Winston-Salem to "Agressively" Pursue Selling Bowman Gray Stadium and The Joel

 

City officials said they would "aggressively" pursue selling the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (now officially named the Winston-Salem Entertainment-Sports Complex) and Bowman Gray Stadium, likely to Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University respectively.  The two university's rent the venues to host sports games and both have expressed an interest in purchasing them.  The city estimates it would save $1.6 million per year if it sold them; LJVM Coliseum recently appraised at $37.1 million while Bowman Gray Stadium appraised at $9.9 million - the appraisals were paid for by the city.  A spokesman for the city said racing at Bowman Gray would be protected by including a clause in any sales contract requiring that long-term leases be honored.

Ground Broken on Center for Design Innovation

 

The ground was broken on the 4-acre parcel in the South District of the Piedmont Triad Research Park that was purchased for the Center in 2011 by the UNC system.  The parcel, which is south of Business-40 is nestled between Salem College and Winston-Salem State University.  It is hoped that in time the downtown area and the Piedmont Triad Research Park will seamlessly meld into the campuses of both schools.

According to the press release on The Center for Design Innovation's website, the 27,000 sq.-ft. facility is "specially equipped for rapid prototyping, motion capture, electronic textiles, mobile networking and more."  The new facility is estimated to cost $8 million and is scheduled to open in 2013.  It is a joint venture between Winston-Salem State University, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and Forsyth Tech.

Winston-Salem Journal Article Highlights Commercial Developments in East Winston

Notable developments identified by the article include WSSU's new student center (previous blog post here), the SG Atkins Community Development Corporation's new business incubator which occupies the old Salvation Army's Boys and Girls Club building (the incubator is called the Enterprise Center), a new CVS at the corner of MLK Drive and New Walkertown Rd., two housing projects, and some roadwork. The article notes that most of this work revolves around Martin Luther King Drive.

This is a link to the article.