The groundbreaking for Chapel Hill’s new Turkish Cultural Center took place late last month.

The center, which was approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously in November of 2016, is the long time vision of Gwen and Aziz Sancar, the latter of which is a native of Turkey and the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said she looks forward to the impact the center will have on the community.

“The Sancars are doing this amazing project to bring community together,” said Hemminger. “It’ll be [for] visiting scholars; it’ll be a community place to learn about Turkish culture and to have discussions, and it’ll be one of the first of it’s kind,” says Hemminger.

The approval for the plan came after opposition from residents in surrounding neighborhoods who feared the center would bring unwanted traffic and noise to their homes.

Sancar is funding the new center in part with his 2015 Nobel Prize winnings.

“He and his wife Gwen have been running sort of a Turkish Cultural Center out of their own home for a long time,” Hemminger said, “So, this makes it a bigger opportunity for more people to be involved and connect, so we’re very excited.”

The center will be 9,700 square feet located at 1609 E. Franklin Street and will consist of offices, classrooms, a kitchen and a two-story guest house for visiting scholars.

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