Wake Forest University is reviving — after a 13-year shelving — a mixed-use development proposal around its athletic facilities on Deacon Boulevard.
Wake Forest has hired Carter of Atlanta and Front Street Capital of Winston-Salem to explore redeveloping the area, which is owned by the university.
The property is bordered by Deacon Boulevard, University Parkway, the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds and Allegacy Stadium, and includes Couch Ballpark and Joel Coliseum.
Under consideration are retail stores, restaurants, other services and residential uses. The university did not say how long the project might take or how much it will cost.
“We are currently organizing meetings for Carter and Front Street to understand the priorities of community stakeholders,” Brett Eaton, the university’s vice president of communications, said Friday.
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“Those discussions will influence our timeline and estimated costs. No decisions have been made yet about funding. We hope to have more details to share in the next few months.”
Eaton said Wake Forest owns 178 acres of property east of the Reynolda campus that includes the facilities currently occupied by faculty and staff, and the athletics facilities.
At least 67 acres at the proposed site are ready to go from a development standpoint since the university had several buildings in the area demolished during the first mixed-use attempt in 2009-10.
At that time, much of the local and national economy was reeling from the Great Recession of 2008-11 that took a major toll on commercial and residential real estate.
Wake Forest said in August 2010 that it would not start construction on its mixed-used development “until the economy improves.”
When asked why is Wake Forest developing this property now, Eaton said “one of the most important criteria for Wake Forest to develop this property has been our ability to attract a development team capable of meeting the needs of both the University and the community.”
Carter and Front Street were selected because of their relevant mixed-use project experience and success, as well as their approach to development adjacent to universities and within similar communities.
Wake Forest said its “emerging vision” for development is consistent with the 2015 North-Central Winston-Salem Area Plan Update and the 2020 Airport/Whitaker Park Plan, “both of which outline the desire for a mixed-use district along Deacon Boulevard and Baity Street.”
“This part of our city to the east of Wake Forest’s Reynolda Campus presents numerous opportunities for business, residential and retail spaces,” university President Susan Wente said in a statement.
Wentz cited a familiar live-work-play refrain of downtown Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter in saying one redevelopment goal is “ensuring the area between Reynolds Boulevard and Coliseum Drive serves our Winston-Salem community.”
“Adjacent to several residential communities, including the historic Boston-Thurmond neighborhood, our exploration of development opportunities with Carter/Front Street will be guided by a strong commitment to our community’s collective wellbeing.”
Mayor Allen Joines said Wake Forest’s decision to move forward on exploring the property’s potential could help meet demand in the region for housing, dining and entertainment options.
“We look forward to working with Wake Forest and Carter/Front Street to create a plan for this area that supports the interests of the surrounding communities,” Joines said.
Wake Forest touted that the proposed redevelopment area already has more than 750,000 patrons annually for events at the adjacent and nearby athletics and entertainment venues that include non-university offerings such as concerts, Carolina Classic Fair, Winston-Salem Thunderbirds and the ATP Winston-Salem Open.
“There is enormous potential for investment in this area, which would not only bolster our goal of providing the Best Fan Experience in North Carolina, but also create year-round opportunities to gather and build community,” Wake Forest athletics director John Currie said.
“Which, in turn, will help attract even more major event opportunities.”
Past attempt
The redevelopment proposal may face similar economic challenges at 2009-10 given the erratic economy and concerns about how attractive would retail and restaurants be in the area on off-event times.
Before the demolition activities took place in 2009-10, the number of vacant properties owned by Wake Forest in the University Parkway and Deacon Boulevard area included the former Goober’s restaurant, The Last Resort club and Binky’s Burgers and Fries.
A big factor at that time was downsizing by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which significantly reduced the breakfast, lunch and dinner time patronage from nearby workers.
Between a major job cut announced in 2003 and the closing of Whitaker Park manufacturing plant in 2011, at least 400 production workers left employment with a severance package and another 580 employees were shifted to the 2-million-square-foot Tobaccoville plant.
Reynolds made at least 17 job-cut announcements from 1983 to 2011 alone, going from 15,500 full-time local workers to 2,630. The most current Reynolds employee count in Forsyth County is between 2,000 and 2,300, the bulk of which is in Tobaccoville.
Mark Owens, president and chief executive of Greater Winston-Salem Inc., said Thursday that “businesses and investors are also going to be very attracted to development opportunities in the Deacon Boulevard area.”
Whitaker Park spillover
However, the proposed mixed-use development could benefit significantly from the increasing activity within the revival of nearby Whitaker Park.
