Innovate Carolina Junction serves Chapel Hill economy, provides year-round jobs

Innovate Carolina Junction, a new hub created by Innovate Carolina, hosted its open house for the Chapel Hill community on Oct. 5. At the heart of downtown Chapel Hill’s innovation district, the location houses local startups and small businesses.

B3 Coffee, a nonprofit coffee shop in Chapel Hill working to empower community members with disabilities by creating employment opportunities for people of all abilities, is one of the businesses located in the new building.

Krista Caraway, the store manager of B3 Coffee, said it was remarkable that the Junction connects Franklin Street to Rosemary Street.

"It connects our community with the community and so it becomes our community together in unity," Caraway said.

READDI — which stands for Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative — is another group operating out of the Junction.

"It feels appropriate because READDI is a forward-thinking startup," Logan Ward, the director of communications for READDI, said.

According to its website, READDI aims to develop safe and effective antiviral drugs before the next pandemic.

"I think it makes a lot of sense and I think it’s been a long time coming," he said.

The Junction has been in the making for five years and is a product of the efforts between the Town, UNC and Orange County. It was designed to facilitate entrepreneurship as part of Launch Chapel Hill, an accelerator program.

The Junction is a part of the Downtown Together Taskforce’s plan of creating a downtown innovation district that retains and attracts more innovation-oriented businesses, Dwight Bassett, the Town's director of economic development and parking services, said.

"We traditionally lost that growth to Durham and RTP," Bassett said, "If we simply retain the good things that happen on UNC campus locally, I think that we would have no problem supporting the Junction."

Though the Junction is located near UNC's campus, Bassett said the idea of creating opportunity for our community is far greater than just the students and entrepreneurs that are on campus.

"In order to have a vibrant downtown, you have to have people here 12 months of the year," Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said. "We love our students, but they’re only here for nine months of the year. It doesn’t provide an economy that can thrive but having workers in the downtown area will make the difference here."

Julia Lutz, community manager of Innovate Carolina Junction, said that the Junction also aims to soon hold community events like a pumpkin-painting contest and happy hour.

"I would like to believe that we find success in telling the story of the great things happening in Chapel Hill," Basset said.

@DTHCityState | city@dailytarheel.com