake Forest University
- City Council to consider request for $50,000 in funding a study for the proposal
"I think it's a great method of transportation for the area and it really would alleviate a lot of the parking issues," said Joanie Beck, who was walking along the trail with some friends.
Others have questions.Read More
Long Branch Trail Through Innovation Quarter Mimics New York's High Line
The RJ Reynolds Building provided the iconic art-deco model for the larger Empire State Building, so it's only fair that Winston-Salem is stealing the High Line concept — a linear public park made from a reclaimed raised railbed — from New York City.
The Long Branch Trail, which spans the 1.7-mile length of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at the north end to Rams Drive in the south, officially opened last month on a discontinued Norfolk-Southern rail line.Read More
April 2018
Brewery to Open in Bailey Power Plant
A new craft brewery will be going into the renovated Bailey Power Plant in Innovation Quarter downtown.
Construction has just begun on the 6,200-square-foot space that will house Incendiary Brewing Co., which could open as early as Labor Day weekend. That would make it the seventh craft brewery to have a presence in Winston-Salem.
March 2018
Greensboro Developer Wants to Create Innovation District
Located on the corner of South Elm Street and West Gate Boulevard, many think of the Old Greensborough Gateway Center as the gateway to downtown. Developer Andy Zimmerman believes the old denim factory will have a new future as a magnet for tech jobs.
"This is a historic site that we're reworking to be a tech center," Zimmerman said.
He envisions a place where people can meet, work and collaborate. Zimmerman even wants to bring an indoor market into the space, seeing a need on the south side of town.Read More
Bailey Power Plant Powers Economic Growth in Winston-Salem
Bailey Power Plant on Patterson Avenue once fueled the RJ Reynolds factories. Now, 20 years after it shut down, it's powering economic growth in Winston-Salem.
With more than 100,000 square feet of space, Bailey Power Plant is now home to restaurants, businesses, office space, and more. The building was the last of the historic buildings that was redeveloped in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and came with a price tag of $40 million dollars. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center says the project culminates the largest historic redevelopment project in the history of North Carolina at around 1.1 million square feet.Read More
Volunteers Team Up to Pack Meals for Kids
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and Wake Forest University partnered with the Forsyth Backpack Program during the workday on Feb. 28 to pack more than 6,400 meals for local youth in need.
Workers and students from Innovation Quarter tenants, including Wake Downtown, volunteered time to help set up, pack and deliver meals, and clean up.Read More
Longtime Planning City-County Planning Director Paul Norby to Retire
Paul Norby, the longest-serving planning director in the 70-year history of the City-County Planning Board, will retire on Aug. 1.
Norby has led the planning department here for 19 years, and during that time led the development of the Legacy comprehensive Plan in 2001 and the Legacy 2030 update in 2014.
New Bar, Fair Witness, Focusing on Creative Cocktails
There's a new bar in town that's almost certain to become a destination for creative cocktails.
Tim Nolan and Blake Stewart opened Fair Witness at 290 E. Fourth St., just around the corner from Krankies Coffee and across the street from Bailey Park in the Innovation Quarter.
February 2018
Bailey Power Plant Wraps Up Years of Construction
After 19 months of construction and a $40 million investment, the largest redevelopment project in the history of NC officially wrapped up last week, on Thursday, Feb. 8, when city officials and others cut the ceremonial ribbon on the historic Bailey Power Plant in downtown Winston-Salem.
The former power plant, which provided electricity and steam for R.J. Reynolds in the heart of downtown, is the last of the historic buildings that will be redeveloped by Wexford Science+Technology in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. The original structure located on the corner of Patterson Ave. and Fourth Street was built in the 1940s and was the power hub for Reynolds' manufacturing plant until the plant closed in the late 1950s, when the company moved its plants out of the downtown area.Read More
Bailey Power Plant Provides New Energy in Downtown Winston-Salem, but without Losing Identity
Bailey Power Plant, the last of seven rehabilitated buildings on the former R.J. Reynolds campus in downtown Winston-Salem, celebrated a grand opening Thursday morning.
The former coal-burning energy plant features 111,479 square feet of modern office and meeting space as well as restaurant options.Read More
January 2018
Arches Shine Over U.S. 52
The Twin Arches over U.S. 52 showed what they could do Tuesday night, as local officials counted down and applauded the lighting of what they hope will become an iconic gateway into downtown Winston-Salem.
Joycelyn Johnson, one of the board members of the Creative Corridors Coalition that spearheaded the project, shouted "Let there be light!" as she turned from a podium and watched white lights shining up the metal tubes that form the arches.
CYCLEBAR Opens in Winston-Salem
CYCLEBAR, an indoor cycling studio, opened Monday in Winston-Salem. It is just one of many businesses to come to Winston-Salem since 2000.
"We've seen just under $2 billion, and a lot of that has been in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, but a lot of it also has been in the core of downtown," said Jason Theil from the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership.Read More
Creative Vision: Arts Leaders Aim to Share Education, Access, Funding, Identity
In one of my first conversations with Jim Sparrow, he posed a challenging question: Winston-Salem calls itself the City of the Arts and Innovation, but does it look like that?
Sparrow has been president and chief executive of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County since 2013. When I asked him and 15 other arts leaders what they plan to provide in 2018 and how their goals dovetail with the aspirations of the City Arts and Innovation, most replied with dreams and goals similar to the Arts Council's three "vision pillars."
Commentary: Art Wants to Work!
I came to Winston-Salem 31 years ago to teach sculpture at Wake Forest. When I first passed the Mickey Coffee Pot driving on Main Street, I had to pull over! What was this? A big, graceful, yet clunky coffee pot? What impressed me was its scale, simple design, and also how it was just stuck on a big ol' pole. I realized that while it was built as a simple trade sign, the quirky pot has connotations of functionality, modesty, hospitality, and grace – all attributes that I now think describe our community ethos, and deserve to be celebrated – as art!Read More
Gov. Cooper Touts Triad Entrepreneurship During Innovation Quarter Tour
Efforts are underway to bolster entrepreneurial activity in the Triad, which can be seen with the soon-to-be openings of Bailey Power Plant and the Winston Starts accelerator program in downtown Winston-Salem. And for the activity to continue, it's important "to create the atmosphere where small businesses can start up and grow," said Gov. Roy Cooper.