In December, a 163-unit loft project on the campus changed ownership and developer hands.
An affiliate of Frye Properties of Norfolk, Va., Cavalier Winston Development LLC, paid $4.5 million for two tracts at the elbow of Reynolds Boulevard and Indiana Avenue across from Woodland cemetery.
The affiliate purchased the property from WPDA Inc., which has handled the marketing of the 1.7 million square feet of space on the campus that Reynolds American Inc. donated in April 2017.
The main 5.84-acre tract that Cavalier bought contains the three-story leaf buildings at 951 Reynolds Blvd.
The buildings represent a high-profile, $27 million revitalization project launched in October 2019 by former NFL player Chris Harrison’s C.A. Harrison Cos. LLC. Also purchased was an adjacent 2.48-acre tract likely to be a parking lot.
The redevelopment had been taking place in spurts, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on available labor and building equipment.
One primary attraction to the revitalization project was the buildings being named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. The 2-1 building was built in 1937 and the 2-2 building in 1955. That made their renovation eligible for lucrative state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits that have contributed to major renovation projects in downtown Winston-Salem.
Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina held a ribbon-cutting in December for its new headquarters.
The nonprofit group, which serves 18 counties, moved into a 139,192-square-foot facility at 3330 Shorefair Drive. The group tore down three existing buildings to clear space for the new $10 million facility.
Brennan Investment Group of Rosemont, Ill., is developing an 110,163-square-foot speculative building at 4043 Reynolds Court. Brennan also bought in March 2022 the next-door 82,000-square-foot building at 4035 Reynolds Court. The Brennan affiliates paid a combined $2.95 million for two tracts.
Brennan said that Whitaker Park fits its investment portfolio since it involves “research, technology, manufacturing and distribution users seeking to locate near top research universities, major interstates, and populations with high-disposable incomes and high-educational attainment levels.”
In 2019, Cook Medical paid $4 million for Building 601-1, which contains 850,000 square feet.
However, Cook’s plans have stalled in moving its local workforce of 650 to the facility, as well as pledging to add 50 jobs over 10 years.
Nature’s Value paid $10.5 million for the 426,800-square-foot 601-11 building, where it opened headquarters and consolidate production in the first half of 2023. Nature’s Value has pledged to create more than 183 new jobs, along with relocating 50 jobs from Lexington.
Unique challenges, opportunities
Ray Collins, with Collins Commercial Properties of Winston-Salem, has said the Deacon Boulevard area is somewhat of a tough market for attracting diners.
"There are unique opportunities, and unique challenges as you know, to redevelopment of Deacon Boulevard properties at University Parkway as assembled by WFU for redevelopment," Collins said.
"The mission for both Carter and Front Street Capital, with direction of WFU, is the creation of a mixed use development that is a destination in its own right, and not just as a compliment the existing sports-related surrounding athletic facilities and venues.
"There is a need to become a seven-day-a-week vibrant activity center."
Collins reviewed the various redevelopment options.
For retail and restaurants, Collins said: "Sit down and fast casual restaurants are lacking in the immediate area currently, some of which properties were acquired by WFU for future development. The same can be said for retail activity.
"Most of the retail services and restaurants currently fronting University Parkway have migrated northward over time."
For multifamily and vertical residential, Collins said: "There is not a lot of vertical residential in the immediate area."
"The opportunity is right for student housing particularly. A significant residential element will be critical in providing a walkable customer base to restaurants and retail that might become a part of the future development."
Addressing underlying demographics, Collins said: "The population densities around the site are favorable.
"When average household income and medium household income are divergent , as they are in this case, that suggests you have a layered economic mix of population base, which is favorable for accommodating a variety of restaurants and retail services at varying price points."
The main challenge, Collins said, is that it "is no small task to create a destination for retail, restaurant, and residential, where currently the demand simply does not exist."
"Much of the property will not have exposure to University Parkway (one of Winston Salem's heaviest traveled arterials), further placing priority on creating a synergistic destination environment that will draw both residents and tourists to the development.
"Critical thought must be given to the both placement and quantity of various retail, restaurant, service and residential components, for the synergy necessary to create a true destination environment with sustainability."
Also a major factor, Collins said, is that "interest rates are the wild card in the deck. Heavy borrowing in the current interest rate environment comes with a substantial interest rate cost."
"Given where the project is currently, it may be several years before verticality begins on the re-development. Timing may provide for a better interest rate environment. Timing appears better in the present, than earlier attempts in 2009-2010, to conceptualize development and then proceed with a plan for same."