Raleigh City Council members to discuss fate of Dix campus

The city has been involved in talks for over two years after former Gov. Bev Perdue announced she had a deal to lease the 300-plus acre property.

Wedged between Raleigh's urban core of government and bank buildings, North Carolina State University and long-standing neighborhoods, the bucolic swath of trees and fields is a unique piece of open space in a city that continues to burst its borders. City leaders and private boosters say they would like to develop the campus into a destination park to serve one of the most rapidly growing areas in the state.

Although lawmakers moved to scuttle the Perdue lease in 2013, both sides backed off a full-out legal confrontation. They agreed instead to seek new appraisals of the property and work on a sale. Negotiations began in early 2014 once the appraisals came back.

The city and state have exchanged a number of offers over the property since 2013. Most recently, the city sent a three-page counteroffer to the state in November that tackled some of the toughest sticking points in the negotiations, including who would bear responsibility for environmental problems on the property.