Carolina Leads, As North Carolina Grows

UNC-Chapel Hill announces plans to develop campus extension in Carolina North

Website: CarolinaNorth.unc.edu

As the state of North Carolina continues one of the fastest periods of population and economic growth in the nation, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is proud to announce the development of a new campus extension in Carolina North, a generational investment in its academic mission, public impact, and shared future with the Town of Chapel Hill.

UNC-Chapel Hill will develop a roughly 230-acre learn-live-work-play footprint within Carolina North on and around the former site of the Horace Williams Airport. This will be the largest expansion of the University since the cornerstone of the Old East building was laid in 1793, over 232 years ago.

By construction, Carolina North's development will be designed to enable nimble, and multi-disciplinary collaboration across domains such as health, AI and advanced technology. It will become a real engine of innovation for meeting the workforce needs of North Carolina while creating novel research, educational and industry engagement outcomes that will positively impact the state and the nation. Applied science, as it connects with health, data, or life sciences will play a critical role in achieving this ambition allowing the North Carolina's flagship public university to grow in step with the people it serves.

Groundbreaking is expected to begin in early 2027 once the plot is prepared for the initial infrastructure development phase.

Shared Spaces for Learning and Community
The new growth represents a generational opportunity to extend UNC-Chapel Hill's academic mission beyond its historic core into an integrated setting designed for advancing applied science, experiential learning, and team-based discovery.

Located along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the extension will complement the current campus while opening new points of connection with Chapel Hill. In addition to collaborative academic and research facilities, the area will be home to necessary mixed-use housing for students and local workforce families; retail, dining and entertainment that support daily campus life and visitors to the area; civic, cultural, artistic and performing arts spaces; and strong transportation connectivity integrated with Chapel Hill's North-South Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

A New Engine for Carolina Research and Biomedical Engineering
As North Carolina adds more than 140,000 residents each year and the Triangle continues rapid growth, UNC-Chapel Hill must expand capacity to meet rising demand for education and research. Even with continued renovation and modernization, the historic campus faces limits in housing, instructional space and research facilities. The expansion addresses these constraints while positioning the University for long-term excellence.

Developed from the ground up, new facilities will support solution-driven, interdisciplinary research focused on society's most complex issue. A contemporary commons model integrates expertise across disciplines through flexible, connected spaces. Physical and digital links to UNC Health and the main campus will create a unified research ecosystem that supports hands-on learning, applied research and faster discovery.

By intentionally linking academic research with clinical expertise and advanced data capabilities across UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health, the new campus will strengthen the long-term sustainability of Carolina's research enterprise while increasing the speed at which meaningful breakthroughs reach patients and communities across the state.

By creating collaborative environments, researchers, clinicians and data scientists from the University and UNC Health will compress the timeline from basic science to clinical investigation to real-world application. This model is essential to advancing precision medicine, improving outcomes at scale and ensuring discoveries are not only made, but sustained, supported and translated into real improvements in care.

Advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, will be central to this model and guided by Carolina's public mission. AI will operate as a shared, community-governed resource with strong oversight. Students will build AI fluency and applied experience through faculty-led and partner-supported work.

Together, this approach will accelerate discovery, strengthen partnerships, and shorten the distance between ideas and impact.

Public Transportation and Thoroughfares 
Carolina North planning will emphasize pedestrian circulation, thoughtful parking strategies and efficient connections to major thoroughfares, including I-40. Planning is informed by studies showing that the Carolina North corridor is already home to many current students, with projected future student housing growth.

UNC-Chapel Hill will partner with the Town of Chapel Hill to support improved mobility for commuters and campus users. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, led by the Town and Chapel Hill Transit and anticipated to be operational by 2030, will provide dedicated bus lanes along most of the route, allowing buses to operate independently of general traffic and improving overall traffic flow.

The project also includes dedicated wide, multi-use paths along the corridor, separate from vehicle traffic, to support safe and accessible travel for people walking, biking, and rolling.

True to UNC-Chapel Hill's public mission, the new campus will explore visions for an open and welcoming campus extension. Functional public plazas, arts and culture performance spaces, enhanced connections to the Carolina North Forest trails and pedestrian-first streetscapes will ensure the campus is fully integrated with surrounding neighborhoods and the broader University community.

