<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3jesLq_1FPyma9k00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3jesLq_1FPyma9k00" width="1440" height="1080" ><figcaption>The restoration of Silas Creek is largely complete at The Grounds, the development being built next to and near Wake Forest University's football and basketball venues. Bret McCormick</figcaption></figure>The Grounds, Wake Forest University’s sports-adjacent mixed-use real estate project, is about halfway to completing its first phase.The shell of the five-story office building that will house Wake Forest employees stands next to the football stadium, and the transformation of Silas Creek from an overgrown storm washout is complete, only waiting for joggers, strollers and cyclists to pay the (still fenced-off) scenic stream and greenway a visit. Apartment complex construction next to the creek is progressing smoothly, too.The 100-acre project feels like a first-mover in college sports and is already preparing a second phase of development. But John Currie, Wake Forest VP and AD, won’t let people forget what it took to get to this point.“It’s a six- or seven-year project. There’s been a lot of things that had to happen in the right sequence, in the right moments in time, that have helped it happen,” he said hours before Wake football hosted Miami. “I believe in the concept; it’s great that lots of people are doing it. It’s not just to snap your fingers and turn on the money waterfall, the money faucet.”The ‘why’ behind mixed useInterest in the sports-adjacent mixed-use concept is rampant in college sports, with seemingly every American public university issuing some kind of sports real estate-related RFI, RFQ or RFP in recent months. Currie and The Grounds’ development team, Carter and Front Street Capital, have hosted visitors from across the college sports and real estate spectrum, including a recent visit from Missouri and its AD, Laird Veatch, a friend and former colleague of Currie’s. “Let’s figure out how we can serve our community better and how we can serve the university better and how we can create jobs and how we can create tax revenue for the community and how we can create a better place for people to go and quality of life and attraction,” said Currie. “And so money results from all that, but the ‘why’ part is not just for money. “I’m as capitalist as anybody, but the ‘why’ part is really how do we serve our community better?” Pivot toward operationsThe Grounds’ journey from hopeful to maybe to concept creation took years, Currie said. The shift from construction to operations, happening in the next 12 months, will be much quicker. Carter and Front Street will operate the development’s retail village on a ground lease from the university (which owns almost the entire complex, including the football stadium, arena, baseball stadium and tennis center). The Grounds’ first retailers were revealed last week.The sports facilities complex already attracts 1.1 million people annually; the mixed-use development will grow that number, and at different times of day, too.Currie hired Janeen Lalik from the Nashville Predators in a role that will include orchestrating operational collaboration among the developers, the university and the local public entities (like law enforcement) to ensure the district runs smoothly. Lalik worked with Currie at Tennessee, following previous stops at Florida State, IMG College and Ticketmaster.“We’ve really shifted now into a full throttle. We’ve got to be ready to operate,” Currie said. </div></body>

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The Grounds, Wake Forest University’s sports-adjacent mixed-use real estate project, is about halfway to completing its first phase. The shell of the five-story office building that will house Wake Forest employees stands next to the football stadium, and the transformation of Silas Creek from an overgrown storm washout is complete, only waiting for joggers, strollers and cyclists to pay the (still fenced-off) scenic stream and greenway a visit. Apartment complex construction next to the creek is progressing smoothly, too.

After years as a concept, The Grounds developers are preparing to actually operate

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The Grounds, Wake Forest University’s sports-adjacent mixed-use real estate project, is about halfway to completing its first phase. The shell of the five-

After years as a concept, The Grounds developers are preparing to actually operate

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