"So we want to make sure that there is an educated workforce with the skills necessary," he said on Tuesday.Read More
14 Thriving U.S. Cities Amazon Should Consider For HQ2
The city of arts and innovation has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Tobacco factories have been transformed. Hundreds of millions have been spent on Wake Forest Biotech Place and endless infrastructure projects. There's an international airport. The cost of living is low, the labor pool is ready and there are around 30 colleges in a 30-mile radius.Read More
Winston Starts Set to Turn Switch on Startup Space in Former GMAC Building
A breath of fresh entrepreneurial air is about a month away from flowing into what had been downtown Winston-Salem's largest real estate white elephant — the former GMAC Insurance tower.Read More
December 2017
2017's Top Stories: New Tenants, Startups Yield Buzz at Innovation Quarter
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter started off 2017 with bang, with some 275 students attending classes at Wake Downtown for the first time. The new 115,000 square-foot, urban satellite campus gave Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter a considerable boost, but the hub's momentum only continued to grow as the year progressed.Read More
Rams Drive Bridge Reopening Friday
The Rams Drive bridge is reopening Friday as work on U.S. 52 south of Business 40 winds down to completion.
The bridge was closed last summer and demolished as part of the project to create a new interchange to the south on U.S. 52 with the extension of Research Parkway.
November 2017
Artwork Installed at Innovation Quarter in Honor of Clinical Trial Participants
When you give your child a key medicine to make them feel better, did you ever think about what it took to create that medicine?
Because it's not like whipping up a new recipe in the kitchen.Read More
Reynolds CEO Says Company, Community Share Willingness to Embrace Disruption
Winston-Salem and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. have been as intertwined as any North Carolina community and corporation for more than 140 years.
A speech Wednesday by Debra Crew, chief executive of Reynolds American Inc., reinforced that connectivity as both continue to embrace disruption and transformation as part of their respective evolutions.
HBCUs Have Economic Impact on Community; Triad's 3 Schools Have Combined $757 Million
Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Triad have a lasting economic impact on their communities, according to a recently released study.
Winston-Salem State University, N.C. A&T State University and Bennett College all have created jobs in their communities of Greensboro and Winston-Salem, as well as invested millions of dollars, according to a study by the United Negro College Fund's Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. Graduates of HBCUs also go on to succeed in life, with the majority doing better than they would if they had not attended college.
State of Startups: Triad Ecosystem Showing 'Mega Momentum"
The Piedmont-Triad is a dynamic region with a history of manufacturing. For many years, the story of economic growth and subsequent economic decline was a story of the manufacturing, textile, and tobacco industries. Comprised of multiple networks across three cities and two primary counties, the region is undergoing an intentional shift toward innovation and the emerging knowledge economy.
"This is a city that is reforming itself," says Eric Tomlinson, chief innovation officer of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and president of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter based in Winston-Salem. "We've moved from an emphasis on manufacturing and large industry to one focused on entrepreneurial behavior and capturing innovative ideas."Read More
Our View: Getting Down in Our Town
"Nationally, other cities can surely benefit from Winston-Salem's downtown playbook," John H. Boyd, a respected site location specialist, recently told the Journal's Richard Craver.
Word of our success is spreading. Boyd, a principal in a New Jersey site-location consulting company, is just one of many who've gotten wind of what's going down in our town.
Residential Construction at 10-year high
Residential construction in Forsyth County set a 10-year quarterly high with $125 million in permit value. This reflects permits for 321 single-family dwellings and 594 multifamily units. Nonresidential construction, which hit its 10-year high last quarter, was $98 million for the third quarter.Read More
October 2017
Innovation Spurs Growth in Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina
Re-purposed tobacco facilities are helping the Piedmont Triad area launch new businesses focused on innovation and manufacturing.Read More
Draft Plan to Guide Development in East Winston Rolled Out
A draft plan for the future development of a core area of East Winston envisions the area taking part in the new growth seen downtown just over U.S. 52 to the west but retaining its individuality and sense of community at the same time.
And that's just how residents want the area to develop, judging from remarks some people made when they had a first look at the draft master plan for the neighborhood.
Smitty's Notes Celebrates 20 Years of Sharing Winston-Salem's Happenings
It started as a joke among friends, but 20 years later, Smitty's Notes is still going strong.
The online newsletter shares upcoming events and community news in Winston-Salem. It has grown from an audience of 10 to nearly 17,000 email subscribers.
America's Split-screen Economy
The revival of the great American job machine has very tangible implications for Osvaldo De Los Santos. It means that when he was recently unemployed, the time he spent without work lasted only a month. And his new job came with an increase in pay and better opportunities to use his skills, which range from plumbing to carpentry.Read More
August 2017
Former Power Plant Bailey Park Now Empowers People
More than 300 people, sitting on yoga mats in a dry, grassy meadow in Bailey Park, reached up toward the open sky, then out over one extended leg; the other leg was bent with the foot against the inside of the extended leg. A soft breeze cooled the air, and the sun graciously ducked behind clouds for a moment.Read More
The Tech Sector in North Carolina
On Capital Tonight: We look at the tech sector in North Carolina and its challenges for the future. NC Information Technology Secretary Eric Boyette, Steve Rao, Mayor Pro-Tem of Morrisville and Eric Tomlinson of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter joins Tim Boyum.Read More
July 2017
Triad Makerspace to Move to New Building
Mixxer Inc., the makerspace in Winston-Salem, will have a new home.
The nonprofit, which sprouted up a few years ago, has plans to move into a 8,000-square-foot building located at 1375 North Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Mixxer chose the location because of development on the neighboring streets, said Executive Director Alan Shelton.Read More
Editor's Notebook: Handing Over the Community's Keys to Reynolds HQ
While the closing expected to take place next week may be a formality, symbolically it's huge that the company whose history virtually parallels the history of Winston-Salem will no longer be locally owned.Read More
Scene and Heard: Food, Music Take Center Stage at Bailey Park
Southern poutines were a popular menu choice at Bailey Park on Thursday, a pimento cheese variation on the popular Canadian dish made with french fries, cheese curds and brown gravy. Offered up by Almost Home, a new player to the local food-truck scene, the tasty concoction was just one of the dinner choices for the Sunset Thursday concert series at the park, and several hundred people came out to enjoy the music against a backdrop of green space and new construction.Read More
Embracing Change, Medical Innovations Inspire Wake Forest Baptist's New CEO Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag
Staying young at heart and open to change has guided Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag throughout her life and decorated medical career of more than 30 years.
Those attributes played a magnetic role in attracting Freischlag (pronounced FRY-shlog) to take the chief executive post at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and then agreeing shortly after arriving to serve as interim dean of the center's medical school for up to a year.
Tenant Interest in Bailey Power Plant — Including Restaurants — Remains High
The former Bailey Power Plant in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is filling up quickly, and interest from prospective tenants remains high, according to Eric Tomlinson, president of the Innovation Quarter.
