Ted Abernathy, managing partner at Economic Leadership LLC, believes Wake Forest’s recent work in setting aside 200 prime acres for a technology-oriented industrial park has the potential to bring a new wave of high-wage job growth. Abernathy’s Raleigh-based consulting firm recently completed a statistical analysis of the site’s prospects as a driver of economic development.

An expansion for the bowling-anchored entertainment center, Strike and Barrel, is underway, which will make downtown Wake Forest a true entertainment hub and bring an additional 60 part and full-time jobs to the area.

Since 2018, plans for an amenity-rich technology park in the Town of Wake Forest have involved a close collaborative relationship between Wake Forest Business & Industry Partnership (BIP) and the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which owns the 200-acre property off Stadium Drive near US Highway 1. But more recently, another key BIP partnership is advancing the site’s readiness for development as northern Wake County’s only life sciences industry center.

Among the Town of Wake Forest’s most formidable economic assets is a non-profit institution whose mission doesn’t even involve business. SEBTS strives to play a role in Wake Forest that supports the town, region, and its campus, while the community’s quality of life, including a vibrant job market, helps attract students and faculty.

The Wake Forest Fire Department is celebrating its centennial year and making sure it is one to remember. Not only have they received the coveted ISO Class 1 Rating, but now have a new paw-tner in the Department—an ignitable liquid detection dog named Marshall.