A Shared Perspective
To ensure informed decision-making, a major aspect of the design and development process will be the formation of a stakeholder advisory group to capture perspectives and subject-matter insight related to the phased planning of project sub-sets. The group's purpose will be to provide University leadership with feedback grounded in academic priorities, operational coherence, student experiences, and the University's public mission.

Participants will represent faculty, staff, students, alumni, trustees, former student-athletes, and community stakeholders. The intent is to convene sub-groups for a variety of topics throughout the design and development process with formation planned for later this year.

Timing and Funding
The confirmation of the advancement of Carolina North marks the first step in a multi-year process of planning, approval, and phased development. The University will seek advance planning funds to support master planning and core infrastructure design, enabling the site for future mixed-use academic, research, housing and community development.

Phase 1 planning will evaluate a mix of student housing, academic and research space, multi-family residential, hotel and ground-floor retail, with most vertical development anticipated to occur through a public-private partnership (P3) structure.

Total development costs for Carolina North will be determined following completion of the first phase of programming and activation plans. Individual projects will be funded through a combination of state support, University trust funds, revenue-backed debt, private philanthropy and third-party investment, consistent with responsible financial stewardship and the University's public mission.

Next steps include issuing requests for qualifications in spring 2026 for master planning, infrastructure design and a master development partner, with initial site preparation and infrastructure work targeted to begin ahead of a projected groundbreaking in summer 2027.

Stewardship for Generations to Come
The campus expansion into Carolina North is a long-term strategy, not a single project. The phased development of the campus extension will evolve to meet academic, research, athletics, housing and infrastructure needs, guided by responsible governance and close coordination with the Town of Chapel Hill, the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and the UNC System.

What They're Saying
As UNC-Chapel Hill embarks on the first phase of development at Carolina North, University leaders share how the initiative will help the state's flagship institution grow in step with the people it serves.

"We have a fundamental obligation to the people of this state. As North Carolina continues to be one of the fastest-growing states in America, the demand from qualified North Carolina students is only going to increase. If we do not create the physical capacity to serve more of them at the same level of excellence, we will either have to turn away thousands of our own citizens or diminish the quality of the education we provide. Neither is acceptable for the state's flagship university."
-Chancellor Lee H. Roberts

"Carolina North presents an exciting opportunity for the Town, as we work together with the University to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future - to meet our housing goals, enhance our transportation network, and continue to build on the excellence that has defined Chapel Hill for many generations."
-Jess Anderson, Mayor of Chapel Hill

"This campus extension is an unparalleled opportunity for our students and North Carolina's future and a powerful catalyst for long-term growth. By creating a place where education, research and industry intersect, the University is strengthening its role as a driver of innovation, entrepreneurship and investment across the state. This kind of forward-looking development benefits our students, fuels job creation, attracts new partners and reinforces Carolina's competitiveness for decades to come."
-Malcolm Turner, Chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees

"Carolina North is not just a campus extension - it is a significant investment in Carolina's capacity to tackle complex problems that no single discipline can solve alone. By creating an environment where investigators work in a shared ecosystem with AI experts and industry partners, research can move rapidly from ideas to solutions that save and improve lives, strengthen our economy, and expand opportunity. By engaging students in this transformative setting of discovery and translation, Carolina will prepare a new generation to lead, innovate, and serve the public good."
-Penny Gordon-Larsen, Vice Chancellor for Research

"Carolina North represents the rare opportunity to plan a campus extension holistically to respond to the needs of our University, town and state today and in the future. We are excited to develop a campus from the ground up in a thoughtful way that creates a cohesive mixed use and campus experience - integrating infrastructure, amenities, and connectivity to campus, while preserving and enhancing the miles of trails at Carolina North Forest."
-Nate Knuffman, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations

"Carolina North is a meaningful investment in our students and their futures. By expanding access to academic programs and hands-on, minds-on learning, we are building the skills and experiences that prepare students to lead in a changing world. It also strengthens connections across classrooms, research and innovation as well as the broader Chapel Hill community, ensuring a holistic education that supports student success well beyond graduation."
-James Orr, Senior Vice Provost for Student Success