Tomlinson told Triad Business Journal that between "25,000 square feet and 35,000 square feet" of the 110,000-square-foot facility remain available.Read More
Developer Releases New Renderings of Bailey Power Plant Project in Winston-Salem
The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter released updated renderings on Wednesday of the Bailey Power Plant redevelopment in downtown Winston-Salem. The new renderings were provided to the Innovation Quarter by the project's developer, Wexford Science & Technology.Read More
New Ramps Set to Open Under the Arches on U.S. 52 in Winston-Salem
Work is nearly done on the new road under the double arches on U.S. 52.
When the extension of Research Parkway opens — it's scheduled for July 12 — the state will also permanently close the ramps connecting Rams Drive to U.S. 52, and a portion of Rams Drive will close for the replacement of the bridge over U.S. 52.
June 2017
A Focus on Clinical Research and Drug Development at the General Assembly
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking at a forum of scientists and researchers from across the nation hosted by QuintilesIMS, the world's largest contract research organization (or "CRO"), which is headquartered right here in North Carolina. Quintiles merged with IMS Health last year to become QuintilesIMS. Quintiles began as a technology transfer from UNC Chapel Hill and was founded in the Research Triangle Park 35 years ago and now estimates over $4.3 billion in revenues and employs 35,000 people worldwide.Read More
Annual Juneteenth Festival Draws Crowds in Winston-Salem
One hundred and fifty-two years ago, the country celebrated the abolition of slavery and the start of a new chapter in African-American history marked by freedom.
On Saturday, Winston-Salem residents gathered downtown as a reminder of how far we've come.
Popular Restaurateur Picks Bailey Power Plant for Sister Concept
Alma Mexicana, an urban sister of The Porch Kitchen & Cantina, will be opening in the former Bailey Power Plant in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the first restaurant to commit to the unique venue.Read More
New Coffee Co. Pops Up in Winston-Salem
A new business is bringing a different style of coffee as well as a different kind of coffee shop to Winston-Salem.
Airwheel Coffee Co. is a business started by Nick Broome and Shane Aaron. Their two-pronged business plan includes a wholesale business that sells air-roasted coffee to local retailers and a mobile "pop-up" coffee business to sell brewed coffee, tea and more at outdoor locations.
757 North Apartment Community Officially Opens on North Chestnut Street
The $15 million 757 North apartment community on North Chestnut Street in downtown Winston-Salem officially opened Thursday.
The four-story project is adjacent to Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. Its first residents are expected to move in by July 1.
Juneteenth Luncheon to Honor Walter Marshall, Planner and Educator
The St. Philips Heritage Center at Old Salem Museums & Gardens in partnership with Winston-Salem State University will host a luncheon from noon to 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 15, in the James A. Gray Jr. Auditorium at the Old Salem Visitor Center at 900 Old Salem Road.Read More
May 2017
Cycling to Work? Bike-share Program Launches in Triad
Residents and tourists in Winston-Salem will now be able to pedal their way around the city as a new bike-share program is coming to the area.
The program, which starts today, will place 50 bikes at 10 stations located throughout the city for people who wish to bike around Winston-Salem. The bike-share program is being launched by the city, The National Cycling Center, and Zagster Inc, a Massachusetts-based startup that operates bike sharing programs.Read More
Winston-Salem Growth Increases, but Still Lags Among State Top 10
Population growth in Winston-Salem picked up slightly in 2016, new U.S. Census Bureau estimates show, although the city's growth rate lagged behind most of the other cities among the 10 largest in North Carolina.Read More
Cycling Classic Returns to Downtown Winston-Salem
The Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, in conjunction with the Gears & Guitars music festival, returns to the downtown area for the fifth consecutive year this Memorial Day weekend, giving cycling and music fans plenty to take part in over the next four days.Read More
Demand for Apartments Remains Strong in Triad, Say Reports
Though various experts are predicting the rising in apartment construction to level off soon, overall demand remains strong in the Triad, with nearly 3,000 units absorbed over the past year, according to RealData reports from AptIndex.com.Read More
Movers + Shapers: Innovation Superchargers
Later this year, the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, a hub for biomedical research and information technology nestled in North Carolina's Piedmont Triangle, will reopen Bailey Power Plant—an 80-year-old facility that's been dormant for two decades—as a 110,000-sf mixed-use and entertainment space that complements the 1.6-acre Bailey Park across the street.Read More
Editor's Notebook: An Eye-opening Weekend in Winston-Salem
My husband and I recently spent a weekend in downtown Winston-Salem to explore the changes in the area around the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.Read More
April 2017
W-S marks National Walking Day
Last week the American Heart Association encouraged people to lace up their sneakers and get moving on Wednesday, April 5, during National Walking Day, a campaign to remind people about the benefits of being active.Read More
New Section of Bike Path Approved Along Business 40 in Downtown Winston-Salem
A second wave of construction on a bike path alongside Business 40 downtown has been approved by the Winston-Salem City Council, with work possibly taking place at the same time as Business 40 roadway improvements in 2020.
The city council recently approved a resolution that authorizes the city manager to enter into a contract with the N.C. Department of Transportation for construction of parts of the bike path alongside Business 40 from Green Street to the Strollway.Read More
March 2017
What's Old is New Again in Downtown Winston-Salem
A visit to downtown Winston-Salem isn't what it once was. Old, abandoned buildings are now craft-beer breweries, tobacco warehouses are loft apartments, medical school classrooms and restaurants and rundown church buildings are now home to multiple businesses.Read More
22 Most Affordable Cities to Live in for Renters
Once a hub for the tobacco and furniture industries, Winston-Salem has reinvented itself as a banking, medical, and technology center. Notable companies in the metro area include BB&T, Hanes Brands, Blue Rhino (a subsidiary of Ferrellgas), Reynolds American, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Major medical employers include Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, located in downtown Winston-Salem, is one of the most vibrant tech innovation hubs east of the Mississippi.Read More
Local Organizations Unite to Fight Domestic Violence
Family Services isn't pulling any punches in the fight against domestic violence here in Forsyth County.
Holding fast to their mission to help families and children reach their full potential through community partnerships, last October, Family Services rallied nine local organizations from every sector of the community from faith-based organizations, to the local colleges and universities, and law enforcement to launch the Family Violence Prevention Initiative.Read More
February 2017
Gears and Guitars to Bring National Acts to Bailey Park in Winston-Salem
Sometimes, smaller is better.
That's what producer Ray Boden is counting on when he rolls out this year's Gears and Guitars music festival May 26-29 in conjunction with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic.
Bailey Park Identity and Environmental Graphics
Imagine new hubs for innovation and science, and your mind may jump inside white-walled labratories and behind locked Silicon Valley doors. But old tobacco warehouses? These are fast becoming the setting for high-tech ingenuity in North Carolina, thanks to the efforts of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter (WFIQ).Read More
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Looking Toward Busy 2017
Winston-Salem is a shining example of why it is important to have a good education to fall back on in times of need.
