Economy
Can North Carolina Reinvent the Office Park?
The Research Triangle is showing its age, but an ambitious plan may restore its luster.
This article is part of a weeklong America 360 series on Raleigh.
RALEIGH, N.C.—For decades, a monument to the 1950s has shimmered in the woods due northwest of Raleigh, an enduring tribute to the time when cars were king, suburban living was the idyll, and the fruits of American invention seemed limitless. At the time, the Research Triangle Park felt as futuristic as Tomorrowland, the largest corporate research park in the world, stretched across a campus half the size of Manhattan. Giants such as IBM sent thousands of employees here, transforming this region of North Carolina so dramatically that the area is named for it.