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

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 multidisciplinary collaboration across domains such as health, artificial intelligence 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 North Carolina’s flagship public university to grow in step with the people it serves.

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

Find answers to questions about Carolina North development, construction details, timeline and more on the Carolina North website.

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.

Carolina North will have collaborative facilities that will support solution-driven, interdisciplinary research focused on society’s most complex issues. (Graphic by Sharon Chung/University Communications and Marketing)

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 issues. 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.

The Town of Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill Transit will lead a Bus Rapid Transit project that will provide dedicated bus lanes along most of the route between main campus and Carolina North. (Graphic by Sharon Chung/University Communications and Marketing)

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 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, multiuse 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 subgroups 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, multifamily residential, hotel and ground-floor retail, with most vertical development anticipated to occur through a public-private partnership 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.

Carolina North will include public plazas and enhanced connections to the Carolina North Forest trails. (Graphic by Sharon Chung/University Communications and Marketing)

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.