Sept. 15. Clyde Higgs, executive vice president of operations and business development for the North Carolina Research Campus, will step down this month to become the chief executive officer of Atlanta Beltline, a multi-billion dollar economic development project in Georgia. In April he took over the campus leadership position from Lynne Scott Safrit, who also resigned. He was also head of Atlantic American Properties in North Carolina, part of billionaire David Murdock’s real estate and food empire.

Atlanta BeltLine Inc. yesterday announced the hiring of Clyde Higgs as their new vice president and chief operating officer. Higgs replaces Lisa Gordon who was recently appointed CEO of Habitat for Humanity Atlanta. According to its web site, the Atlanta BeltLine is the most comprehensive transportation and economic development effort ever undertaken in the City of Atlanta and among the largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment programs currently under way in the United States.

The Atlanta BeltLine is a sustainable redevelopment project that will provide a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting many neighborhoods directly to each other.

Higgs joined the NCRC in 2006. In his nine years of leadership at the NCRC, he managed economic development recruitment of the campus’ 20 partners, which include major universities as well as international food companies like General Mills. During that time, the NCRC grew from a handful of employees to a research center with over 1,000 jobs associated with it.

Higgs also led the management of the NCRC for Castle & Cooke, which include land develop, commercial real estate leasing, legislative and community affairs. He recently led the negotiation of the sale of Cannon Village, which is adjacent to the NCRC, to the city of Kannapolis.

The sale will accelerate the city’s downtown revitalization and redevelopment.