A proposed innovation district in Greensboro has received $3 million in federal funding.
The area around South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro — from Gate City Boulevard through South Elm Eugene Street — is where developers are planning an innovation district to help boost the economy in that area.
Lou Anne Flanders-Stec, executive vice president of Launch Greensboro, said the innovation district will be particularly impactful for the advanced manufacturing industry, which has recently seen lots of activity in the Triad. The proposed district has been in the works for about a year and a half. Rep. Kathy Manning announced the federal funding that comes from the omnibus government funding bill Congress passed in March.
An innovation district “focuses visible innovation efforts to drive job creation and retention; includes walkable, mixed-use spaces that connect universities and established institutions with business startups and other entrepreneurs; bridges gaps and builds partnerships across public and private institutions and employers; builds on strong, existing innovation hubs and university drivers,” according to a presentation given to Greensboro's city council last October.
Charlotte is awaiting its own innovation district, a project spearheaded by Atrium Health to complement an incoming four-year medical school. The midtown district, branded as The Pearl, would complement Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter and bring together providers, students, entrepreneurs and business owners.
In Greensboro, the proposed district would be roughly 2.7 square miles, or 125 acres, in a corridor that runs from transformGSO on South Elm to the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship on South Elm-Eugene Street and includes Union Square. It would partner with local universities including UNC-Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and Guilford Technical Community College.
The project would include repurposing buildings, developing training programs in the aviation and EV battery industries and building innovation spaces. Developers touted citywide benefits, such as an opportunity for broadband expansion, neighborhood participation, training opportunities for youth programs, job training and reskilling, during the city council presentation. They also noted the success of Chattanooga, Tennessee’s innovation district, which led to some 5,000 jobs, 120 startups and approximately $700 million in real estate investment.
“The real point is to lever underserved community and underutilized space to build out infrastructure and with the proximity to build more of a crescent than just a corridor,” Flanders-Stec said.
She expects additional funding — approximately $1.5 million — to be approved in May from Greensboro’s portion of the American Rescue Plan Act. That would bring the total funding for the innovation district to $4.5 million. Other organizations working toward this project are Action Greensboro, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Segra, Downtown Greensboro and Forge Greensboro.
The first and next step, she said, is to finalize a full strategic plan. There is no current timeline for that plan.
