RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – More than two years after the groundbreaking ceremony at the Boxyard RTP, the centrally-located venue constructed from shipping containers will hold its grand opening ceremony later today.

And events will take place all weekend long, celebrating the official opening of the venue, a spokesperson for the Research Triangle Foundation told WRAL TechWire.

The 18,000 square foot venue soft launched earlier this year, as some anchor tenants opened their business locations.

Those businesses include new, additional locations of Beyú Caffè, Fullsteam, and Carrburritos, as well as Wonderpuff, a cotton-candy vendor, the beauty shop Trellis Beauty, CBD vendor Medicine Mama’s Farmacy, Lawrence Barbecue, charcuterie Meat & Graze, tiki bar Lagoon, Korean barbecue joint Bulkogi, Buzzy Bakes cupcakery, and Game On Escapes, a provider of mini-escape challenges and virtual escape rooms.

Boxyard RTP to bring dining, entertainment to heart of Research Triangle Park

Another amenity at the site is the Barkyard RTP, an enclosed dog park, which Scott Levitan, president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation told WRAL TechWire has been a hit.  Levitan told WRAL TechWire earlier this week that he often brings his own dog to the Boxyard when he visits the site.  Levitan’s dog joined him at a panel discussion about the future of RTP organized by the Triangle Business Journal earlier this week.

The Boxyard RTP site is adjacent to the Frontier RTP, where the Research Triangle Foundation’s new headquarters will be upon the sale of the existing headquarters site to Alexandria Real Estate Equities that was announced earlier this year.  And the site is nearby the Hub RTP, which Levitan described during the panel discussion on Tuesday as a critical bet that the foundation has made for the future of Research Triangle Park.

The events during the opening weekend of the Boxyard RTP are viewable on a website built by the Research Triangle Foundation, anchored by the official launch event at 3 p.m. today, at which Brenda Howerton, the chair of the Durham County Commissioners, Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam, and Caroyln Coia, the vice president of real estate for the Research Triangle Foundation will speak.

Each day, according to the foundation’s Instagram account, they will give away “Boxyard bucks” to the first 100 guests who visit, which can be spent at the vendors on site.

Launch of the new Boxyard RTP offers exciting glimpse of post-COVID world