Anson 74 Rail Park Begins A New Chapter For Industrial Development In Anson County

Elected officials and community and civic leaders gathered today for the dedication of the Anson 74 Rail Park, the Charlotte region’s newest rail-served industrial development. Situated on 140 acres of prime land between two U.S. highways and featuring a spur off the CSX “Queen City Express” line, the park recently completed Duke Energy’s Site Readiness program and is attracting interest from companies for its outstanding location and existing rail infrastructure.

Based on the Duke study, the park could one day support nearly one million square feet of light industrial and warehouse space and provide jobs for more than 400 employees. The park’s proximity to existing retail development also creates opportunities for future mixed-use residential and commercial growth along the nearby U.S. Highway 74 corridor.

“The completion of the site readiness plan is a major step forward for the park and for industrial development in Anson County in general,” commented AnsonEDP executive director John B. Marek. “While many communities have rail-served sites available, very few have planned sites in a business park setting with access to two major highways and an existing rail spur and transload facility.”

It’s that existing rail infrastructure that makes the Anson 74 Rail Park attractive, according to Marek. Businesses that require rail can opt to either extend the spur to their own building or use the park’s transload capability on a contract basis, opening access to rail for companies who do not want to implement their own fixed rail capability.”

The Duke Energy Site Readiness program provides technical assistance to communities for the development of “shovel-ready” industrial sites in areas the company serves. Duke contracts with professional developers and engineers to create a plan for the “best and highest use” of those sites.

North Carolina’s Southeast (NCSE), an 18-county regional economic development group to which Anson County belongs, assisted AnsonEDP in the production of a marketing video for the site and has been a key source of leads to companies who might have an interest in locating in the park.

“The State of North Carolina has invested more than $200 million in improvements at the Port of Wilmington, making the rail link between the port and Charlotte a prime corridor for locating national and international business operations,” noted Steve Yost, NCSE president. “The Anson 74 Rail Park is well situated to capitalize on that growth potential.”

Carolinas ReLoad, the company which operates the on-site transload facility, has invested more than $400,000 since 2013 in expanding and improving its capabilities, including a new 60-foot, 25 ton gantry crane which was installed in July and allows for faster loading and unloading of freight.