WSTB

Nice! I just wish construction would begin immediately

I just realized... I never posted the latest rendering for Wake Forest's building in The Pearl (Charlotte's innovation district). I expected a Charlotte-area news source to share the rendering, but that never happened. They continue to show the taller "vision" rendering from a year or two ago. This new rendering matches the usual Wexford 15-storey innovation district buildings they have built elsewhere.



I have confirmation of Wake Forest University School of Medicine becoming the academic core of the Midwest hospitals: "The Wake Forest University School of Medicine, led by Dr. Julie Freischlag, will be the academic core of a combined entity consisting of more than 150,000 caregivers and staff, 67 hospitals, and 1000 sites of care in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, and Wisconsin." Maybe that will lead to larger buildings in downtown Winston-Salem? It appears as if the Eye Institute has already scaled-up? Maybe that is connected to this new merger? I guess we will find out when the Eye Institute rendering and details are officially released?

This is an interesting job at Atrium Wake Forest:

https://emis.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcm ... DATES_DESC

The Head of Biotech & Life Science Ecosystem Development is a team member of Innovation Quarter (iQ), in partnership with the Economic Development Department at Greater Winston-Salem, Inc. (GWSI). The purpose of this leadership role is to promote Winston Salem as the nucleus and gateway to access knowledge and resources in biotech and life sciences in Innovation Quarter and to develop opportunities for new life science companies to enter Forsyth County, with an emphasis in our identified focus areas, as noted below under position functions. (e.g., regenerative medicine, population health-value health transformation, healthy aging) The Head of Biotech & Life Science Ecosystem Development will contribute to the development and implementation of strategies for relevant industry recruitment, in coordination with Innovation Quarter and Greater Winston Salem, Inc. economic development goals and strategic plan. This person will collaborate and work closely with team members at Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist (AH WFB).

Thanks for posting this...it's definitely needed!

Sounds good. - hope it’s filled and successful.

Elsewhere EXCEPT Winston- Salem - one wonders why.

I'd say it's mostly because there was like a million sf of buildings already in place so there was a need to refurbish those prior to building any new buildings.

True, but there was the one 12-15 stories to be just off of former I 40 (Salem Parkway). We even saw renderings. What happened to that? Same reason, I reckon.

It appears as if they want their own specialist for leasing their buildings? Likely someone to travel to trade shows, conventions, and meet with companies making inquiries. Someone who knows life science companies, has connections in the industry, and would only work to bring those companies here. Maybe someone to work on marketing materials, too? Greater Winston-Salem works to bring everything here and their attention is divided among multiple industries. I've long wanted to see the Innovation Quarter do this. It finally seems as if notable businesses want a presence here. The time is likely right for this. Do you think some of the extra space in the Eye Institute is for attracting these companies? While I've seen many people pointing to empty office buildings for this, many of these companies will need specialized space and those buildings can't be upfitted for it. You'll see buildings for these companies have higher floor-to-ceiling heights and impressive ventilation systems.

At the same time WFIQ was planning for the 15-storey building in that location, the City was also working with them to create some type of incentive for Fortune 500 headquarters moving to the city. Something the entire Triad region isn't really known for. I suspect they had a very big fish on the line (a big anchor for that next phase) and it got away? Right now, they are talking as if they have several interested potential tenants for the next phase of the Innovation Quarter, but I've heard of potential tenants from multiple states and even other countries, over the past decade, that never materialized. Since that large company has likely already selected another location and it's in the past, I would love to know who it was? You can likely see why some developers think this could be a next boom town. Just looking at the past few years, it may not seem like it, but what is happening behind the scenes and the potential regenerative medicine brings to economic development, does show there is some possibility. We won't know until a few more years into the future, though. I'm already seeing those willing to take a big risk for that potential big reward.

Atrium Health, Advocate Aurora Health merger suffers setback in Illinois - https://www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.co ... n-illinois

Also some good news from the TBJ today: "Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have received a five-year, $30 million grant from the National Institute of Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health, for a novel rehabilitation program designed for older patients with acute heart failure." https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/ ... 2022-10-06

Did anyone else look at Wake Forest Health's most recent financials? Brutal! All I can say is that we should be very thankful Atrium stepped in, or I would be worried about the continued viability of the system.

https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/news-re ... erformance

A few highlights from my quick reading. I did not do in-depth financial analysis here, so please take this as one man's opinion:
[*]Total assets are down 13% from 12/31/21. Much of this is due to the loss of value in the equities market, but they also had to draw down a lot of cash to cover operations.
[*]The system operated at a loss, with an operating loss of $96 million for the quarter. Revenues were slightly up, but expenses were up, led by a 12.7% increase in wages/salaries.
[*]Total deficit was $354 million, which accounts investment losses. That is less concerning than the operating loss - wages are what they are at this point, and the system will have to figure out how to increase revenue (or look towards layoffs?).

I'm not terribly concerned with Atrium's financial backing, although I would be slightly concerned if I worked for the system in an administrative, IT, finance, etc. role. I know you cannot make drastic changes based on one quarter, but those operating revenues and expenses are concerning because they are less short-term market (i.e., rate and equity devaluation) driven, and more driven by long-term, "sticky" wage growth. Wages and benefits made up 61.2% of operating revenue in this period, vs. 58.6% of operating revenue in the last period, and that difference nearly accounted for the loss.

https://journalnow.com/news/local/atrium-health-completes-merger-with-chicago-health-system-what-does-that-mean-for-wake-forest/article_1aeeead2-7296-11ed-ba56-ef6dd7d0422c.html#tracking-source=mp-homepage Merger with Illinois outfit complete.

Read Charlotte.

Billed as Wake Forest Medical School Charlotte.

The reference is, no doubt to Wake Forest Medical School not the location of the school, which will be perceived as Charlotte since there will be more jobs there and a more highly supported IQ, and furthermore the folk in Illinois have heard of the internationally renowned city of Charlotte but Winston-Salem (to them) is a one-horse backwater suburb of Greensboro where cigarettes used to be made.

I wonder if they can develop a vaccine for chronic Charlottephobia.

If they do, I recommend that it be mandatory for all WSTB commenters….

I'd settle for a "block" button. The constant naysaying is a big reason I don't visit this board more frequently.