Douglas Edgeton, an executive with Wake Forest University Health Sciences, is the new president of the Piedmont Triad Research Park.
Edgeton replaces Richard Dean, who retired. Dean helped step up development of the PTRP, which now includes six facilities and some 500,000 square feet of office space.
The PTRP board, WFU Health Sciences and Nathan Hatch, president of Wake Forest University, concurred in selecting Edgeton. Edgeton is chief operating officer of WFU Health Sciences. He had been acting as president on an interim basis.
“Following the retirement of Dr. Richard Dean, we are very fortunate to have someone as capable as Doug Edgeton at the helm of this major community initiative,” Hatch said in a statement. “The research park holds great promise for the future of Winston-Salem and the region, and Doug has the business insight and leadership ability to help move the project forward.”
The PTRP is currently reviewing plans to work with a firm to develop 16 acres of land, two buildings and a power plant that was donated by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
“This would be a mixed-use development that could help to totally revitalize this area of downtown,” Edgeton said in a statement. “We would like to see about one-third of it used for housing, and we are working to include an affordable housing component. One-third of the space is envisioned as retail, and one-third would be used for life sciences offices and lab space.”
The park controls some 230 acres in the eastern part of downtown Winston-Salem.
“In the central district, we expect to be working mostly on infrastructure for the next two to two-and-a-half years,” Edgeton said.
Bolstering the PTRP’s development efforts is some $33 million in grants for infrastructure improvements, he added.