A bit over two decades ago, textiles were bidding farewell to the Winston-Salem scene and tobacco as a business was going into its long, steady decline. Small cities around the country with similar losses have withered away and become just shells of their previous selves. But in Winston-Salem, the city dug in and started reinventing itself – creating new industries, promoting entrepreneurship, developing its art scene and most importantly, leveraging the educational resources on hand to chart a path to a better day.Read More
Our View: Good Road Ahead for Medical Center
Congratulations to Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, who has been named the new chief executive of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Dr. Freischlag comes highly recommended. We're betting she'll have an impressive impact on our community.
Wake Forest Baptist Names Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag Its CEO
Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag was named chief executive of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center on Tuesday.
She will be the first woman to hold the position of chief executive at Wake Forest Baptist.
Morse Masterwork Anchors Varied Exhibition
Art and innovation are thoroughly in cahoots in a new exhibition opening Friday at Reynolda House Museum of American Art.Read More
Nine Things We Learned at NC Superintendent's First Listening Tour Stop
North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson met with teachers and business leaders Friday in Winston-Salem on the first stop of his statewide listening tour.Read More
January 2017
Our View: Building Success Upon Success
It would be spectacular enough if it stopped where it is. But it looks like there's no stopping for the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, which has plans for the future that may double its space and introduce yet more innovative industries to Winston-Salem.Read More
Lofty Plans Take Shape as Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Eyes $1.7 Billion Public-private Investment by 2030
With the redevelopment of the Bailey Power Plant and 343 apartments slated to be built in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, planning has now started for the next phase of development in this urban-based district for innovation.Read More
Business Mixer Draws Large Crowd
Earlier this week more than 100 business owners and entrepreneurs gathered inside Wake Forest Innovation Quarter for an evening of networking and learning during the Minority/Women's Business Enterprise (MWBE) program's annual mixer.Read More
Wake's Growth, Domino's, Residences Reveal Downtown W-S Surge
The beginning of classes for about 275 Wake Forest University students next week in Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter should add momentum to a coordinated effort to revitalize and repopulate the city's downtown.Read More
Year in Review
Olympic heroes, boutique hotels, and creepy clowns. Winston-Salem saw a little bit of everything over the past 12 months, both good and bad. In an effort to recount the year that was, we're taking a randomized look back at 10 stories that got our attention in 2016.Read More
December 2016
Winston-Salem Mixer to Promote Business Opportunities
The city, in partnership with the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, the Winston-Salem Black Chamber, the FTCC Small Business Center and Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, is organizing an after-hours business mixer on Jan. 10 to help small businesses, minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses learn about opportunities to do business with the city, with other companies, and with local contractors.Read More
Innovation Quarter a 'Game Changer' for Winston-Salem
It may be one of those things that comes along once a century or so.
"Oh, it's a huge deal," says Michelle Gillespie, a history professor and dean of the college at Wake Forest University. "I think this is a game changer for Wake Forest University and for the hospital and the medical school. I also think this is a game changer for the town and the region, as a whole."Read More
Before the Telegraph, Samuel Morse Dazzled as a Painter; His Masterpiece Comes to Reynolda House
A long-hidden treasure of American art, "Gallery of the Louvre," will go on view at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in February. The masterpiece of Samuel F. B. Morse, yes that Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and namesake Morse code, will form the core of a new exhibition: "Samuel F. B. Morse's 'Gallery of the Louvre' and the Art of Invention," Feb.17 – June 4, 2017.Read More
Want to Fuel Innovative Startups? Funding Is Key
The innovation ecosystem in the Triad is getting stronger every day, and it's not hard to see why.
There's plenty of entrepreneur-friendly space to live, work and create, such as Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, housing many companies that have an especially good chance of succeeding while creating meaningful employment and advancement for the community. Support organizations are active and involved, such as HQ Greensboro, Flywheel Cowering and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.Read More
Out of the Ashes
Downtown Winston-Salem, N.C., used to be the heart of tobacco manufacturing in America. Factories and warehouses belonging to R.J. Reynolds, once the largest tobacco company in the world, dominated the cityscape. Today, instead of cigarette machines and factory workers, many of those buildings house medical lab equipment and researchers from Wake Forest University's School of Medicine, Forsyth Technical Community College, and Winston-Salem State University, as well as more than 60 companies.Read More
November 2016
Long Branch Trail, a Winston-Salem Greenway Under Construction, Has Historic Significance
A greenway named Long Branch Trail will form a 20-mile loop from the northern end of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter to Salem Lake, connecting Rams Drive, Research Parkway and Salem Creek Greenway.Read More
Heart & Stroke Walk Sets Record
The 2016 Winston-Salem Heart & Stroke Walk of the American Heart Association on Nov. 5 attracted more than 7,000 participants to Bailey Park at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, exceeding past attendance records by more than 2,500. The event raised about $649,000 for heart disease and stroke research and prevention education, the most ever for the event.Read More
Eric Tomlinson: Building Vibrant Community
Often when I speak about Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, I refer to it as a community. That is more than just a nice buzzword meant to conjure images of people milling about, engaged in various activities. Community is actually at the very heart of what we are creating here.Read More
Winston-Salem Constructing Portion of WFIQ Greenway
The City of Winston-Salem continues construction on its portion of the new greenway trail in Downtown Winston-Salem.
The project consists of two labor intensive portions. Over the summer, the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter focused on the first phase of the pedestrian and bike friendly path.Read More
Memo to: the Next President
In Winston-Salem, N.C., they transformed a failing manufacturing city into an arts and technology powerhouse.
In Des Moines, Iowa, they made a lifeless downtown into a magnet for talented young people across the state and beyond. In sprawling Denver, they built a regionwide light rail system, spurring more rational development, reducing pollution, and creating opportunity for once moribund neighborhoods.Read More
Robert J. Feikema: We Must Invest in Young Children to Thrive
The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is one of the finest examples of industrial site repurposing in the country. Twenty-five years in the making, it began as a response to an economy reeling from a devastating series of job losses in the 1980s. Back then, when civic, business and university leaders gazed across the acres of idle tobacco factories and warehouses east of downtown, they didn't see a glass almost empty; they saw huge potential. Bringing their vision to fruition required major investments of public and private dollars — approximately $500 million to date — in order to create what is now one of the fastest-growing hubs for innovation in biomedical science and information technology in the United States.Read More
American History Looms Large in Winston-Salem, NC
Back in 1977 on our 14-week transcontinental honeymoon, as my wife and I approached the outskirts of Winston-Salem, the smell of cured and roasted tobacco drifted through the air and got stronger as we got closer to the city. The aroma was sweet, like the burning of leaves in autumn, and instantly recognizable.
