Grand plans for Whitaker Park.

• Author: Wood, Suzanne
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION

In Winston-Salem, the second mixeduse development project to rise from the ashes of an old cigarette factory in recent years is underway. Whitaker Park will join the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, which opened several years ago on former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco property off Patterson Avenue in the city's downtown as a collegial space for university offices and programs, research and development firms, office headquarters, urban housing, dining and shopping.

Although Whitaker Park was once a state-of-the art Reynolds facility, too, the two projects are far from identical, stresses Bob Leak, president of Winston-Salem Business Inc., the city's economic-development agency. With 13 buildings across 113 acres, Whitaker Park will focus on light-industrial tenants, a category that includes data centers, distribution centers and warehousing facilities. Its location adjacent to U.S. 52, just 4 miles north of downtown, makes it a potentially desirable spot for such companies, Leak notes.

Reynolds donated the property in segments, completing the transfer in 2017. The land is now held by the Whitaker Park Development Authority, composed of the Winston-Salem Alliance, Winston-Salem Business Inc. and Wake Forest University. The potential economic impact of transforming the park--the bulk of which was shuttered in 2012--could be as high as 10,000 new jobs and several hundred million dollars, Leak says.

Once the park is at capacity, the capital investment that...