The end of an era? Durham County OKs plan to transform 5,000 acres of RTP
After 65 years of isolated, campus-style development, Research Triangle Park will look much different in the years to come.
On Monday night, Durham County approved a plan to rezone 5,000 of RTP’s 7,000 acres setting in motion a 50-year transformation. The goal is to turn the park into a vibrant, 21st century, 15-minute city, with housing, public transportation, and a mixed-use core.
The county commissioners praised the move as essential for RTP’s future and its ability to compete for the next generation of talent.
“This plan really embodies the values and the desires that our community wants to have — a work/live/play environment, housing and having walkable communities,” said Commissioner Wendy Jacobs.
The rezoning comes at a pivotal moment. The park, founded in 1959, is home to more than 375 companies and 55,000 employees, according to the RTP Foundation. However, it faces financial and economic changes, including government funding cuts that led to hundreds of job cuts at RTI International, and shifts in the technology world as companies, like IBM, lean heavily on artificial intelligence, leading to more job cuts.
“The foundation of RTP has really been under attack with our federal government. Our congressional district has lost more federal funding and [has] been more impacted by DOGE,” Jacobs said. “So to me, this also represents hope.”
The park is already undergoing a $1.5 billion transformation with HUB RTP, the park’s “downtown” on 100 acres with offices, shops, a life science building, apartments and a parking deck.
Major companies in RTP include Cisco, Fidelity Investments, Red Hat Software and GlaxoSmithKline.
The new zoning: UC-3
The reimagined RTP required a complete overhaul of its zoning rules. The county approved the creation of a flexible “University and College zoning district,” which allows for the growth of large scientific and technical research parks within a college-like setting.
On Oct. 14, the Durham Planning Commission, which advises the city and county, unanimously recommended its approval.
Juan Montes, a planning commissioner, wrote that the UC-3 zoning district is a “great solution to common rezoning issues that limit the ability for innovation, investments and overall economic growth as there are too many restrictions.”
Since RTP is in both Wake and Durham counties, both counties had to approve the rezoning. The RTP Foundation asked them for a new overlay for the park to allow three new “place types:” enhanced corporate campus, residential neighborhoods, and mixed-use density node, like HUB RTP.
On June 16, the Wake County Board of Commissioners unanimously amended RTP’s zoning district in its rules to make way for the redevelopment.
The rezoning excluded the Durham County Wildlife Club in Morrisville, which has 96 acres including an 11-acre lake, in the park.
An evolving process
The sole public comment Monday night focused on the future of digital infrastructure in RTP.
Patrick Byker, an attorney representing a data center in RTP, said his client, which owns TierPoint, wants to see data centers be made a “permanent use” in the redeveloped area.
“Unfortunately, the term ‘data center’ is not found in Durham’s Unified Development Ordinance,” Bkyer said. “It’s no secret that the demand for data centers is only going to increase in the future. For Durham County, data centers are foundational to AI, telecommunications, the financial sector, pharmaceutical research, our health care providers and our outstanding universities.”
Staff members said existing uses like the data center will be grandfathered in, since they’re still in one of the zoning categories.
While the rezoning is approved, the park’s physical transformation will be slow.
Scott Levitan, CEO and president of the RTP Foundation, told The News & Observer that RTP’s redevelopment will be an “evolving process.”
“You’re not going to wake up and RTP is going to look like something else,” he said. “There’s not going to be the opening of the floodgates. This is going to be really thoughtful.”
The final design of the redeveloped RTP has not been released. The foundation has been hosting neighborhood meetings and a feasibility study to gauge interest.
Brian Gordon contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM.