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' STWAMGY J` <br />77 <br />• Harnessing the future growth and influence of UNC including plans for Carolina <br />North — a 1,000 acre complex that is set to host an expansion of the law school <br />and location for the Innovation Center. These and other strategic plans for growth <br />in the coming years will yield a range of spin -off opportunities, entrepreneurial <br />ventures, and other demand that could be captured by the Town's office market. <br />Growth and capture of the "creative class ". Economist and social scientist Richard <br />Florida coined this phrase to identify a socioeconomic class that he sees as a key <br />economic development driver for post - industrial cities in the U.S. In his book The <br />Rise of the Creative Class (2002), Cities and the Creative Class (2004), and <br />others, Florida has described and analyzed two basic sections of the class: a <br />Super- Creative Core which includes occupations such as engineer, scientist, <br />educator, research, arts, design and media. The other main group: Creative <br />Professionals are knowledge -based workers including those engaged in <br />healthcare, legal services, business and finance, etc. The Research Triangle and <br />the Town of Chapel Hill specifically have been cited by Florida as places with <br />high creative class populations, and therefore potential to tap into the resources <br />they generate. <br />• The Research Triangle is one of the fastest growing region in the U.S. and <br />positive demographics including highly educated workforce, strong healthcare <br />and education sectors, etc. Home -grown demand for office space in Chapel Hill <br />can be drawn from this population -based source. <br />• The ability /interest of the Town in hosting wet labs and other research uses has <br />been anecdotally cited in the public process as a way to capture additional <br />demand for office space. Currently there are a variety of ordinance and code <br />restrictions which severely limit or prohibit these types of uses, which then have <br />an apparent tendency to locate in the RTP or elsewhere in the Triangle. <br />• The ability /interest of the Town in providing office infrastructure such as fiber <br />optic cable to users and /or offsetting costs associated with technology upgrades <br />through various means. Similarly, consideration may have to be given to <br />provision of parking support on an individualized basis in order to incentivize <br />business development. <br />• Continuing to enhance public transit opportunities to serve office populations. <br />Plans are being discussed to add a regional Bus Rapid Transit (RBT) system to <br />augment the current bus service. This could obviously increase access from <br />outlying suburbs (including those located in other sub - markets thus increasing <br />"in -flow" of workers), soften demand for additional parking, and contribute other <br />positives to the office market climate over time. <br />34 <br />