The UNC Board of Trustees picked a master plan designer for Carolina North on Wednesday, taking another step toward developing the vision and layout of the satellite campus project.
The board — which met in a remote capacity for the final time in the fiscal year — unanimously chose the selection committee’s top pick of Ayers Saint Gross, a Maryland-based master plan design company. Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman described Ayers as having a “strong alignment” with the university’s request for quote (RFQ) issued earlier this year and was the top choice from the 17 proposals received.
The firm will be responsible for helping create a land-use plan for the 228 acres of UNC-owned land off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which is predominantly the former Horace Williams Airport site. Ayers will also deliver a traffic impact analysis, drainage study, concept master plans for all utilities as the site, and establishing sustainability benchmarks for Carolina North among other things.
“The master planning process will frame out, for us, each development program element in a thoughtful, phased approach,” Knuffman told the trustees. “We’re trying to have a comprehensive investment in getting this right from the start.”
A map of the Carolina North property in Chapel Hill, with the green section marking land that will be preserved and the blue overlay marking where the development will take place. (Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Tiffany Lacey, who is UNC’s executive director of real estate development, also spoke to the board and specified Ayers Saint Gross will handle the overall design and the long-term visioning of the property — while the master developer, which has yet to be selected, will handle specific building concepts and designs. She described Ayers’ work as largely “a land-planning exercise” that will help determine what layouts make the most sense for the academic, housing and retail components based on site details. According to Knuffman, some early priorities from the university’s perspective are studying how the land fronting MLK Boulevard can best be used and examining connectivity options to the main campus two miles south.
Ayers has experience planning and designing academic environments, as well as mixed-use developments. The firm’s portfolio includes dozens of campus spaces, including Duke University’s School of Nursing and Center for Interprofessional Education and Care, Clemson University’s student activity center, and both academic and residential halls. It has also worked with several schools to help master plan significant expansion or construction, like Ohio State, Tennessee, Missouri, Pittsburgh, and Purdue. UNC has also worked with Ayers before — as the firm was commissioned to create Carolina’s 2019 physical master plan and has worked in at least an advisory capacity since 1998.
The deal with Ayers Saint Gross will come from the university’s $8 million allocated for Carolina North’s early planning stages, which the board approved in January. Trustee Brian Allen — who was on the selection committee for the master plan designer and runs a real estate contracting business — told his peers the goal will be to have the contract be worth $3 million or less and include a not-to-exceed clause.
“The four architects we interviewed were really, really good,” said Allen. “The one that we’re suggesting…their team was better. Everybody on their team was extremely talented, [even] the subs they had chosen.”
Allen did take time, however, to voice his frustration about not being able to get price estimates until the university had made its selection of a preferred architectural firm, citing North Carolina law requiring this order of operation for construction related to a state entity like UNC.
“[Candidates] should have to submit some kind of ballpark pricing along with this… they didn’t have to,” Allen said. “Where we are now, if they are approved, is we’re going back to them and we’re going to ask for pricing. And if we’re not happy with that pricing, then we’re going to go to the #2 person. But the law is very strict on how we do this, so if it’s something we can push our senators and congressmen to change, it’s ridiculous that we’re looking at an architect with no pricing at all. But for the most part, I was really impressed with the process.”
Allen also shared concerns about “herding the cats at Carolina” to quickly get responses back to the designer, which could run up the cost. He said some kind of message to the stakeholders in the master planning process to encourage them to answer with urgency. Chancellor Lee Roberts agreed with him, saying he plans for his administration to have “continued senior focus and attention” around Carolina North.
The feedback, visioning and creation process of the master plan design is expected to take 12-14 months, according to officials — and by then, UNC will likely be selecting its master developer to design and construct Carolina North’s buildings.
Trustees, Chancellor Criticize Method for Developing ERM Priorities
The other agenda item that generated discussion during the open session was the presentation for the Internal Audit Work Plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which is meant to help minimize UNC’s exposure to potential risks and improve internal control against any threats. The Office of Internal Audit conducted an internal survey with university leadership to develop the top enterprise risk management topics with the aim of incorporating those risks into its work for 2026-27.
The primary topic mentioned, according to Chief Audit Officer Dean Weber, was workforce sustainability and the loss of institutional knowledge at Carolina. That was followed by stability in revenue and funding methods; volatility in the research and regulator environment; the campus’ infrastructure and physical capacity; and technology governance and shared services execution. Weber said some of these topics, particularly the workforce sustainability component, was a holdover from the survey that informed his office’s work this ongoing fiscal year.
The presentation slide showing the five ERM topics pulled from the audit’s survey of UNC leadership, which the Board of Trustees voted to withhold from the Fiscal Year 2027 internal audit work plan. (Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill.)
But the board unanimously voted to remove the top five topics from that report, with some trustees citing their belief that the issues do not accurately reflect the top threats facing the university. Trustee Marty Kotis pointed out how this is an internal survey rather than an external view of the university to highlight more hidden problems.
“It just feels a little self-serving some of these answers,” he said, “versus [asking] are these truly the greatest risks for the university and are we able to address them? Or is it a gripe session?”
Roberts followed up by saying he holds “precisely the same” sentiments as Kotis about the audit method, saying he agrees that cybersecurity is a glaring omission from the top ERM topics. The chancellor said an employee survey does provide “valuable or interesting” input, but is an “insufficient” way to manage the university.
“This is an inferior risk management approach,” Roberts said. “It’s what we’ve been using for some time — but, as you know, I’ve had a strategic focus on upgrading and improving our enterprise risk infrastructure and this is the last time you’re going to see this [version] of this report.
“What we hear from line managers across the organization is crucial and that is part of the normal reporting and management process,” he added to the media after the meeting. “But what we’re trying to put in place is something you’d see in most organizations of our size and complexity, which is a true enterprise risk management function that’s assessing the most salient risks to the organization with a mitigation plan using something a little more sophisticated than an employee survey.”
Kotis and other board members, however, supported the 31 projects identified by the Office of Internal Audit to tackle during FY27 so as not to entirely slow its work in other areas of addressing potential risks. Doing so would also allow this new process Roberts’ administration is developing to be incorporated into what gets submitted to the UNC System.
“I’m fine with the 31 projects defined by audit category, because they’re well within the scope of what we’re doing,” Kotis said. “But I would not want to adopt the overall plan with the top 5 ERM risks included, because I think it’s off-base. It represents more of a gripe list than an actual risk.”
Roberts said he plans to bring details of an updated enterprise risk management approach to the Board of Trustees’ next meeting in July.
The presentation slide showing the 31 projects the Office of Internal Audit will take on during Fiscal Year 2027. (Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill.)
The full livestream of Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting can be watched on UNC’s YouTube page.
Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill.
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