Research parks were designed for working. That's starting to change.

For decades, research parks attracted the biggest names in tech and pharmaceuticals to suburban campuses. Millions of workers streamed in every weekday, but these places were deserted at night or on weekends. That’s starting to change.

Founded in 1959, North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park sprawls more than 7,000 acres between Raleigh and Durham. What was once pine forests and farmland is now home to companies like Cisco Systems, Lenovo, and Novartis.

The Triangle Community Foundation, a nonprofit group, moved its headquarters here about ten years ago. CEO Lori O’Keefe likes the central location. But historically, there haven’t been many reasons to stick around when the workday is over.

“The park was designed for people to come, do their work, and then drive to the exurbs and spend time with their families,” she said.

Travis Crayton is vice president of planning at Research Triangle Park. The Raleigh-Durham metro area is one of the fastest-growing in the country, but he said RTP has pretty much stayed the same across five decades.

“Our region has been really unique in the history of North America in that we have a region with a low-density office park at its center,” he said.

The foundation that manages RTP recently adopted zoning changes that will allow construction of apartments, townhomes, and mixed-use developments.

Crayton said it’s in response to changing attitudes among workers, many of whom have commutes of up to an hour one-way.

“We'd clearly seen, especially since COVID, a change in how people work, where they want to work, the types of environments they're willing to commute to,” he said.

Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama adopted similar zoning changes about a decade ago. It started with a large retail district and has expanded to include apartments. Executive director Erin Koshut said it’s a change that companies in the park asked for.

“The conversations have been about how can we connect to that more,” she said. “Can we get additional sidewalks or some kind of connection point for folks that might want to ride their bike or walk to that instead of get in their car?”

Koshut said apartments in the park stay at above 80% occupancy, and more are being built to keep up with demand.

Work is already underway on a sort-of downtown district at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. An outdoor food hall made from shipping containers has become a popular after-work hangout. More development is likely over the next five years, as builders take advantage of the zoning changes.