‘Mom and dad’s research park’ vs. Meatpacking District

“A half century ago, Research Triangle Park was considered the cutting edge workplace…. But over the last decade, the park’s shine began to wear off….

“Says Bob Geolas, president of the non-profit foundation that runs the park: ‘There is a recognition that young tech workers don’t want to work at mom and dad’s research park…they want a different kind of work-life experience.’

“Geolas may not be able to make Research Triangle Park into the next Meatpacking District — it’ll never have the kind of exposed-brick post-industrial loft spaces now sought after by new businesses and entrepreneurs. But if he does it right, it’ll be much more affordable than New York City, and just urbane enough to make the difference for the kind of people who might found the next Apple or Facebook….

“Meanwhile, back in Silicon Valley, those companies’ future employees will be paying twice as much to sit in traffic that just gets worse year after year, wondering if they shouldn’t have moved to North Carolina instead.”

— From “Dinosaur Makeover: Can Research Triangle Park Pull Itself Out of the 1950s?” by Lydia DePillis (Oct. 12, The New Republic)