In those days Winston-Salem was dominated by the vast holdings of The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which in the 1940s employed 60 percent of the city's workers, who nicknamed the town "Camel City" after the company's best known brand. Today that tobacco aroma is gone, and the cigarette factories are, too. But Winston-Salem had always had so much more that its people could build on, so that today it's one of the loveliest and diverse cities in the South, with about 250,000 inhabitants.Read More
Like a Local: Winston-Salem
When you take in Winston-Salem's downtown vistas for the first time, the city feels familiar. Something about it fits like a well-worn pair of jeans.
Perhaps this lingering sense of familiarity is born out of the fact that the Reynolds Building and the Empire State Building are uncannily similar in appearance, if New York's grandest skyscraper had 80 fewer floors.Read More
October 2016
Thousands Attend American Heart & Stroke Walk in Winston-Salem
Taking one step at a time, thousands walked through Downtown Winston-Salem to prevent heart disease and stroke.Read More
How Tech Helped Winston-Salem Quit Tobacco
Inside a suite of laboratories nestled amid what was once the world's largest tobacco manufacturing complex, a team of researchers is growing human bladders, tracheas and muscles using the patients' own cells. In another laboratory, workers are producing human ears and tissue with a 3D printer. In the not-too-distant future they hope to "bioprint" kidneys, noses, livers and other tailor-made organs and tissue for surgical implantation. It's work that's healing wounded soldiers and sick civilians, but it's also a remarkably apt metaphor for the regeneration that has helped bring this city of 230,000 back to life.Read More
New Residential, Retail and Parking Complex Planned in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and Grubb Properties have teamed up to develop a residential, retail and parking complex in the Innovation Quarter.
Grubb Properties will develop more than 340 apartment units and about 5,000 square feet of retail space wrapped around a shared parking deck with more than 850 spaces, all on 3.4 acres.Read More
Transforming One of Winston-Salem's Most Historic Streets
In Winston-Salem, there is an innovation district and an arts district. One focuses on STEM sciences, the other focuses on food, galleries and entertainment. But as tempting as it is to compartmentalize, the truth is that each of these industries enables the other to succeed.
The logic goes something like this: Without the Innovation Quarter, Winston-Salem would not have the economy to support a thriving arts scene. Researchers and doctors working at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have the disposable income to spend on theater tickets, restaurant meals, and the crafts at locally-owned shops in the city's center. In exchange, that arts scene, centered around Trade Street, helps attract talented scientists and researchers from around the country.Read More
September 2016
Wake Forest's New Frontier
Take old cigarette factories and tobacco warehouses, repurpose and renovate them, add large companies, startups, creative space, "eds and meds," and a commitment to the cultural hub and community, and you have Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. Founded in the mid-1990s as Piedmont Triad Research Park and now expanding at breakneck speed, the biotechnology research, education and business district owned by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center represents Winston-Salem's convergence economy, its big bet as cities strive to become the 21st-century best versions of themselves.Read More
Wexford Science & Technology to Become an Independent Company
Wexford Science & Technology, LLC today announced that it has become an independent company, owned and operated by its existing management team. The change occurred simultaneously with the closing of Ventas, Inc.'s (NYSE: VTR) acquisition of Wexford's real estate assets from Wexford's former parent company BioMed Realty, L.P., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P. Additionally, under the new agreements with Ventas, Wexford will continue to manage and operate the existing $1.5 billion portfolio of university-centric assets now owned by Ventas and lead joint development of future projects on the Wexford Knowledge Community platform.Read More
What's Next for Downtown
It's taken years to bring the bright lights back to Winston-Salem's downtown skyline.
As recently as 15 years ago, downtown was often thought to be a busy workplace for professionals during the day, but at night, darkness was a main feature. Many places didn't stay open after hours, and there were few things to attract folks who didn't work downtown.Read More
August 2016
Lofty Appeal
They were there to pick up a custom fur chair. While they waited, a pair of art pieces caught their eye. "You're welcome to take them home and test-drive them," the shopkeeper said.
Arleen Martinez, an IT engineer with Hanesbrands Inc., and her husband, Rick Hendrix, owner of Pilot Mountain Insurance, had read about LoLo's workshop in the May issue of this magazine. The shop was within walking distance of their loft, so off they went.Read More
Triad Minority Business Expo Held in Winston-Salem This Weekend
The 2016 Triad Minority Business Expo is expected to have hundreds of attendees this week.
The expo, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at Biotech Place in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter at 575 Patterson Ave. in downtown Winston-Salem. It is presented by Maximum Enterprises Inc., a business consulting company in Winston-Salem.Read More
July 2016
Our View: Medical Education Building Moves Us Forward
It's another triumph for Winston-Salem and the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter — not to mention Wake Forest Baptist and a new generation of medical students.
The Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education in the innovation quarter welcomed its first students — about 480 of them — for classes on Monday. The medical education center, built from the bones of a former Reynolds American tobacco manufacturing plant, is a spectacular structure that will compliment the innovation quarter and our burgeoning downtown area.Read More
SciTech Program Prepares Campers for the Future
Most children kicked off their summer vacation a few weeks ago by ditching their books for the pool or the beach. But, for a select group of students who participated in this year's' SciTech summer program, the calming sounds of waves crashing onto the beach is nothing compared to the excitement of starting summer break in a fully functional science lab.Read More
June 2016
Iconic Bowman Gray Statue Moving to New Home
The statue of Bowman Gray, the man recognized for bringing Wake Forest School of Medicine to Winston-Salem, will be moved from its current location in front of the School of Medicine on Hawthorne Road to its new home at the future Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. The move will occur at approximately 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 25.Read More
SciTech Opens Doors for Minority, Low-income Kids in Science
Summer vacation will have to wait for about 100 elementary and middle school students in Forsyth County. These kids, campers at SciTech, would rather start their summer in the lab.
"SciTech is really fun," said Nia Malachi, a rising eighth-grader at the Downtown School. "It's nice to learn new things each day."Read More
12th Annual Triad Juneteenth Festival Celebrates Freedom
Folks around the Triad are getting together to celebrate freedom at the 12th Annual Juneteenth Festival.
Juneteenth is the oldest-known observance of the abolition of slavery in the United States.Read More
Construction Underway on New Greenway Path by Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Construction is underway on a new greenway trail on the east-side of downtown Winston-Salem.
Roughly a mile of the pedestrian and bike-friendly path is financed by the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. The first phase focuses on the north side of East Third Street to Research Parkway then continues southward to Rams Drive and East Salem Avenue.Read More
Downtown Winston-Salem Revitalization Far From An Overnight Success
Revitalization efforts are going on in just about all major and minor cities throughout the South, if not the entire United States. While each has its own character and level of achievement, you'd be hard pressed to find a more vibrant and successful one than in our own Winston-Salem.
