Carolina North advisory group tours site of future UNC Chapel Hill expansion

On Monday, a group of key stakeholders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill toured the site of what is set to be a major expansion project for the university. 

Dozens of faculty members, students, community members and alumni walked the old runway at Horace Williams Airport off Estes Drive.

The 230-acre site is set to be the future home of a new mixed-use campus that UNC leaders say will create more space for students amid rising enrollment and help boost regional housing supply. 

"You can sense opportunity, but it might be hard to see it," UNC-Chapel Hill Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Anita Brown-Graham said. "This, at least, is an opportunity to address an issue that is plaguing communities all across North Carolina."

Specifics on what will be built at the site have not been released, but UNC officials say student, multi-family and workforce housing are among items being considered. 

Officials are also looking for new space for thousands of new student beds plus hundreds of thousands of square feet in new instructional and research buildings. The university has unveiled plans to increase its undergraduate enrollment by 5,000 students over the next decade. In-state applications have increased by 40% since 2019, according to UNC.

"Something that is really impacting Carolina students is on-campus housing. There is a very limited amount of beds. Off-campus housing is not the most affordable. So, I think having affordable housing specifically for students is really important," student Audra Farrar said. 

The stakeholder group is tasked with advising university leaders on the expansion, which is set for phase one construction next year.