Robbie Perkins, who served as the mayor of Greensboro from 2011 to 2013, told the Rhino Times he intends to once again seek the seat currently held by Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan – who announced earlier this year that she did not intend to run again in 2025.

Perkins, who’s been in the commercial brokerage business since he graduated from Duke University with a BA degree and MBA in the late 1970s, is a well-known figure in Greensboro.

If Perkins should win, Greensboro would have the same mayor it did before Vaughan began her long tenure in that job. Perkins served as the city’s mayor from 2011 to 2013.  At that time, the term lasted for two years; now those elected mayor serve for four years.

Perkins said this is a critical time in the history of Greensboro and he added that he would like to help guide the city in the right direction in 2025 and beyond.

“I think Greensboro is on the verge of greatness,” Perkins said.

According to Perkins, though the city has some terrific opportunities, with a lot of companies and new jobs coming in, Greensboro is also facing a host of challenges such as its battle with homelessness and the related problems that issue is causing.

The former mayor said he intends to make a formal announcement of his candidacy later in the election cycle.

Perkins said he was proud of many of the things that he played a role in during his stint as mayor about a decade and a half ago.

“I think the Tanger Center was key for the city,” Perkins said.

He added that the Stephen Tanger Center for the Performing Arts was such an important addition to Greensboro because it was unconscionable that the state’s third-largest city didn’t have a top-level fine arts performance center.

He said it was impressive how so many people in the private and public sectors came together to make the Tanger Center a reality.

He also said that the establishment of the Greensboro-Randolph County Megasite, a project that he helped get underway as mayor, was a move that greatly benefited the community.

“I was in on those first talks,” Perkins said, “though of course we didn’t know about Toyota back then.”

The decision by Toyota to locate its battery plant at the megasite years later and bring thousands of jobs to the area was only made possible through the conversations that started back at that time.

Perkins, a big basketball fan of the university he graduated from, also said that, during his tenure as Greensboro’s mayor, the city made some great infrastructure advancements.

“That was something that made Publix possible,” he said of extended water and sewer lines that were built or begun when he was mayor.

In the fall of 2020, Publix announced it was building a 2-million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Greensboro.

The highly successful Greensboro Aquatic Center was also a focus of his during his time leading the city.

Greensboro’s elections – which are non-partisan – are held in odd years. The mayor, along with three City Council members, are elected at large, while the remaining five council members are elected by various districts. The mayor of Greensboro, as well as all City Council members, are currently all elected for four-year terms, and there are no term limits for those elected officials.

Starting in 1993, Perkins served for 16 years on the Greensboro City Council. After serving as mayor, he went on to become the president of Triad Real Estate and Builders Coalition – better known as TREBIC – and the chair of the Economic Development Committee of the North Carolina Association of Realtors.

About