Downtown Winston-Salem is one of the liveliest areas in North Carolina and that energy gives the community the appearance of something new, something that just happened. Just like Rome wasn't built in a day, the story of the area's rebirth goes back decades… and it may have decades of work ahead of it, too.Read More
May 2016
Organizers Nine-day Cycling Event Drew Thousands Who Boosted Spending in Region
A 10-day cycling event ended in Winston-Salem on Monday, drawing thousands of cyclists, spectators and concertgoers who organizers say generated extra business and lots of buzz for the city.
From May 21 through Memorial Day, Winston-Salem was the host city for over a week of racing and concerts that combined three pre-existing events — the Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road & TT National Championships, the USA Cycling Masters Road & Para-Cycling National Championships and the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic.Read More
A City on the Rise
In light of our 10th anniversary, we decided to look back at some of the biggest developments from the past decade. We'll admit this isn't a comprehensive look at the past 10 years—nor is it all hard-hitting news headlines. Instead, it's a rundown of 10 ways the city positively evolved over the past decade.
Of all the local storylines we saw over the past decade, the biggest (in our opinion) stems from the 145-acre research park that's rising on the eastern side of downtown.Read More
Big Goals, Big Hurdles Face Winston-Salem's Future
A new report on the shrinking middle class sheds light on just how steep the challenge is as Winston-Salem leaders work toward their goal of putting the city among the Top 50 for job growth. … Leak sees the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and the Whitaker Park projects as two "jewels" that can help Winston-Salem see a manufacturing turnaround.Read More
Gears & Guitars Coming To Winston-Salem
In the next couple weeks, the twin-cities will be taken over by people on two wheels!
The city is hosting the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic, a professional cycling event — and they have lots of events planned for people whether you're a cyclist or not. Bill Oakes, a member of the organizing committee, joins Lauren Melvin this morning to talk about what's in store!Read More
Winston-Salem Ranked as Top City to Start a Business
Winston-Salem was recently nationally ranked as a "best large city to start a business." The study was conducted by Wallethub, an online source providing tools and information consumers and small business owners need to make better financial decisions and save money.
In order to help aspiring entrepreneurs — from restaurant owners to high-tech movers and shakers — maximize their chances for long-term prosperity, WalletHub's analysts compared the relative startup opportunities that exist in the 150 most populated U.S. cities. They did so using 16 key metrics, ranging from businesses' five-year survival rate to office-space affordability to educational attainment of the local labor force. Winston-Salem came in 11th overall out of 150 cities, and came in 3rd for the highest average growth of number of small businesses.Read More
Urban Health Centers: Tear Down This Wall
When I was growing up, my father, a now-retired anesthesiologist, would faithfully call home each evening before leaving work. "What's it doing outside?" he'd ask, having spent his day in the windowless confines of operating rooms, fluorescent-lit hallways, and the hospital cafeteria. I never gave this question particular thought, but I've been reminded of it lately as we've been examining the role of urban medical and research centers in vibrant, innovative local economies, and how the physical geography of their campuses matters in this context.Read More
April 2016
General Manager Talks About New Hotel in Iconic Winston-Salem Building
For more than 85 years, it's stood like a fortress in downtown Winston-Salem. Some have called it the city's architectural signature. When the RJ Reynolds Building opened in April of 1929, it was the tallest building in North Carolina. It was also the tallest between Baltimore and Miami.Read More
Construction Starts on Innovation Quarter Greenway
The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter announced the beginning of construction Thursday on the new greenway and rail trail that will run eventually through the entire length of Innovation Quarter.
The first part of the project is under construction from the north side of East Third Street to Research Parkway near Business 40, then south toward Rams Drive and west toward East Salem Avenue.
Our View: Bring on the Bailey Power Plant
We bet it was the iconic smokestacks. They couldn't resist the smokestacks.
Wexford Science & Technology has bought about two-thirds of the iconic Bailey Power Plant to develop into commercial properties, the Journal's Fran Daniel reported last week. This is, some feel, the final piece of the puzzle to complete the primary development of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.Read More
March 2016
Wexford to Develop Portions of Bailey Power Plant at the Innovation Quarter
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter announced this morning that Wexford Science & Technology has bought portions of the Bailey Power Plant for a $40 million redevelopment project.
Wexford bought about two-thirds of the plant, which ceased operations about 20 years ago, for an undisclosed amount. The deal includes most of the plant's surrounding grounds, including its iconic chimney stacks.Read More
February 2016
Software Developers to Converge on Wake Forest Innovation Quarter this Weekend
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter will play host this weekend to the Triad Developers Conference, the second annual event focusing on software industry trends and topics.
Held all day in Wake Forest Biotech Place at 575 N. Patterson St., the conference will offer software developers and students access a range of speakers and panel discussions as well as hands-on learning.Read More
Work on Downtown Rail Trail to Start Soon
Work on a rail trail in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter will start in March following approval of a contract for the work this week, city officials said.
By the spring of 2017 it should be possible to walk or bike through the Innovation Quarter from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on the north down to Rams (Stadium) Drive, crossing over Seventh, Fifth, Fourth and Third streets along the way.
Eventually, the trail will connect to the Salem Creek Greenway that runs alongside the creek of the same name, making bike trips possible to Marketplace Mall on Peters Creek Parkway to the west and to Salem Lake to the east.
January 2016
Forsyth Commissioners OK Money for Kailo, Extension for Innovation Quarter
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on Monday approved $42,900 in incentives for Kailo Services LC and amended an economic development agreement for Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.Read More
Forsyth Commissioners to Vote on Agreements for Kailo, Innovation Quarter
he Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will vote Monday on two economic development items — an agreement to provide incentives to a health care information technology company, Kailo LLC, and a resolution to revise an economic development agreement for Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Under a 2007 agreement, Forsyth County commissioners agreed to provide about $6.7 million to support a project to expand Piedmont Triad Research Park, now Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.Read More
Development of Bailey Park in Innovation Quarter Continues, Thanks to Local Support
Bailey Park, the common space carved out in the middle of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, will get further enhancements, thanks to the support of companies and groups connected to Winston-Salem.
Plans call for a new entrance plaza including a water feature and a walkway connecting the upper and lower levels of the park, which sits south of Wake Forest Biotech Place within the downtown research park.Read More
Improvements planned for Bailey Park downtown
Bailey Park in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter downtown will get architectural and landscaping improvements in the first half of the year.
The enhancements, expected to be completed in April, include an entrance plaza with a water feature and a walkway that will connect the existing upper level of the park and the planned lower level.Read More
North Carolina remains in top 5 states for migration within U.S.
North Carolina proved a less popular place to move to in 2015, according to the annual United Van Lines' report released this week.
