The Innovation Quarter is a 200-acre adaptive-reuse district carved out of the former R. J. Reynolds tobacco factories at the eastern edge of downtown. Wake Forest's biomedical research campus anchors the development, but the area is increasingly mixed-use, with apartments, restaurants, bars and craft breweries occupying the old red-brick warehouses.
It is the most interesting walk in downtown Winston-Salem outside Old Salem — the scale of the old tobacco buildings is genuinely impressive, and the contrast between the preserved industrial brickwork and the inserted modern interiors is well done. Bailey Park, in the middle, hosts free outdoor films and concerts in summer.