Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read January 2023 — Charlotte’s first four-year medical school and innovation district broke ground yesterday. It marks the next step in an ongoing journey as the city marches on to its status as a global research hub.
The Pearl Innovation District, a collaboration between Atrium Health, Wake Forest University and Charlotte-Mecklenburg officially broke ground on Tuesday, nearly two years after it was initially announced. The district will host the four-year Wake Forest University School of Medicine and consist of new apartments, a hotel and four research towers.
According to Atrium, Charlotte is the nation’s largest city without a medical school. The Pearl will change that, anchoring the Howard R. Levine Center for Education, where it will be joined by the Carolinas College of Health Sciences and Wake Forest’s School of Professional Studies and School of Business. The medical school, with a campus currently located in Winston-Salem, anticipates opening – and seating its first class in 2024.
“The launch of the Pearl innovation district is being made possible, in large part, due to the strength of the partnership among Atrium Health, Wexford, local governments and the community,” said Thomas Osha, executive vice president for Wexford Science & Technology and board chair of the Global Institute on Innovation Districts said in the press release. Wexford is also the developer behind Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. Stakeholders aim to make Charlotte, and by extension North Carolina – already home to Research Triangle Park, one of the leading areas for innovation across the country.
While the construction has just begun, the project already scored an early win last year when it was announced that The Pearl would also be the exclusive home of France-based, global surgical training center IRCAD’s North American headquarters. Separately, the hub, which is being built in a neighborhood formerly known as Brooklyn and home to a thriving African American community, includes commitments from Atrium Health to work alongside Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte’s sole HBCU, for educational and career opportunities, with Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles telling Invest: last year the project will help make good on addressing economic inequities and healthcare disparities.
“In the next two years, Charlotte will have a medical school…Atrium Health has made a commitment to work with Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte’s only historically Black college to allow successful students to enter into the medical school on full-tuition scholarships. Having people of color who are doctors will allow us to address healthcare disparities. There will be upward mobility when you come out of school with a high-paying position and without debt.” She added, “Business community partnerships with the government and philanthropy in Charlotte is absolutely among the most valuable tools we have for addressing major long-term racial issues.”
Overall, the project is expected to generate over 5,500 jobs on-site and more than 11,500 jobs total across Charlotte, with Eugene Woods, Atrium Health president and CEO stating in the release, “I’m pleased to share that Charlotte’s new innovation district, ‘The Pearl,’ will be a place where Charlotte’s historic vitality meets its innovative future. It’s a place where excellence lives, and where excellence is learned.”
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