By Kayli Thompson and Lauren Ohnesorge for the Triangle Business Journal

The ambitious plan to transform Research Triangle Park hinges on a vote that will take place behind closed doors.

As the Research Triangle Foundation looks to reinvent the sprawling office park and compete for tenants against hot areas like North Hills, Fenton in Cary, Chatham Park and Downtown Raleigh, representatives of the park’s biggest companies are scheduled to vote at the end of this month on a proposed covenant to allow for “RTP 3.0.”

The proposed change is the first step in enacting what RTF President and CEO Scott Levitan is calling a “15-minute city” within the park’s official boundaries. But making changes to a park long known as home to office campuses of companies like IBM (NYSE: IBM), NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) requires a zoning change — and a lot of bureaucracy.

Rezoning RTP would allow for all of the park, except for the Durham Wildlife Club, to become “Hub-like” spaces where underutilized acreage like massive parking lots are turned into mixed-use developments with housing, chops and restaurants. But the zoning can’t change without first amending the park’s covenants, which is the subject of a meeting of the park’s Owners & Tenants Association Jan. 31.

Levitan said there’s been broad support for the covenant change among the more than 100 property owners and tenants who have been “engaged in the conversation.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m aware of anyone who has said to me, ‘I don’t want this to happen,’” Levitan said.

Right now RTP has two zoning classifications. The vast majority of the park, around 10 square miles, is classified as “science and research park.” The remaining 100 acres, owned by RTF, has a commercial classification.

“Other than that 100 acres, the only thing you can build in RTP is traditional research campuses,” Levitan said, explaining that both the Frontier and Hub RTP developments sit on the land owned by the Research Triangle Foundation. The covenant changes would enable certain entitlements to allow property owners to add other types of commercial developments, from restaurants to retail. But it’s up to the property owners, Levitan said.

“No one can compel any property owner to do anything with their land,” he said.

Levitan said the next step, should the proposed amendment pass, will be to establish a committee to develop policies around those entitlements.

The text of the proposed covenant amendment is not a public document, and RTF declined to share a copy with Triangle Business Journal.

Travis Crayton, vice president of public policy for the Research Triangle Foundation, said the proposal comes at the recommendation of a working group that consisted of “some of RTP’s largest and most engaged owners and tenants.”

RTF declined to say who is in the working group.

TBJ spoke with members of the RTF board who said they haven’t heard of any opposition to the covenant change and RTP 3.0 plan. But history shows changing RTP isn’t easy.

Transforming the park has been debated for years but gained little traction until recently with the progress of Hub RT, designed to create a live, work, play environment. Bob Geolas, who proceeded Levitan as RTF CEO, used to opine about a park with “no Starbucks” in sight, where workers would have to get in their cars and drive outside the park’s borders for their lunch meetings.

Any covenant changes wouldn’t go into effect until after the rezoning is approved by both Durham and Wake counties.

Greg Luberecki, president of the RTP owners and tenants association, did not comment on the meeting or the RTP 3.0 plan.

The meeting is not open to the general public. The association is not run by a board of directors. Instead, each organization selects a representative. The representatives then elect a president, vice president and secretary annually.

The more land and square footage a company owns, the more votes it has. Therefore, tenants who rent have less of a say in matters than landowners. Regarding the covenant change, documentation sent out about the meeting states, “only authorized representatives indicated on verification forms will be able to cast votes on behalf of their organization.”

Each eligible owner and tenant association member is allowed to cast a single vote for or against the covenant change.

Both Wake and Durham County Commissioners have been briefed in advance of the rezoning, according to an RTF spokeswoman.

The preceding article originally appeared on January 23, 2025 at the Triangle Business Journal’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Photo above: A rendering of the HUB RTP project in the heart of Research Triangle Park, Courtesy of the Research Triangle Foundation.