Kannapolis makes room for research; Plans for the 350-acre N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis call for about 1 million square feet of office and lab s
BYLINE: Tim Simmons, Staff Writer
KANNAPOLIS -- This former mill town north of Charlotte is not Boston or San Francisco. And Steven Zeisel is a realist.
So when Zeisel, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Nutrition Research Institute, talks with scientists about becoming part of the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, he pitches the merits of the $1.5 billion project. He talks about the town later.
With the 350-acre campus rapidly taking shape, seven North Carolina universities are recruiting scientists. As many as 100 new researchers could be hired in the next two years, with hundreds more following them to assist in labs and offices.
The jobs are new, and current faculty won't be required to go.
"It wouldn't make sense to force anyone," said Steve Leath, an associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University. "We want people who are committed to working there."
Leath, who will oversee NCSU's Institute for Advanced Fruit and Vegetable Science, will get a sense of whether his faculty is interested when he holds his first town hall meeting this week.
"If 50 to 100 people show up, I'll feel pretty good about it," he said. "But if only a few attend, we might have a problem."
Zeisel offered a similar, if somewhat longer, view.
"I am about to recruit the first seven people," he said. "At least one or two of them have to be the best minds in the business."
A few administrators and staff members have started working for the project, but most of the senior scientists won't be formally hired until late spring or early summer, at the earliest.
Core Lab, which towers over the surrounding mill houses, will open in the fall. As many as 120 people eventually will work there, said Robert Califf, Duke University's vice chancellor for clinical research.
UNC-CH's Nutrition Research Institute is framed. The groundbreaking for NCSU's building is scheduled April 18. A small army of bulldozers crawls over the grounds to keep things on schedule.
The bulk of this activity is being fueled by the money of 83-year-old billionaire David H. Murdock.
Murdock, who made his money in real estate and other investments, is the owner of Dole Food. An apostle of nutrition, he isn't shy about committing his money and everyone's time to improving people's health.
His promise for Kannapolis is not bold: It's audacious. Using the best research equipment available, he intends to make the former mill town a center for nutritional research that will fundamentally change how fruits and vegetables are grown and consumed throughout the world.
N.C. Central University, UNC-Greensboro, N.C. A&T University and UNC-Charlotte will join Duke, NCSU and UNC-Chapel Hill. Officials are dropping big hints that another private university also could join the fold.
That means Kannapolis is going to need a huge makeover.
New homes go up
A short drive from the research campus is the Kannapolis Country Club. Murdock bought the club in 1982. His Pity's Sake Lodge is on the other side of a lake there.
The grounds around the clubhouse have been scraped clean in the past few months in preparation for a golf-course community of 400 single-family homes.
"This is where we will take scientists considering work at the campus," said Clyde Higgs, vice president of business development for Castle & Cooke.
Murdock owns Castle & Cooke, the development company for the entire project.
Those who don't live near the golf course can live in townhouses on campus. The first of hundreds of units should open within a year.
Given all the activity, it's easy for those who are involved to get caught up in the excitement.
But Zeisel thinks that the labs, homes and top-flight research equipment won't matter much if universities can't attract the country's top talent. His concerns are understandable.
The stretch along Lane Street from I-85 into Kannapolis is lined with tired-looking homes and small bungalows.
Some properties are well-kept. Others are not.
Old Kannapolis lingers
Intersections such as the one at North Cannon Boulevard and Lane Street -- a short distance from the research campus -- look every bit like part of a struggling former mill town in need of jobs.
The area might be world-famous one day, but right now it is home to San Bellaza Marinellos hair salon, Honest Engine Motorcycle and Pawn and other small businesses.
Murdock is familiar with this Kannapolis, too. He was the owner of the former Pillowtex mill when it closed in 2003. About 5,000 people lost their jobs, the biggest layoff in state history.
Kannapolis respects and appreciates places such as the local Microtel Inn and the statue of hometown boy and racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. Zeisel just isn't sure if this will sell established researchers used to big-city skylines.
"This first group will be pioneers," he said.
Higgs picks his words carefully on this topic. "It's going to be an interesting mix," he said. "It's going to be great."
'Jobs aren't for us'
It's also going to take some effort to convince local residents.
Sandra Connell has heard people talk about the project for months at the Lane Street Grill, where she works.
"I think it's going to happen," said Connell, whose husband worked at the mill. "They say it's going to happen.
"This street is going to lead you to the campus. I hope so, because I own some property here," she said.
But it doesn't take Connell and her co-workers two minutes to repeat a line heard often here. No one smiles when they say it.
"Those jobs aren't for us," she said. "Those jobs are for folks with college degrees."
Campus planners say the research park will generate about 35,000 jobs on campus and in surrounding areas. Some -- retail, service, landscaping -- could employ former mill workers.
But Connell is right about the other jobs. Those are for people with degrees in food science, biology and medicine. They aren't jobs for former mill workers.
Leath and Zeisel know this, but it's beyond their control. Their job is to fill labs in Kannapolis with the best minds in science.
They are hoping a world-class campus will sell itself.
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N.C. RESEARCH CAMPUS
THE MONEY
$1.5 billion: Estimated cost of campus.
$100 million: Amount promised by Murdock as venture capital to companies involved in campus research and production.
$30 million: Approximate annual cost to North Carolina taxpayers to hire research teams and pay associated costs.
$160 million: Approximate value of bonds that Murdock wants Kannapolis and Cabarrus County to issue for public improvements, such as roads and sewers.
$400,000: Estimate of how much each senior scientist needs for salaries of research team and associated costs.
ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES
Duke: Focus on medical research at Core Lab, including study of links between diet and major health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and depression.
UNC-Charlotte: Focus on bioinformatics, which will allow researchers to analyze large and complex databases generated by the research.
NCSU: Focus on growth and production using genomics, bioinformatics and systems biology. Possible development of new markets in strawberries, blueberries and blackberries for Eastern North Carolina.
UNC-CH: Focus on genomic and metabolomic biotechnology to better understand metabolism.
NCCU: Focus on biological research in five biomolecular research projects, including the effects of nutrition on brain development and the effects of food additives.
NCA&T: Focus on development and application of ways to improve quality and safety of food after it has left the farm.
UNC-Greensboro: Focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms of nutrition and the relation among food and genetics.
(UNC system; Castle & Cooke, Dole Food)