About

This initiative will bring together expertise across disciplines and facilitate collaborations on campus and with the communities throughout the region, extending the university’s mission of teaching, research and service, preparing the workforce of today and building the workforce of tomorrow. The project is expected to have a lasting and powerful impact on the entire region, broadening economic development opportunities across Northwestern North Carolina.

The Innovation District is located at the site of the former Broyhill Inn and Conference Center on Bodenheimer Drive, at the edge of the neighboring Nature Preserve. The first academic building included in the project’s first phase of development is the Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research, which will include cross-disciplinary collaboration and encourage K–12 partnerships.

Phase one of the project also includes:

• The development of 156 faculty and staff housing units, which will help meet App State employees’ housing needs amid housing scarcity and cost inflation in Boone. The planned units consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations in five multistory buildings.
• A zero-carbon district energy system that will begin to transition campus away from steam power. App State has a long-established reputation as a leader in the renewable energy space, and the university is exploring renewable energy options that will establish a national example for sustainable energy solutions.

Subsequent phases will include additional academic and partnership spaces. Facilities under discussion include:

• Spaces for research, teaching, and demonstration.
• Workspaces for multidisciplinary projects.
• Renewable energy labs.
• Conference rooms.
• Exhibition and studio spaces.
• Housing.

The Innovation District will utilize expertise found in App State’s Appalachian Energy Center, Center for Appalachian Studies, Research Institute for Environment, Energy, and Economics, Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Small Business and Technology Development Center.

This project is described in App State’s Master Plan 2025 as “The Broyhill Innovation District” (page 87).

This conceptual rendering depicts what the Phase 1 components of App State’s Innovation District might look like, once completed. The control building for the district’s zero-carbon energy system is displayed at left. Solar, wind and geothermal renewable energy technologies will power the district’s energy system. Graphic courtesy of Lord Aeck Sargent

A conceptual rendering of an outdoor courtyard located between the multistory buildings that are under construction as faculty and staff housing at App State’s Innovation District. This housing is part of the district’s first phase of development. Graphic courtesy of Radnor Property Group

This architectural rendering depicts a design concept for faculty and staff housing at App State's Innovation District, as part of the project's Phase 1 development. Image courtesy of Radnor Property Group

Status

Construction work for the Innovation District’s first phase of development began in late July 2023, with the installation of erosion control fences and the removal of trees. App State’s targeted opening date for the district’s conservatory is 2025, with occupancy of the faculty and staff housing slated for the same year. The district’s energy system is expected to become operational in 2025.

The installation of underground utilities at the district site (water, sewer, stormwater and fiber-optic cable systems) is nearing completion, and workers are pouring the foundations and concrete slabs for the multistory buildings that will house App State faculty/staff. Vertical construction of the first housing facility is slated to begin in early August 2024.

Additionally, construction is underway for the building that will serve as a control center for the district’s zero-carbon energy system. The building’s roof has been applied, and workers are beginning to install wall panels and interior electrical and plumbing rough-ins.

The university has selected development partners Radnor Property Group LLC (Radnor) and Harrison Street through a competitive solicitation process to deliver an integrated phase one development concept for the district.

Work to create the district’s master plan began in summer 2021, when the project’s planning committees — along with independent advisory firm Brailsford & Dunlavey — collaborated to establish the university’s strategic priorities for the district. A market research and demand analysis and an energy and utilities analysis for the project were also performed.

A steering committee was established to ensure the master plan for the Innovation District is informed by the latest information, market trends and input from the App State Community. App State Interim Chancellor Heather Hulburt Norris and Hank Foreman, in his role as Vice Chancellor of External Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, led this team.

In August 2021, the university hired design, architecture and engineering firm Page to provide master planning services for the Innovation District. Working closely with Brailsford & Dunlavey, the firm held three listening charrettes in fall 2021 with departments across campus to refine the development concept for the district, which was finalized in December 2021.

In late January 2022, the Innovation District Working Group met with two design firms that have offered multiphased development concepts for a Zero-Carbon District, meaning the district’s buildings will be highly energy efficient and powered by carbon-free, renewable energy sources. This will not only lower the buildings’ environmental impact but also help make them more financially viable.

Designers were also asked to include faculty and staff housing concepts as part of their proposals — as one way to help address housing shortages that affect App State’s ability to recruit and retain talented faculty and staff.

In July 2022, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors approved the pre-development letter of intent for the district’s first phase, as well as App State’s pursuit of public-private partnerships (P3) agreements for the district’s housing and energy system components.

The university ceremoniously broke ground on the first phase of development for the Innovation District — beginning with the Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research — on March 25, 2022.

In January 2023, App State received the board’s approval to enter into a ground lease with nonprofit corporation Beyond Owners Group, which is developing 156 multifamily, multistory residential units on the Boone campus through its partner firms. App State also received the board’s approval to enter into an agreement with Harrison Street Real Estate LLC, which is constructing and will operate the Innovation District’s zero-carbon energy system. This system will generate and distribute energy to support the district’s planned phase one buildings, including the Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research and faculty and staff housing.

App State entered into a P3 agreement with Radnor Property Group and Harrison Street in September 2023 for the development of the district’s faculty and staff housing. Under this partnership, Radnor and Harrison Street are financing the housing project, and financing will be delivered under a 501c3 ownership structure to enhance affordability.

How is it funded?

The Bodenheimer Drive property has been designated as millennial campus space since 2015. This gives App State the flexibility to develop the property with private sector firms, issue bonds or lease the space.

In the FY 2021–22 biennial budget bill signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on Nov. 18, 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly allocated $54 million in non-recurring funds to begin work on the Innovation District project, beginning with the Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research. App State’s Board of Trustees authorized an additional $7.5 million in funding for the conservatory project at its March 24, 2023, meeting, to allow room for any potential inflationary adjustments. The additional funding was approved by the UNC System Board of Governors during the board’s April 2023 meeting.

The district’s faculty and staff housing and zero-carbon energy system are supported through public-private partnerships (P3) that do not rely upon state funds, or any capital from the university.

Who will benefit?

Students who will become tomorrow’s solution-makers, as well as the community, state, region and beyond who are served by the increased student engagement with research, creativity, innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship.

How does it support UNC System Goals and Metrics?

App State can produce more graduates in the critical workforce areas for North Carolina — identified in the UNC System’s strategic plan as STEM, health sciences, K-12 education and emerging workforce areas — who are capable of addressing the needs of the world.