Big Announcement

In this Issue: today we talk about the big announcement of community investments that complement Reynolda Campus academic space plans

This morning, President Wente sent a message to the campus community outlining the latest steps in our planned academic and campus space improvements:

“As first announced in August 2023, Wake Forest has partnered with the City of Winston-Salem and the development team of Carter and Front Street Capital to explore options for 100 acres of University-owned property east of the Reynolda Campus and adjacent to Allegacy Stadium, Couch Ballpark and the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Today, the Carter/Front Street teams announced plans for what will be known as “The Grounds” — a transformative mixed-use development and community hub with retail, residential, commercial and dining options in addition to community gathering and green spaces.” 

You can see renderings from The Grounds website:

I encourage you to read Dr. Wente’s full message and to visit The Grounds website for all the details. I want to highlight just a few points from her message:

“Our near-term campus space plan aims to create 35% more academic space and 50% more student gathering and dining space on the Reynolda Campus. This project will add 60 more offices, 20 more specialized teaching and research spaces, and more collaborative gathering space….

“[The first step on the Reynolda (i.e., main) campus] focuses on making Alumni Hall the future home to the departments of Philosophy, Education, and Computer Science and the Entrepreneurship program. Administrative offices currently in Alumni Hall will move to swing space in the University Corporate Center before becoming some of the first tenants of The Grounds….

Connectivity between our Reynolda Campus and The Grounds is a high priority to ensure easy access to the new office and coworking spaces for Wake Forest employees.

Other plans for The Grounds include: 

• A retail village populated by local and regional chef-driven restaurants, boutique shops with integrated patios, and plentiful outdoor community gathering spaces.
• A new “Deacon Walk,” a pedestrian corridor that will serve as a gateway to Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium.
• Loft-style residential units and a residential community with amenities, greenspace views, and pedestrian access to the retail village.  
• Infrastructure improvements utilizing a $35 million grant allocated by the State of North Carolina to the City of Winston-Salem that include road and event traffic improvements, restoration of an eroded section of Silas Creek into a signature greenspace, and the construction of a paved, landscaped walking-path system to provide pedestrian connectivity to and throughout The Grounds and surrounding communities.” 

Full disclosure: I’ve been part of the Near-Term Central Campus Space Planning project, and it has been really exciting to see the thoughtful and intentional work that has taken place to think innovatively about the core of campus. The project team has talked about “creating new spaces for vibrant departments and programs and supporting them with modern, purpose-built teaching, learning, gathering and research spaces.” This will benefit all of us.

This is an incredibly exciting time to be a Wake Forester, both in terms of campus and The Grounds. This upcoming work is going to create a vibrant new part of Winston-Salem that students, faculty, staff, Wake families, and the larger community can enjoy.