Pee Dee Electric, a not-for-profit electric cooperative, today announced plans for a new regional operations center and industrial park to be located on a 120-acre site adjacent to U.S. Highway 74, near Vintage Road in Lilesville and the I73/74 Rockingham Bypass being built nearby.
"This is an investment in the future of the local area, as well as Pee Dee Electric,” said Donnie Spivey, Pee Dee Electric’s CEO and EVP. “Anson County has been in need of land and infrastructure to attract new business and industry. Our Board of Directors has had an ongoing discussion about an industrial park in the county as a way to create jobs and spur economic activity,” said Spivey. “Right now, we need new jobs more than ever before."
"At the same time," he continued, "we’ve been examining the need for a new, centrally-located facility for the cooperative. When this land became available with its location and proximity to the new highway, it presented an opportunity for land for both an industrial park and a new facility for Pee Dee Electric,”
When completed in 2022, the new facility will include a customer service center, operations, and engineering facility, a warehouse, fleet parking, dispatch center, a hardened secure data center, and administrative offices for the cooperative’s 66 employees. It will replace two 40-year-old existing facilities, one in Rockingham and one in Wadesboro. The co-op's service area includes parts of Anson, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Scotland, Stanly, and Union counties. Pee Dee has grown from serving 11,737 meters when the Wadesboro office was built in 1978 to more than 21,000 meters today.
The industrial park follows a model of partnering with local government and economic development organizations which has yielded outstanding results in neighboring Richmond County.
“This partnership with Pee Dee has been an overwhelming success,” said Martie Butler, Richmond County management analyst/economic developer. “We currently have five new industries thanks to the successful partnership and the shell building program,” she explained. “A new industrial park in the region will benefit the entire area. When it comes to bringing new jobs to the region, everyone wins.”
AnsonEDP executive director John Marek echoed those comments, "The announcement of the new operations center here in Anson would be a huge win for the county in and of itself, but the industrial park has the potential to be transformative for the local economy. AnsonEDP and North Carolina's Southeast have been working with Pee Dee on the park concept for several months and we are excited to share our plans with the community, but this is Pee Dee Electric's day and we want the spotlight to be on them. We will make a more detailed announcement about the industrial park in a couple of weeks."
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