Trustees approve sites for Carolina North buildings

University officials are taking steps to move Carolina North from imagination to reality.

The Board of Trustees approved sites Wednesday for two projects at the University's proposed satellite campus on the Horace Williams Tract off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The board approved the site for a progressive early-elementary school - the First School for Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center.

Carolina North planners have heralded the school as an example of the innovative activities they hope to have at the addition.

The school, a 90,000-square-foot building, will house approximately 500 students from 3 years old through the second grade.

The site is south of many Chapel Hill-Carrboro city schools.

Center officials are discussing a partnership with these schools to further improve this facility for early childhood education.

The approval comes several days after Chancellor James Moeser called for an increased focus on public schools in his State of the University address.

"There is one problem facing North Carolina that we cannot wait to engage - and that is the problem of our public schools," he said during the address last Thursday.

Trustees also approved an 80,000-square-foot building at Carolina North for an incubator to house a research facility. "We're one of a very small number of public research universities that does not have this kind of facility," said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development.

The board also approved a 63-acre site for Carolina Commons, a development of affordable faculty and staff housing. The site, known as the Horace Williams Satellite Tract, will include 140 family houses, town houses and condominiums just northwest of Carolina North.

"It will be our first venture in building homes for faculty and staff, but it will not be the last," Moeser said at the address.

Officials plan to develop the parking lots near the Bell Tower, creating a 750-car parking deck. The site also will feature a raised walkway that will cross South Road.

"It really is the last major underdeveloped site on campus," said Anna Wu, director of facilities planning.

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.