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GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – A weathered tobacco warehouse that once helped power Greenville’s economy is being transformed into part of a 19-acre research and innovation campus.
“It was part of the Haynie Tobacco Warehouse. And they did more processing here. You would do the sales. The tobacco sales here,” said Merrill Flood, director of regional economic development at ECU.
The former warehouse, now called the Prizery, sits chained off and crumbling. For decades, tobacco moved through the building, helping shape the identity and livelihood of eastern Carolina.
Behind the broken windows and collapsing walls, leaders see possibility through technology, research and innovation.
“There’s a point in time when certain industries may fall out of demand and then other things come, you got to sprout up and take their place,” said Josh Lewis, CEO of Invest Greenville.
Plans call for the building to become part of the East Carolina Research and Innovation Campus.
“And this would be our innovation district where innovation, companies collaborate with ECU faculty, and staff and students for solving tomorrow’s problems,” Flood said.
The vision includes research space, workforce development, startup companies and emerging technology. The building will house Fusion Works, an industrial lab space officials hope can help position ECU and Greenville as a regional hub for artificial intelligence and innovation.
“What’s taking place at the Intersect East project is, in collaboration with ECU is providing a unique opportunity for businesses to locate in the epicenter of education and industry,” Lewis said.
The city of Greenville, Greenville Utilities and Pitt County have each pledged $750,000 toward the redevelopment effort. Officials said the project can help drive economic growth in the region while transforming a gateway into downtown Greenville.
“When you’re coming over the bridge you want to start to see development on both sides of the road and you want to start to see some transformational projects taking place. And that’s what this project is about,” Lewis said.
Just as the building once bustled with activity through the tobacco industry, leaders believe it can now help define the region’s future.
“And we hope with the new uses coming in here it will breath that life again,” Flood said.
“It symbolizes growth and opportunity,” Lewis said. “Really a symbolism of the unity between the university and the city in transforming a part of downtown that has been dilapidated for a bit.”
With phase one largely complete and businesses already on site, construction on the next stage is still ahead. Leaders say this endeavor is helping to build eastern Carolina’s future, just as tobacco did for generations.
“I do see this entire project once built out having that type of impact to eastern North Carolina,” Flood said.
Construction is expected to start by the end of the year.
Click here to watch April’s report: East of Innovation: Living shorelines protect North Carolina coast and way of life
Click here to watch March’s report: East of Innovation: “They call me robot doctor” — Inside the rise of virtual care in ENC
Click here to watch February’s report: East of Innovation: How smart agriculture is changing Eastern Carolina
Click here to watch January’s report: East of Innovation: Advanced air mobility transforming Eastern Carolina
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