North Carolina ranked fifth, down from third in 2014 and 2013. There were 6,149 inbound household shipments and 4,291 outbound for an overall inbound proportion of 58.9 percent, according to the report released Monday.
…Vitner said Greensboro and Winston Salem "have seen considerable economic momentum and improvement that seems to be independent of what is happening in Raleigh and Charlotte."
December 2015
Editorial: Our View: Bailey Power Plant will Come to Life
Cheers to the city and county for agreeing to support the Bailey site. This is a fine Christmas gift to Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, and it comes just in the nick of time, taking full advantage of the state's historic-preservation tax credits program.
The Winston-Salem City Council and Forsyth County Board of Commissioners each promised $3 million for the redevelopment of the Bailey Power Plant site in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the Journal's Wesley Young reported Tuesday. Votes were unanimous during city and county board meetings on Monday. Both entities had signaled their desire to help earlier, but the county had taken the time to find the best legal avenue to assist.Read More
City, county to offer millions in support of Bailey Power Plant project
The city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County each signed off Monday on $3 million of support for the redevelopment of Bailey Power Plant, the former energy hub for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s manufacturing operations in downtown Winston-Salem.
The Wake Forest Innovation Quarter site is envisioned as a unique mixed-used project that would include restaurant, retail and event space to complement the office and laboratory space now housed in renovated RJR buildings in the quarter.Read More
Forsyth commissioners OK $103K courthouse study
The Forsyth County commissioners voted 6-1 Monday to authorize a $103,000 contract to update the 2009 study of the Hall of Justice…
The commissioners also approved an interlocal agreement to help the city pay for parking decks to support a development near BB&T Ballpark, and they authorized up to $3 million to support the redevelopment of Bailey Power Plant.Read More
Eric Tomlinson: Time to power up Bailey
In 1997, after 71 years of operation, Bailey Power Plant ended its life as one of the main energy suppliers to downtown Winston-Salem. Since then, while its smokestacks still make up part of Winston-Salem's iconic skyline, the cavernous building has sat empty, a constant reminder of both the history of our area and the potential for its future.
Much of the former tobacco industry district that surrounds Bailey Power Plant has since been, or is being, redeveloped. Biotech Place, 525@vine, the Inmar building, Plant 64, the Wells Fargo center, Bailey Park, Goler Heights, the soon-to-be-completed Bowman Gray Medical Education and Wake Forest University buildings, the Kimpton Cardinal Hotel and the Residences at the R.J. Reynolds Building stand as compelling examples of our collective ability to find innovative ways to help evolve and grow the city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County toward a prosperous future full of opportunity and hope.Read More
Forsyth commission to vote soon on Bailey Power Plant
Forsyth County commissioners will soon vote on two items that would support development in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
The board will vote on providing up to $3 million in reimbursements to support a project to redevelop the iconic Bailey Power Plant building.Read More
November 2015
Panelists recall life for black people in tobacco district neighborhoods
Panelists at the "Remembering the Neighborhood" event recalled when Patterson Avenue was a thriving part of the black community with a YMCA branch and many businesses on it. They also recalled what life was like in the surrounding black neighborhoods of the former Winston-Salem tobacco district.
"Reynoldstown was a very special place for all of us," said Annette Scippio. "When we grew up there we didn't know how really special it was because we just thought it was home."Read More
Thriving neighborhood once stood in present site of Innovation Quarter
Redevelopment in the former tobacco district in downtown Winston-Salem has brought new life to the city, but the history of the district has not been lost.
In order to complete the narrative of the transformation of the tobacco district into the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the Quarter hosted an event Saturday at The Biotech Place to celebrate the area's past.Read More
Clock Ticking On Funding For Downtown Revitalization Project
A deadline is quickly approaching about a development project that could breathe new life into downtown Winston-Salem. Developers are anxious to start the Bailey Power Plant project before historic credits expire.
The iconic R.J. Reynolds smokestacks at the Bailey Power Plant are still part of the downtown skyline. Operations have been shuttered for nearly two decades, and now there's a plan to revitalize the property.Read More
Council approves innovation quarter and pepper building deals
The Winston-Salem City Council gave the go-ahead to several economic development efforts on Monday, approving a new location for a parking deck in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter and a loan to jump start the renovation of the Pepper Building.
The parking deck project is a relocation of one that was approved by the city council in 2013. At that time, the proposed deck location was in the block bounded by Research Parkway and Seventh and Fifth streets.
Read More
Center for Design Innovation awarded HoloLens developer kits from Microsoft, to add hologram augmented reality to its line of research
Center for Design Innovation, a multi-campus research center of the University of North Carolina system, is a finalist in the Microsoft HoloLens for Academic Research program and will receive two HoloLens developer kits and specialized training at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA.
This award will enable CDI to advance its research by augmenting design processes with interactive holograms. The award will introduce cutting edge technology to faculty and students from CDI's academic partners including Winston-Salem State University, UNC School of the Arts and Forsyth Technical Community College.Read More
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter gathering district's history as it moves toward its future
The redevelopment of former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. buildings in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is laying out a new future for the downtown Winston-Salem research park.
But to not lose the district's past, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is hosting "Remembering the Neighborhood," a free public event on Nov. 21 to collect and commemorate stories from the former manufacturing hub and surrounding area.Read More
Creative Revitalization Requires Commerce and Community Downtown
You can't say that the officials behind the Innovation Quarter are blindly banking on one specific thing to continue to revitalize Winston-Salem in its ongoing transformation from a tobacco town to a hub of technology, education, entertainment and culture. On Nov. 3, at the Center for Design Innovation, Eric Tomlinson, president of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, gave a recap of where the project stands today and where it's headed in the coming years. An extended greenway system, an iconic archway over the interchange of Research Parkway and US 52, designs to transform the Bailey Power Plant into a mixed-use facility by mid 2017, and longer-term plans for 2.5 million square-feet of new construction in what's called the Central Area over a 10- to 15- year period were all part of the quarterly presentation.Read More
Inmar's Technology Team to Host Community Tech Night
Inmar Inc.s computer engineers spend their days developing technology and data solutions for the worlds leading brands, retailers and health systems and will spend the evening of November 12 serving those in the community who have computer issues or just want to learn more about them. Inmar is teaming with WinstonNET to offer this service. WinstonNET is a community technology nonprofit with a mission to close the digital divide and serve as a resource for computer access and training.Read More
Editorial: Bailey Power Plant: Time, money of the essence
There's agreement among our leaders on the necessity of renovating Bailey Power Plant, a crucial piece of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. The tricky part is paying for that renovation.
Developers have asked the city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County to provide $3 million each to help complete it, the Journal's Meghann Evans reported recently. We hope they'll be able to find ways to meet much of that request. This is a project that should eventually pay for itself, both in terms of encouraging economic development and in growing the tax base.
