RJR Donates to Hometown Research Park

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 04/08/2010

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. celebrated the near-completion of its 2002 pledge of gifting approximately 38 acres of downtown properties to Piedmont Triad Research Park (PTRP) by donating an additional $2 million to PTRP for unrestricted use in the research park's long- term expansion. The gifted properties are worth approximately $19 million. The last major piece of property to be transferred to the PTRP was the Bailey power plant property, located between Fourth and Chestnut streets. R.J. Reynolds stopped using the coal-fired power plant in 1997, but it continued to use the property as a site for emergency power generators, which will be relocated to other company property. In December 2005, R.J. Reynolds completed an initial donation of 16 acres in downtown Winston-Salem to PTRP, and also pledged to give the research park an additional 22 acres, including the Bailey power plant property. One final parcel of land still has to be transferred to PTRP-a small part of the company's gifted property on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Linden Street that is currently being used as a forklift maintenance facility. R.J. Reynolds is working with the state to facilitate the creation of a new onramp to highway U.S. 52, which will incorporate part of that property. Once that project is completed, expected in the fall of 2010, that final section will be officially handed over to PTRP. "R.J. Reynolds has long supported the local community and Winston-Salem's economic development, and today's announcement underscores the company's commitment to play an important role in downtown revitalization," said Susan M. Ivey, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Reynolds American Inc., the parent company of R.J. Reynolds. Enditem