Read More
October 2015
Carolina Liquid Chemistries Completes the Family of Chemistry Analyzers Designed for All Sizes of Clinical Laboratories
Carolina Liquid Chemistries Corp. (CLC) recently completed their branded line of chemistry analyzers which completes their all new family of instruments. The FDA cleared the CLC1600 as part of the CLC6410 family for use with a variety of methods. C
Carolina Liquid Chemistries Corp, known for providing clinical laboratories with instruments and over 80 reagents that aid in diagnosing and treating patients, now offers the CLC720i, CLC800, CLC1600, and the CLC6410. The CLC1600 meets the needs of a high volume clinical laboratory, while offering current technology typically not available on older analyzers.Read More
Winston-Salem Combines History With Modern in Downtown
As cities across the United States try to draw in growth with the help of modern architecture and development, investors and officials in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are finding that growth comes with a mix of modern taste and old, historic structures.
Years ago, giant tobacco factory buildings, part of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., ruled Vine Street in Winston-Salem.Read More
Bailey Power Plant plans moving forward in Innovation Quarter
The redevelopment of the Bailey Power Plant complex may finally be coming to Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.
Wexford Science & Technology, the development partner of the Innovation Quarter, is going forward with the redevelopment, assuming the city and county step in to help.
The decision comes as time is starting to run out for taking advantage of tax credits that have made much of the renovation possible in Innovation Quarter.
Possible Bailey Power Plant Renovation
The last remaining historical R.J. Reynolds property in downtown Winston-Salem in need of improvements could soon be getting a much needed face lift.
Wexford Science and Technology may invest $40 million into the Bailey Power Plant. The potential plans call for a mixed use development with retail, restaurants and office space. However, the company is asking city council for $3 million back in property taxes over a period of 10 years.Read More
September 2015
WFU Announces Plans for Undergraduate Classes in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Wake Forest University announced Wednesday that it will offer undergraduate classes in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem.
WFU has leased space in a former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. building from Wexford Science and Technology LLC of Baltimore, the university said in a statement. Wexford is renovating space in the 60 series building, next to the planned home of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, to accommodate classrooms and laboratories for undergraduate science programs.Read More
June 2015
Challenges Loom in Winston-Salem Innovation Quarter's Future
Its gradual shift from a research park to an innovation district in recent years has put Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on a path to developing a work, live, learn and play culture and community in Winston-Salem.
This hub of activity on about 200 acres is rising from old tobacco factories and warehouses in eastern downtown, creating a knowledge-based innovation ecosystem to include developers, people, product partners, technical and legal teams, workforce training, incubators, and capital and management for sustainability. It is a place for research, business and education in biomedical science, information technology and advanced materials.Read More
April 2015
Technology Overtakes Tobacco in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The idea that universities and government could jointly build a business park framed around technology was born 55 years ago in North Carolina, on farm and forest land eight miles south of downtown Durham.Read More
March 2015
Eric Tomlinson: No Dust On Us – Or Our Vision
"Why go live there, isn't it just an old tobacco town?" they asked. I smiled, and without really knowing why, said "I think it's on its way to becoming a cool place again. Yes lads, I'm off to The City of Arts and Innovation!"
Three years on, it is so much fun to experience a vibrant downtown Winston-Salem, with new businesses, hotels, residences, restaurants, shops and other enterprises sprouting up in streets that until recently were moribund on weekdays and deserted after dark.Read More
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Eyes Further Expansion
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Revamped
Winston-Salem Monthly's Year in Review
At the Intersection of Yesterday & Tomorrow
Marker Recognizes Belews Street Neighborhood
Forsyth Tech Settles into 525@vine
Forsyth Tech Expands Services at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Forsyth Tech Shows Off Downtown High-Tech Center
Forsyth Tech Community College Opens New Facility in Innovation Quarter
UNC-TV Features Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Winston-Salem's Flywheel Coworking Space Opens
Former RJR Building Begins to Buzz Again as 525@vine Opens for Business
Former Tobacco Hub Clears the Air
Inmar trumpets its arrival in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter as 900 workers march into new HQ
Pharma Industry Tallies Benefits of Clinical Trials in Triad
Arts and Innovation Will Combine to Celebrate Chopin's Birthday at Biotech Place
Wake Forest Medical School to Relocate Programs to Innovation Quarter
Increased Development at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Center for Design Innovation Receives Notice to Proceed With Construction
Center for Design Innovation Announces New Director, Vision Forward
One of the Biggest Economic Development Projects in the Country is Taking Place in Winston-Salem
Editorial: Research Parkway: New Road Boosts Potential for Growth of Research Park
New Trail to Make Tracks Across Research Park
Research Parkway to Open Tuesday
Project Examines Changes in Food Systems in African-American Communities
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Hosting Movie Nights
Winston-Salem Taking Suggestions for What to Do with Downtown Smokestacks
Officials Hope to Bring New Energy to Old RJR Power Plant
Camp Immerses Students in Science
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Students Compete for LEGO Trophy
Plant 64 Project Files Permit, Ready to Roll
$672 Million Sale of Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Developer Officially Complete
Interview: Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Progress at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Continues
Winston-Salem Well-Positioned for Innovative Vaccine Trend
Vaccine Center Set for Boost with State Funding
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter Mentioned in List of Shining Examples of Economic Development that Are Working in the South
Wexford Science & Technology Makes $150 Million Investment in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Developer Gives $150M Boost to Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Innovation in Motion: A Look at the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Research Park Renamed Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
'Wake Forest Innovation Quarter' Should Catch On
Piedmont Triad Research Park Changes Name, Focus
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Announces Wake Forest Innovation Quarter
Wake Forest Innovation Quarter: Piedmont Triad Research Park Changes Name, Adds Tenants
New Name, New Tenants for Former Piedmont Triad Research Park
Wake Forest Innovations Launches New Dot-Com Companies Offering Industry and Business Easy Access to Broad Range of Scientific Services
Leaders Add New Name for Piedmont Triad Research Park
As Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, Research Park Hopes to Raise Profile
Inmar Helps Bring Pieces Together at Winston-Salem Research Park
Piedmont Triad Research Park — A Whole New Future Research Park Gets New Leader
Piedmont Triad Research Park President Shares Vision
Tomlinson Brings Diverse Career Experiences to Piedmont Triad Research Park
'A Whole New Future' for Research Park
Winston-Salem Hoping to Turn Old Rails into Trails
New Biotech Center Opens in Piedmont Triad Research Park
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Unveils Historic World-class Biotech Research & Innovation Center
City, Piedmont Triad Research Park Awarded $100,000 Economic Development Performance Grant